for Wagon-restaurant
Also known as the Restaurant-Car, this was a place trains like the Orient-Express or the Trans-Siberian where well-heeled guests would come to dine on caviar. Diners on the Orient Express ate mostly Iranian caviar, whereas Russian caviar was served on the Trans-Siberean, most likely due to the fact the train started in Moscow, traversed Siberia, and ended in Vladivostok. In the summer of 2016, an ‘Orient Express’ pop-up restaurant was set up in an original 1920’s restaurant-car that stopped in Cannes, Paris, and Bordeaux. The travelling restaurant was overseen by Michelin-star chef Yannick Alléno and pastry chef Yann Couvreur. The two joined forces to recreate the fine dining meals that were served on board back in the day. The menu for the memorable journey had a rather amusing amuse-bouche: Celery Delight with Salty Caviar Pearls.
Sturgeon are most at home in water with low salt content. It is a migratory fish that travels upstream to spawn – the time when it will lay its eggs. Depending on the species, it is either anadromous (a fish, like salmon, that lives in the sea and travels to fresh water to reproduce) or potamodromous (like trout, a fish that lives and reproduces only in fresh water).
A sturgeon’s weight is approximately 10-18% caviar, which equates to roughly 1.5-2kg depending on the species. The fish itself and its precious eggs appear in countless record books; for example, some female Beluga can produce up to 10kg of caviar.
The Acipenser transmontanus (aka the White sturgeon) is the true American cowboy of sturgeon. It spends its life between the Pacific Ocean (mainly the bays around Vancouver and San Francisco) and major rivers that run along the American West Coast. It is the most farmed species in California, but can also be found in Europe, mainly Italy. Its name comes from its white scales and belly; its eggs, however, are not white – it produces Transmontanus caviar, which is more of a deep charcoal grey.
After making the rounds of Royal courts in the East and West, caviar became highly sought after in early 17th century Russia. Reserved for the Tsar and his Russian Court, it became known as a rare, expensive delicacy. In 1675, Tsar Alexei I placed an imperial monopoly on caviar. Wild sturgeon could be found in the Caspian and Black Seas where they were caught for their roe. in 1952, Iran gained control over the fishing rights in the southern Caspian Sea, and Iranian wild caviar soon garnered international recognition as best in the world. The collapse of the USSR in the early 1990’s brought with it a boom in industrial scale fishing; Russia and number of countries on the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan) then started harvesting sturgeon to make caviar at unsustainable rates. It was soon impossible to continue to ignore the sturgeon’s imminent extinction, pushing CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to intervene: first, in 1998, CITES attempted to limit international trade of sturgeon; then, in 2008, wild sturgeon fishing was banned outright in an attempt to preserve the species.
As is the case with wine, caviar improves over time. It is also a perfect pairing duo. While champagne is the ideal companion, their many other fish in the sea to choose from. Opt for a dry white from Burgundy or the Loire: Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, Montlouis, Vouvray, Chablis, etc.
Caviar has long been a source of inspiration for comedians and scriptwriters
alike. For example:
«You can like caviar and still feel like eating veal stew.»
Guy Bedos
«With caviar?!»
«When a woman stops ovulating, darling, they’re the only eggs she’s got
left!»
Saffron to Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, based on the series by
the same name.