Creamed Shad Roe

Much prized by the early Indians and Pilgrims for its sweet (if terribly bony) flesh and the delectable roe, the large American shad that migrated each spring from the Atlantic to spawn in eastern fresh-water rivers was so popular by the nineteenth century that it was fished almost to extinction (and, later, almost driven out of certain waters by industrial pollution). Today, the shad have rebounded, and while, in my experience, it’s rare to find the annoyingly bony fish itself except in th