2001.6 - STURGEON

The sturgeon is another ancient fish. It has a heterocercal tail. This means that the tail is asymmetrical, with the majority on the top, and that the backbone runs all the end of the top tail lobe. When I was in graduate school, we had an expert in sturgeons come to visit Duke from UC Davis. I loved his talks on trying to breed sturgeons in captivity, so we could get the caviar from captive animals, and we wouldn’t have to kill the last fish for this luxury item. Anyway, in my opinion, it shouldn’t matter what species the roe comes from when it has to be eaten with a vodka chaser. After the first vodka, anything should do. The spines on my sturgeon are made using the same technique that my mother uses when she makes piecrust.