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SAUCE

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Soy sauce

Green onions, sliced thin

Green peppers, sliced thin

Pineapple chunks

Skin the sturgeon and tie it with pieces of larding pork. Place it on a rack in a braising pan or Dutch oven over the onions and carrots. Add the wine, salt and pepper to taste, and the bouquet garni. Cover and cook in a 425° oven according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 11). Remove the fish to a hot platter and make the sauce.

Sauce. Put the pan juices through a food mill or fine sieve. Return to the heat, add the vinegar, brown sugar, and the corn-starch mixed with a little of the broth. Stir until thickened. Season with soy sauce. Add the green onions, green peppers, and chunks of pineapple. Cook them just until well glazed. Pour over the fish.

Rice is a must with this dish.

COULIBIAC OF STURGEON

See coulibiac of salmon, pages 189–191.

STURGEON STEAKS WITH CREAM

2-inch-thick steaks

Salt pork or bacon

Finely chopped onion

2 cups white wine

Butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

Beurre manié (page 475)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cognac

Skin the steaks and tie them with salt pork or bacon. Arrange them on a bed of finely chopped onion in a gratin dish or baking pan and pour the wine over them. Butter the steaks well and cover the pan with a piece of buttered paper. Bake at 425° according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 8). Remove the fish to a hot platter. Add heavy cream to the pan juices and boil for five minutes to reduce. Put the sauce through a food mill or fine sieve and thicken if necessary with beurre manié. Taste for seasoning. Add a dash of cognac and pour over the fish.

My choice of accompaniment for this dish is wild rice or a rice pilaf baked in the oven with strong consommé. For salad, cucumbers in a sweet-sour sauce are ideal.

Caviar

True caviar, which is always gray, is the roe of the sturgeon and is one of the most expensive foods in the world.* The best-quality sturgeon caviar is priced at about $100 a pound. The gray roe of the whitefish and the red caviar, which comes from the salmon, are less expensive, but could never be called cheap.

Nowadays the finest caviar comes from Iran and the Soviet Union. Its quality is judged by the largeness of the eggs – the sevruga and the sterlet are regarded as the finest of all. Another test of quality is the amount of salt. The less salt, the better the caviar.

In the past, really excellent caviar came from the Great Lakes region and from the mouth of the Columbia River, but the present output is very small as a result of years of wholesale slaughter of sturgeon.

TO SERVE CAVIAR

Caviar is the perfect hors d’oeuvre. If you have the finest with practically no salt in it, store it at around 28° until you are ready to use it. About 2 ounces, or 2 good-sized spoonfuls, are considered an ample serving. My contention is that there is no better way to serve it than straight, with nothing save perhaps a little lemon juice, and some toast or dark bread.

Serve it in a glass bowl placed in another bowl full of chopped ice. Or, if you prefer, use a silver bowl. On very elaborate occasions caviar is sometimes served in ice carved into the figure of a swan or some other design. There are even special caviar bowls on the market for those who can afford to serve this great delicacy often.

The drink usually associated with caviar is vodka, straight, although many people prefer champagne. This is entirely a matter of personal taste.

If you wish to embellish the caviar serving there are certain accompaniments that are considered de rigeur. Besides the usual lemon, they include chopped hard-cooked egg – yolks and whites chopped separately; chopped raw onion; sour cream. Any or all of these are good, but I am definitely of the opinion that they are not needed unless the roe is exceedingly salty.

The perfect after-theater supper, or the perfect celebration of any special event, is certainly as much fresh caviar as you can