On Storing Caviar, and the Metal Spoon

Two rules govern caviar between the shop and the mouth, and both are broken constantly by people who have just spent a considerable sum.

The first concerns temperature. Caviar wants to be cold, close to freezing but not frozen, which means the back of the coldest shelf and not the door. The door is the warmest part of a refrigerator and it moves every time someone wants milk. Caviar left in the door will be noticeably worse within days, and you paid by the ounce.

The second concerns the spoon. Metal, and silver in particular, reacts with the roe and lends it a distinct metallic edge that you will taste immediately once you know to look for it. Mother of pearl is traditional and correct. Bone or horn will serve. In an emergency, plastic is genuinely preferable to silver, an admission that costs me something to put in writing.

Serve it on the back of the hand if you wish to be theatrical. Serve it on a blini if you wish to be sensible. Never serve it warm, and never with a silver spoon, no matter how handsome the silver.