Try the Latest Culinary Trend: Unconventional Caviar Pairings

Caviar with peanut butter and popcorn

“Many chefs like to showcase caviar for what it is on its own, but I like to use it a bit differently—to showcase its natural salinity,” says Jenner Tomaska, chef and co-owner of Esmé in Chicago. Tomaska’s “Artist Palette” dish is a creative DIY approach that invites the eater to explore its possibilities by mixing and matching several unconventional pairings. “Popcorn, peanuts, and even our sweet potato ice cream all need salt, and caviar’s briny, fish-forward flavor draws out the nuances and complexity of all those ingredients. It’s is always something our guests are excited about, and it’s fun to see their relations to this more unexpected presentation.”

Caviar cannoli

“The cannoli came about by happy accident,” says chef Blake Shailes of Grandmaster Recorders in Los Angeles. “We were playing around trying to make Italian food fun. Something sweet and savory with a rockstar flair—a luxury sweet and a savory snack. The dish is cannoli filled with a clam and white marsala cream, each end capped with caviar.”

Caviar hot dogs

At Island Creek Raw Bar in Duxbury, MA, a casual drinks-and-snacks garden overlooking the oyster farms of Duxbury Bay, the menu’s all-star is a hot dog generously doused with caviar and a schmear of crème fraîche. “Hot dogs are the fastest way to democratize it,” says Sherman.

Caviar on sweets

“Putting caviar on blinis [Russian pancakes] is perfectly acceptable but really quite boring,” says Michael Du Cane, co-founder of Pointy Snout. “The things that caviar tends to go well with don’t deflect its inherent flavor. We love serving it on ice cream, and have made so many different types of homemade ice cream. Orange blossom ice cream, green mint ice cream, black charcoal ice cream. We’ve also presented it with white chocolate, and it was divine.”