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Taramasalata
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- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4ounces salmon roe
- Juice of ½ to 1 lemon
- 1clove garlic peeled
- 8ounces panko soaked in water and squeezed
- Olive oil
- 8ounces peeled, boiled Yukon Gold potato (about 2 medium potatoes)
Preparation
- Step 1
Place roe in the food processor with lemon juice. Microplane the garlic, and tap into the container.
- Step 2
Purée until smooth and orangy-pink and “creamy.”
- Step 3
Add wet panko and a drizzle of olive oil, and purée until blended, now creamy and viscous.
- Step 4
Transfer to a bowl, and with a tiny teardrop side of a box grater, grate in the potato. Whisk all together.
- Step 5
Season with a little salt and more lemon juice to taste.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Taramasalata is one of my favourite mezes! However I prefer the version without potato, such as Rosemary Barron's recipe (Flavors of Greece). Krinos also sells jars of carp roe, which is what I use when I make it. I usually also have a small jar of the "pink-orange" stuff in my fridge though. And I save the potatoes for roasting with garlic, rosemary and lemon juice, or for making skorthalia which I love to eat as a dip.
No, no, no! It is taramOsalata, first. Grated onion, no garlic, white bread crumbs, not potato, and some parsley. Otherwise, okay.
Because words are only a close second to tastes on my palate, I love the term tiny teardrop to describe the side of the box grater to use. I'm sure better writing contributes to excellence in taste in the finished dish.
I am of Greek ancestry and grew up on Taramosslata. Like the author I occasionally buy a jar of the Krinos which is acceptable but not terrific. I love Salmon roe and have heard of people using it for tarama, so I was excited to try. But the results were inedible- gluey, pasty, fishy. I felt like I wasted time and money (salmon roe is not inexpensive). Before publishing recipes The NY Times needs to test them more. They often turn out not as good as they sound, but this one was a true disaster.
Wow, this was - hands down - the worst NYT recipe I've ever tried. And I've made hundreds over the years. Except for having to sub the smaller red roe for the salmon roe (salmon roe is definitely NOT 'commonly available' in Indianapolis on a Sunday afternoon), I made it exactly as described in the recipe. It produced just over one QUART of sticky pink glue. Ugh. I even tried adding in the suggested feta brine to little improvement. A day later, it's even worse.
Not very good at all. Tossed out the whole mess.
Gosh, I have to agree. After running all over Oakland looking for salmon roe (yeah, I was surprised too that it wasn't at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway, or our local Farmer Joe's organic grocery) I just got as far as adding the panko--and it is a tasteless and gooey mess. I am SO disappointed!
I only make my taramasalata with potatoes, but I pound the boiled Yukon Gold potatoes rather than grating them. That way you don't need the breadcrumbs because pounding produces a better texture than grating. You can achieve a denser or looser consistency depending on how much olive oil and lemon juice you add.
I add salmon roe to Krinos brand. No potato, no bread. Traditional?.... don’t care. Like the pop of salmon roe and amped up flavor.
I want to try this recipe, but the lack of specificity in "panko soaked and squeezed" worries me, especially after reading the article, and how many variations were tried to get it right. So: soak in how much water? just to cover? soak for how long? Squeeze lightly? until every drop is out? Until it has the consistency of...? I don't want to waste 4 oz of delicious roe to make what could potentially be "a pink gluey mess."
Also, a little lemon juice and not salmon roe or cod roe; for us it was always carp roe.
Not a single greek person/restaurant in NY(T) to fact check? TaramA is the roe, taramOsalata is the compound, whether word or dip. As a recipe, not that exciting. There is also white tarama available (at least in Greece) which makes an exquisitely fine and delicate taramosalata, especially if you use orange as well as, or in place of, lemon juice.
The worst NYT recipe I ever tried was called "easy flourless chocolate cake." $27 of fancy chocolate ended up as a brittle burnt mess in the bottom of a springform pan ($30+ that I also had to buy for the recipe.) But I agree, this recipe sounds bad just from reading it. And have you ever actually tasted the brine in feta cheese boxes?
We are not Greek but enjoy Taramosalata from our Greek friend. We have purchased Tarama online but enjoyed as is, a garnish to eggs.... This recipe was not at all intriguing to us either. Glad we didn't waste time trying it. Thanks for your comment.
I bought a jar of tarama just to make this, but having read the comments, there's no way I'm going to waste the tarama on this. Gabrielle Hamilton, what happened? Can you revise this and give us a new, improved version? Or warn us how to avoid the results so many commenters have ended up with?
Taramasalata isn't traditional Taramasalata if it includes anything other than fish roe, bread, olive oil, lemon, and grated onion. Period. Some people add red food coloring to give it color! Others add potato which diminishes the flavor. Still others add Cauliflower, which destroys the flavor.
I live in Colorado where I can't find a single restaurant that has taramasalata. I will either have to go to Chicago Greek Islands or try your recipe. Can I even get salmon roe here? I don't know. Colorado is very limited with good ethnic food.
Sorry, I am a big fan of Gabrielle Hamilton, but this recipe was simply awful. I made Taramosalata as an appetizer for Easter. I ended up putting it all down the garbage disposal. I love salmon roe (or almost any other kind of roe) but this tasted like fish glue.
Usually I'm wowed by GH, but every so often she makes a colossal misstep. Agree with others that the potato made it inedible, cement-like, very weird. I ate Tarama all over Greece and it was pretty consistently good. None tasted of potato.
What do you do with the potato?? It’s not in the instructions.
I should have read the notes to this recipe before I used it. It would have saved me time, effort, and money. It also would have kept me from wondering why the result was “a pink gluey mess” that tastes a bit like kindergarten paste with fish oil thrown in. The notes describe the result perfectly. We typically use NYT recipes several times a week and almost always love the results. To paraphrase several of the notes: Worst. NYT. Recipe. Ever.
I tried this recipe, but it was gummy. I used first class ingredients.
I love Gabrielle Hamilton's restaurant but, as a longtime tarama fan, I am deeply suspicious of this recipe. First, salmon roe is not "affordable." It's $60/lb. at Zabars. Secondly, the best tarama is made from carp roe, not cod roe. Cod roe (Fantis, pinkish) is dull in flavor; carp roe (Krinos, orange) is much brighter and tangier. Either one is less than half the price of salmon roe. The only good way to make taramasalata is with carp roe, though unfortunately it's hard to find nowadays.
Undaunted by the bad reviews, I gave this a try because the essay was so lovely. Alas, it is, indeed, pink and gluey, and there is, indeed, a full quart of it (and $25 worth of roe). I added a lot of lemon and salt to salvage it and will probably put it out at tonight’s party, but won’t make again. If you try it: 1) Halve the recipe. 2) Cut the panko down by an ounce. 3) Add more salt and lemon and the roe flavor will start to come through.
As a substitute for the jar of taramasalata, I sometimes buy a tin of cod fish liver (Danish - available in my local grocery up by the jars of anchovies in the refrigerated section) and mix the liver with some cream cheese, a bit of garlic, salt and pepper. The liver is silky and rich and actually not all that 'fishy.' But it makes a nice spread on crackers.
I want to try this recipe, but the lack of specificity in "panko soaked and squeezed" worries me, especially after reading the article, and how many variations were tried to get it right. So: soak in how much water? just to cover? soak for how long? Squeeze lightly? until every drop is out? Until it has the consistency of...? I don't want to waste 4 oz of delicious roe to make what could potentially be "a pink gluey mess."
I am of Greek ancestry and grew up on Taramosslata. Like the author I occasionally buy a jar of the Krinos which is acceptable but not terrific. I love Salmon roe and have heard of people using it for tarama, so I was excited to try. But the results were inedible- gluey, pasty, fishy. I felt like I wasted time and money (salmon roe is not inexpensive). Before publishing recipes The NY Times needs to test them more. They often turn out not as good as they sound, but this one was a true disaster.
Gosh, I have to agree. After running all over Oakland looking for salmon roe (yeah, I was surprised too that it wasn't at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway, or our local Farmer Joe's organic grocery) I just got as far as adding the panko--and it is a tasteless and gooey mess. I am SO disappointed!
Wow, this was - hands down - the worst NYT recipe I've ever tried. And I've made hundreds over the years. Except for having to sub the smaller red roe for the salmon roe (salmon roe is definitely NOT 'commonly available' in Indianapolis on a Sunday afternoon), I made it exactly as described in the recipe. It produced just over one QUART of sticky pink glue. Ugh. I even tried adding in the suggested feta brine to little improvement. A day later, it's even worse.
The worst NYT recipe I ever tried was called "easy flourless chocolate cake." $27 of fancy chocolate ended up as a brittle burnt mess in the bottom of a springform pan ($30+ that I also had to buy for the recipe.) But I agree, this recipe sounds bad just from reading it. And have you ever actually tasted the brine in feta cheese boxes?
Not very good at all. Tossed out the whole mess.
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