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[Sam Salmon]

Has anyone else used Rice Vinegar as well as Salt?
I have but not a lotta difference.
One thing about using Roe from River fish-it takes more care to make a presentable product.
We 'eat with our eyes' as well and things have to look perfect for me-I don't like little bits o'  blood 'n guts staring at me.
So since some Chum skeins can be a bit ragged I've started to rinse the eggs briefly in cold water after separating them from the skein.
The I add another rinse after brining the eggs to remove any salt.
If the eggs are particularly bloody then I regularly wipe the wooden spoon with a paper towel while stirring and sometimes-like the other night-I lay a sheet of paper towel on the brine to take up any bloody bits that are coming to the top-it's surprisingly effective.

[Hung]

I spent almost 2 hours yesterday making ikura.  I started by putting the skein in hot (but not boiling) salt water.  It was real easy to separate the roe from the skein that way.  But the time consuming part was removing the small blood clot and the tiny white skin.  Finally found a way that work pretty good:  rinse the roe almost completely dry, pour in pickle salt, then squeeze the roe through your hand repeatedly, generating enough friction to separate the roe from the clot.  Then pour in cold water and stir.  The clots will float on top making it easy to separate.  Do this a few times.

Another trick I discover: when the roe are clean, dry them completely on a drain.  Then soak them in quality sake for 24 hours (in the fridge).  The dryer the roe, the more sake they suck in.  Guess what I have for dinner tonight.  Umm ... yummy! 

I have to try your paper towel trick next time.  How do you do it exactly?

[FishOn]

Here's the salt only recipe I had posted under another thread. This year I added the additional step of soaking the eggs in a 1/2 cup rice vinegar and 1/2 cup mirin solution for 15 minutes after the 8 hour draining step. I then drained them for another hour before packing into jars. I like the final result better than salt only. I experimented witn a small first before committing the entire batch.

Salmon caviar is second only to sturgeon in quality. To make red caviar you need a piece of 1/4" to 1/2" mesh screen at least one foot square, depending on the egg size. first choice is plastic or stainless steel but plain steel can be coated with vegetable oil and galvanized can be coated with resin. Separate the eggs from the membrane by gently rubbing the skein of eggs over the screen. Discard the membrane and blood vessels remaining on the screen after most of the eggs have passed through. Make an 80 deg sal brine [1 cup + 2 tbs salt to 1 qt water]. Gently stir the eggs in the cooled brine from 15 to 30 min. The uptake of salt will depend on the maturity of the eggs; they should become opalescent. Do not over salt. drain for 8 hours. Keep cool but above 40 deg so the eggs do not congeal. Pack into jars. Refrigerate between 34 and 36 deg. up to a year. Over 40 deg it will have a very short life.


N.B. Once sealed in jars it MUST be kept refrigerated at all times to
prevent possible BOTULISM. some caviars can be pasteurized with minimal loss of flavor and color but not salmon. Rely on good refrigeration instead. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller

[TtotheE]

Stirring with a wooden spoon works great.  All the gunk wraps around the spoon.  I personally use wooden chopsticks,  and pick out the pieces while stirring as I see them.

[fishingbuddha]

another way my grandmother used to prepare raw salmon eggs (especially large chum or spring) is to clean and marinade in fresh ginger and soya sauce with a little mirin.

can't beat this over hot rice.

also, does vinegar recipe but i don't know the ingredients.

this is coming from a japanese grandmother who make her own wicked sushi/sushimi