Bottarga is salted, cured fish roe pouch, typically of the Mugil cephalus or the bluefin tuna (). The best-known version is produced around the Mediterranean; similar foods are the Japanese cuisine karasumi and Taiwanese wūyú zǐ, which is softer, and Korean cuisine eoran, from mullet or freshwater drum. It has many names and is prepared in various ways. Due to its scarcity and involved preparation it is expensive and regarded as a delicacy.
Names and etymology
The Italian form can be dated to , as the Greek form of the word, when transliterated into Latin as ova tarycha, occurs in Bartolomeo Platina's De honesta voluptate (), the earliest printed cookbook. In an Italian manuscript that "closely parallels" Platina's cookbook and dated to shortly after its publication, botarghe is attested in the corresponding passage.. Italian MS in the Bitting Collection in the Rare Book Room of the United States Library of Congress. In Platina, the word is the Latin transliteration of ὠβά τάριχα.
The first mention of the Greek form (oiotárikhon) occurs in the 11th century, in the writings of Simeon Seth, who denounced the food as something to be "avoided totally", although a similar phrase may have been in use since antiquity in the same denotation.ᾠά τάριχα 'eggs of preserved by salting', citing Diphilus of Siphnos quoted in Athenaeus III, 121 C. .
It has been suggested that the Coptic language outarakhon may be an intermediate form between the Greek and Arabic, whereas examination of dialectical variants of the Greek ᾠόν 'egg' include the Pontic Greek ὠβόν (traditionally where the mullets are caught), and ὀβό or βό in parts of Asia Minor. The modern Greek name comes from the Byzantine Greek, substituting the modern word αυγό for the ancient word ᾠóν.
History
In the 15th century, Martino da Como describes the production of bottarga by salting then smoking to dry it.Maestro Martino da Como, trans. Stefania Barzini, The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book, 2005, , p. 112.
Preparation
Regions
Tunisia
Egypt
Greece
Avgotaracho Messolonghiou,Katselis G., et al. (2005). Fisheries research 75:138-148. made from fish caught in the Messolonghi-Etoliko Lagoons, is a European and Greek protected designation of origin, one of the few seafood products with a PDO. Agriculture - Quality Policy - (PDO/PGI) Fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived therefrom
Italy
Its culinary properties may be compared to those of dry anchovies, although it is much more expensive. Often, it is served with olive oil or lemon juice as an appetizer accompanied by bread or crostini. It is also used in pasta dishes.
Mauritania
Turkey
United States
Elsewhere
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