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Bottarga
Appears in
By John Ash
Published 2023
Known as “poor man’s caviar,” bottarga is the salted, pressed, and dried roe of either the tuna (tonno) or the gray mullet (muggine). It is a specialty of Sardinia and Sicily, but similar processes exist in many parts of the world and probably go back before recorded time.
In the United States, the Anna Maria Fish Company in Florida is famous for its bottarga, which it produces using traditional methods. The fat roe sack is salted and massaged by hand over several weeks to eliminate air pockets. The roe is then pressed using wooden planks and stone weights, then sun-dried for one to two months.