Despite being glamorized by Mame Dennis and her nephew Patrick in ‘Auntie Mame‘ – (as “fishberry jam” – it’s salty kind of but he liked it) – caviar never held much allure for me. Part of me also suspected I might enjoy it a bit too much, given my penchant for briny things – olives and capers and all things fishy. For those slightly contradictory reasons, I’ve avoided caviar all these years, happily not spending the extra money or indulging in such decadence.
That changed during our recent homage to ‘Babette’s Feast’ in which ‘Blinis Demidoff’ formed the opening salvo. Suzie put the caviar on sparingly for all the guests, so I was left with an almost-full jar at the end of the evening – which meant I could act a total fishery jam glutton and go to town the next day. The sea-like brilliance that was merely hinted at with that first trial, was magnified and made center-stage on a bed of creme fraiche, and I was instantly a caviar convert.
