Recipe Redux: Corncakes With Caviar, 1985
Published: August 25, 2010

Food journalist Amanda Hesser revisits Anne Rosenzweig’s Corncakes with Caviar, a signature dish from her New-American restaurant Arcadia. Intended as a first course or amuse bouche, these little cakes are topped with crème fraiche and American Sturgeon caviar. Hesser recommends California Caviar Company as a good source from which to purchase sustainable caviar.

Rosenzweig’s corncakes are described as “tasty little gems — crisp and pebbly with bits of corn and lacy around the edges.” The chef has also paired these with a bowl of chili for a more down-home dish.

Hesser explores a modern rendition of the 1985 success with the help of Chef Mark Fuller from Spring Hill in Seattle. His interpretation of the dish replaces the caviar with spot prawns, and corn pudding for the corncakes. Although it looks less familiar, it is equally as delicious. Both recipes are given in the article.

Read the entire article here. (Source: The New York Times)

Breakfast Club: Introducing Bacon and Eggs Caviar
Published: July 23, 2010

And even with that steady devotion, it’s okay to still expect to be wowed every so often...

So allow us to introduce Bacon & Eggs Caviar, an infused, flavored twist on one of the most luxurious delicacies of the modern world, available now.

Technically not caviar (which is made with sturgeon roe) in the strictest sense, Bacon & Eggs incorporates the sturdier trout roe and infuses it with bacon to create a smoky fresh-from-the-sea morsel reminiscent of lox— making it the ideal accompaniment to your morning bagel and cream cheese.

Of course, you won’t want to stop there. We say, scoop it on anything where you’d put bacon—like your next burger or oysters, or even your next California roll. If you’re thinking trout roe is a downgrade from sturgeon, you should know that it’s bigger, which means more room to pack in that all-natural, applewood-smoked bacon pop your beluga has always been missing.

Since it’s highly perishable, you can call up the Marina-based producer, and they’ll hand-deliver anything from an ounce jar to a pound tin to you in the Bay Area that day—or the next, at the latest.

Rack it up as yet another win for bacon.

Read the entire article here. (Source: Urbandaddy.com)

Beluga Back on Market as Export Quotas Set
Published: July 26, 2010

GENEVA — Iran, Russia and three former Soviet republics have agreed on tight export quotas for wild caviar from the Caspian Sea for 2010, including 3 metric tons of prized beluga, a United Nations scientific agency said Friday.

High levels of poaching and illegal trade in the Caspian led to a temporary ban on international trade in wild caviar and other sturgeon products in 2001. At the time, CITES estimated that illegal trade was 10 times greater than legal trade. This forced Caspian Sea countries to agree on export quotas the following year, which they have done annually except for 2006 and 2009. To have their proposed quotas published, countries with shared sturgeon stocks must agree among themselves on catch and export quotas based on scientific surveys of the stocks, according to CITES, a Swiss-based treaty body that regulates international trade in wildlife.

The agreement covers six wild sturgeon species ? including huso huso, which produces beluga caviar, the most expensive. All six are listed in CITES's Appendix II, which means that they are not considered endangered species but international trade in them must be regulated on a scientific basis.

Read the entire article here. (Source: The Moscow Times)

Pressed Caviar: The Last Undiscovered Indulgence

December 2008 — Pressed caviar ? or payusnaya in Russian ? is a smooth, dense, nicely salty paste made from the fish eggs that break during the packing of traditional caviar. Once quite common in France, it was featured at New York City?s famed Le Pavillon restaurant, where I worked in the late 1950s. In the past 20 years, however, pressed caviar has almost disappeared from the market. In an attempt to bring it back, I recently partnered with the California Caviar Company to create a new pressed sturgeon caviar. I hope my recipes will inspire people to try it.

Read the entire article here. (Source: Food&Wine.com)

Caviar Dreams

December 2008 — Caviar continues to be a gathering point for both (Jacques Pépin) and Denver-based daughter (Claudine Pépin). So much so the (they) have created a sustainable line of caviar. The two launched their Pépin Payusnaya and Caviar Claudine — as part of the California Caviar Company's Chef's Signature Series — during June's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

Read the entire article here. (Source: 5280.com)

Anglers Help with Paddlefish Research

June 8, 2008 — The Sooner State is one of the (Midwestern states home to Paddlefish) and a recent paddlefish research project may have just netted the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) more than 1$ million. But even more important than the monetary gain may be the amount of data collected on this species and the interaction with anglers fishing for these beasts.

"Up until now we had a brush fire approach to paddlefish management," said Brent Gorder, Northeast Regional Fisheries Supervisor for the ODWC. "We've done creel surveys and looked at the exploitation of thes fish since 1979, but we really only knew about the current population and didn't get the answers we were looking for since many of these fish take eight to ten years to reach maturity."

A total of 4,221 paddlefish were processed at the PRPC (Paddlefish Research and Processing Center) with about 60 percent being males. Gordon said the amount of data and positive publicity for this endeavor was huge. "This provides us with too much good information to ever stop doing it," Gordon said. "We now have a database on paddlefish that any state in the country would envy." Plans are already under way for the 2009 paddlefishing season and Gordon says his administration thinks the PRPC was a huge success.

"One of the most important benefits of the PRPC was that it put our biologists in one-on-one situations with anglers from all over and they could talk about paddlefish and even other species like blue catfish and crappie," Gordon said of the public support and interaction often so crucial to the success of any governmental venture. "It's a win-win situation for everyone and we've got a lot of good press from it and anglers really love it so there's no way we could stop it now."

Read the entire article here. (Source: cjonline.com)

Azerbaijan: Ready for Sturgeon Fishing Ban, Though Reluctant to Follow Russia

May 2, 2008 — Azerbaijan stands ready to back a Russian ban on Caspian Sea sturgeon fishing, but local experts say that, in many ways, Azerbaijan is more of a model for sustainable sturgeon fishing than Russia itself.

The five Caspian Sea littoral states -- Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan -- are responsible for about 90 percent of the world’s black caviar production. However, experts warn that over-fishing may be causing a catastrophic decline in the sea’s sturgeon population.

Read the entire article here. (Source: Eurasianet.org)

Russian Police Arrest Sturgeon Poachers

April 14, 2008 — Police in Russia have confiscated almost eight tonnes of sturgeon caught by poachers in the republic of Dagestan. Russia reported that the official discovered the fish in a truck and that the illegal catch was hidden under boxes filled with fruits. It is believed that the fish were probably ordered by someone in Moscow and officials are now working to track down the buyer.

Read the entire article here. (Source: iar.org/uk)

CITES Caviar Export Quotas Remain Steady for Beluga Sturgeon Despite Threat of Extinction

March 4, 2008 — Despite evidence that beluga sturgeon stocks have declined by a staggering 90 percent in the past 20 years, CITES' 2008 export quotas again permit the fish and their eggs to be harvested. The sturgeon quota system was established to ensure that trade in sturgeon products would only be permitted from sustainable fisheries, but much evidence indicates the quotas do not reflect the urgent need for protection and the rampant illegal harvest and trade....in 2007, quotas for beluga caviar were 3,761 kg and this year, the export quota is 3,700 kg."

Read the entire article here. (Source: physorg.com)