sous vide shad roe
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. fill a bowl with cold water – add enough salt to make it lightly salty – stir until salt is fully dissolved – soak shad roe for 1-12 hours (NOTE: I’ve forgotten why I do this)
  2. prepare water bath at 135F – NOTE: do not go below 133F – even 133 is pretty ‘raw’ – maybe 134 could work nicely… but really 135 seems like the sweet spot
  3. remove roe from bowl, pat dry – vacuum seal with butter (be careful not to over vacuum and break the roe)
  4. drop packaged roe in water bath – leave for 1-2 hours (NOTE: I haven’t tested shorter or longer times yet)
  5. saute shallots in oil until translucent, add capers, lemon juice and caper liquid (if using) – add half the parsley
  6. remove roe from bath/packaging – remove membrane and separate lobes – top roe with shallot/caper mixture plus the rest of the parsely, serve immediately… perhaps with some bread
Recipe Notes

I’ve made this a handful of times now and 135F is the right temperature. I’ve also tried quickly browning the roe in a hot pan with some more butter after sous-vide and it works ok – honestly either way works well for me.

I’ve also pickled the roe first and then sous vide, but you need to up the temp to 146F or so to get the consistency of the roe right… I’m not really sure why