# Shad Roe (Bear's Favorite Food)



## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

*Shad Roe (Bear's Favorite Food)*

Got a call from one of my spies on Sunday---"Hey John, They got Shad Roe at Giant!"

*Bears Love Shad Roe !*
So, off I go to Giant on Monday, to check it out.
My closest "Giant" had some nice looking Shad Roe sets, for $9.99 per set.
I ask the old guy working there, "How many you got?"
He says, "How many do you want?"
I replied, "8 or 9 sets would be nice".
He removes the container & counts them---"Seven sets---Do you want all seven?--- I'll only charge you for 6 sets"
So 7 sets it is.
I haven't had any for nearly two years, since I bought 25 sets from a restaurant wholesaler for $7.50 per set.
My son wanted a set, so I gave him one set, I prepped one set for me, and I blanched the other 5 sets for freezing.
So yesterday morning I put one set in salt water (in fridge) to draw the blood out.
Then after about 4 hours, drained the water, flipped the set over, and salted again in fresh cold water.
Then 1 hour previous to Dinner, I drained & rinsed, and put it in ice water for an hour.

*There are many ways of preparing Shad Roe, but this is the way I did this set.*
Remove any unwanted connective tissue between sacs & separate the pair.
Rinse well, and very gently.
Dry well with paper towels, and coat lightly with flour.
Fry up a pan full of Smoked Belly Bacon.
Remove Bacon to drain, and replace the Bacon with the Shad Roe, in the hot Bacon grease, on Med/Hi heat.
After 4 or 5 minutes, gently flip Roe over for another 4 or 5 minutes.
I don't like them pink inside, but much longer in the pan will turn the millions of tiny little eggs into little rubber balls.
You have to use a lid or screen, when frying, and don't turn the heat up too high, or the eggs will be exploding like C4 !
The hot little balls will hit you in the face, or even stick to the ceiling!!!
Remove from pan, and serve with the bacon and whatever else you want.
Many people like lemon slices with it.

Thanks for looking,

Bear

*Left Click to zoom in!*

Seven sets for the price of 6:







Seven sets rinsed and drying:






Close-up MMMMmmmmmmmm:






Five sets blanched & ready for freezing.
Notice how eggs came out through surface at a lot of places.
This is because they were not handled properly prior to being sold.
The 25 sets I got from the wholesaler had none of these holes or cuts from handling:






One set soaking in salt water (connective tissue still intact):






Frying up a bunch of my Bacon:






One separated set of Shad Roe frying in smoked bacon grease:






My Dinner:
Shad Roe (Notice I sliced a piece open, so you could see some of the "Millions" of Shad eggs inside)
Fried Bearcarver Bacon
A chunk of reheated leftover CSRs
Roasted Red Taters


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## chef willie (Mar 23, 2011)

Well, once again I am amazed by what I learn on this forum. I will admit to not knowing anything about Shad roe but they look interesting. Similar to caviar I'm assuming?


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

Chef Willie said:


> Well, once again I am amazed by what I learn on this forum. I will admit to not knowing anything about Shad roe but they look interesting. Similar to caviar I'm assuming?




I never ate caviar (raw fish???).

The best way I can describe this stuff, would be to say, if you like fried or broiled fish, this is about 10 times as good---And no bones!

I was weaned on this stuff. If you want to just try a little, fry up a little sac of bluegill roe---golden brown.

Sucker Roe is even better than Shad Roe, because the eggs are finer.

Bass eggs are good too.

Fried Trout eggs & fried Salmon eggs?----Yuck! (IMO)

Bear


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## SmokinAl (Mar 23, 2011)

Learn something new everyday! I'd give it a try, but I've never seen it around here. I love lobster roe! I always buy female live lobsters when I get them, sometimes the roe is in them. By the way that plate you put together is a Cardiologists nightmare, couldn't you at least put a piece of broccoli on there?Thanks for sharing, Bear


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## chef willie (Mar 23, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> I never ate caviar (raw fish???).
> 
> The best way I can describe this stuff, would be to say, if you like fried or broiled fish, this is about 10 times as good---And no bones!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips. Caviar=sturgeon roe, best eaten on a cracker with freezer cold vodka shots...lol. Salmon eggs=bait in these parts. Smoked trout is pretty decent but every cat in the area will be following you for days. If I eat that ever again GF says I havta sleep on the couch.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

Chef Willie said:


> Thanks for the tips. Caviar=sturgeon roe, best eaten on a cracker with freezer cold vodka shots...lol. Salmon eggs=bait in these parts. Smoked trout is pretty decent but every cat in the area will be following you for days. If I eat that ever again GF says I havta sleep on the couch.


I better fix that---I didn't mean fried trout is yuck---I meant Fried Trout eggs is yuck, like fried Salmon eggs.

We use Salmon eggs for bait on this end of PA too.

Bear


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> Learn something new everyday! I'd give it a try, but I've never seen it around here. I love lobster roe! I always buy female live lobsters when I get them, sometimes the roe is in them. By the way that plate you put together is a Cardiologists nightmare, couldn't you at least put a piece of broccoli on there?Thanks for sharing, Bear


You catch plenty of Gills & Bass. Try frying a couple small sacs of their eggs up---just when they start turning golden brown & hot inside.

You can flour them or corn meal them too.

Watch out for the explosions!

I wanted to put some broccoli on my plate, but I ran out of room. I'll have two helpings of broccoli tonight to make up for it.

I had to get rid of that last bit of CSRs.

Thanks Al,

Bear


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## chefrob (Mar 23, 2011)

can't stand the stuff! maybe it's the texture or the fact that i worked at a steakhouse that sold lots of them. we did it pretty much the same way you do and we served it with 2 rashers of bacon.


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## smokin relaxin steve (Mar 23, 2011)

Never had this, but looks pretty good... i will try to see if i can find it aorund here... thanks for the idea!


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## irie (Mar 23, 2011)

this is definitely something new... But it looks really good! I have eaten a lot of different things and this is definitely something I would try.


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## boykjo (Mar 23, 2011)

I guess I can try it with cappie eggs. I know what you mean by being weaned. I can eat chicken hearts like they were popcorn. Dad used to buy them at the butcher shop all the time. Most people look at me when I boil leftover chicken hearts..... especially in the south


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## the dude abides (Mar 23, 2011)

You're a disgusting man bear.  LOL  But we still love you.

My grandma used to fry up bass egg sacks like that all the time when I was a kid. 

For those who've never tried it (bass anyways) take the flavor of fish and multiply the "fishyness" by 100.  It's like super concentrated fish flavor.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

chefrob said:


> can't stand the stuff! maybe it's the texture or the fact that i worked at a steakhouse that sold lots of them. we did it pretty much the same way you do and we served it with 2 rashers of bacon.


I come from a lower middle income (or less) family, who relied on a lot of fish & game. We all loved many kinds of Roe, even both of my sisters.

It's cooked---Caviar isn't.

I usually broil it, but I figured I'd fry this one, and broil the ones that I blanched (broiled on toast, topped with bacon).

I once was sitting at a bar, and a young lady came in, sat next to me, and ordered Shad Roe. I looked at her, and the bartender looked at me & snickered.

She said, "Why are you guys looking like that?" The bartender said, "John (me) is the only regular at the bar who ever orders Shad Roe". And I said, And you're the only female I ever saw eat that, other than both of my sisters". She said, "Hmmm, you have two very intelligent sisters".
 

Bear




Smokin Relaxin Steve said:


> Never had this, but looks pretty good... i will try to see if i can find it aorund here... thanks for the idea!


Better start looking soon. The commercial season ends soon (from the bay)---A few weeks before they run up the Delaware.

Then it's only from hook & line, unless the one guy still has a license to net them near Lumberville, NJ.

Bear




irie said:


> this is definitely something new... But it looks really good! I have eaten a lot of different things and this is definitely something I would try.


Like I said, if you can't find them, try a few Bluegill or Bass Roe to see how much you like them first.

Bear


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## beer-b-q (Mar 23, 2011)

Bear, If It Didn't Come Out of a Chicken It Doesn't Go Into Beer-B-Q...


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

boykjo said:


> I guess I can try it with cappie eggs. I know what you mean by being weaned. I can eat chicken hearts like they were popcorn. Dad used to buy them at the butcher shop all the time. Most people look at me when I boil leftover chicken hearts..... especially in the south


Yup, we ate all that stuff, Deer heart, liver, (even kidneys).

Rabbit hearts, kidneys, liver (if the dog didn't get it warm from the rabbit as a reward for finding one).

Pheasant gizzards. 

My grandparents couldn't afford to raise my Dad, so he lived on the farm, with my Great-grandfather, and worked for his keep.

They had no electric or phone on the farm. He flunked 8th grade & he blamed it on running out of candles to study by. None of us argued that fact either.

He was a great hunter & fisherman. He bought a 30-40 Krag when he returned from WW2, and shot over 100 deer with it in his lifetime.

I own it now. If it sounds like I'm bragging about him, I am.

I don't blame anybody for not believing these things, because I know they are true, and I find it all hard to believe.

Bear
 




The Dude Abides said:


> You're a disgusting man bear.  LOL  But we still love you.
> 
> My grandma used to fry up bass egg sacks like that all the time when I was a kid.
> 
> For those who've never tried it (bass anyways) take the flavor of fish and multiply the "fishyness" by 100.  It's like super concentrated fish flavor.


Thank You Very Much, Dude!   
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Once you soak them in salt water for 4 hours to over night, they aren't near as fishy smelling, and are much better tasting than any fish (IMO), especially a Shad, which in my book is one of the worst fish there is to eat. We always hate when the season is over---it only lasts about 6 weeks.

Bear

Hope I didn't bore too many people.


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## irie (Mar 23, 2011)

Bear you ever eat the male "egg sack"?


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

irie said:


> Bear you ever eat the male "egg sack"?


NO !!!

I'm not that kind of a guy!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I think they call it the "milt sac".

I heard people eat it, but nobody I know ever did, or at least admitted to it.

Bear


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## chef willie (Mar 23, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> Yup, we ate all that stuff, Deer heart, liver, (even kidneys).
> 
> Rabbit hearts, kidneys, liver (if the dog didn't get it warm from the rabbit as a reward for finding one).
> 
> ...


I had a feeling you might take that comment of Dudes as a compliment. Was kinda thinking that myself but didn't say it. Figured I didn't know you well enough or long enough..<grin>. And I don't eat organs either.....being a city boy & all that. The only thing running wild around me growing up was Norwegian Rats in the alleys. Think Pops made $25 a week doing construction plumbing on the high rises so we ate a lot of pasta. Luckily, the apt. we lived in (a 5 story walk up) was under rent control from WWII....50 bucks a month, or I think we woulda been eating pigeons. Thanks for sharing the peek into the Bear Cubs life....wasn't boring at all.


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## irie (Mar 23, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> NO !!!
> 
> I'm not that kind of a guy!
> 
> ...


You may be missing out on something amazing. Although I haven't had it from a shad I did have it from a monk fish while I was in Japan. It was delicious!


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## chefrob (Mar 23, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> Hope I didn't bore too many people.


not me.................


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## mballi3011 (Mar 23, 2011)

Yes Bear you are disgusting but but but I do still love you and adore some of the OTHER foods that you make.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

Chef Willie said:


> I had a feeling you might take that comment of Dudes as a compliment. Was kinda thinking that myself but didn't say it. Figured I didn't know you well enough or long enough..<grin>. And I don't eat organs either.....being a city boy & all that. The only thing running wild around me growing up was Norwegian Rats in the alleys. Think Pops made $25 a week doing construction plumbing on the high rises so we ate a lot of pasta. Luckily, the apt. we lived in (a 5 story walk up) was under rent control from WWII....50 bucks a month, or I think we woulda been eating pigeons. Thanks for sharing the peek into the Bear Cubs life....wasn't boring at all.


LOL---I knew what Dude meant. He's my buddy, so we just kid around.

I think he really does love me a little.

I think all those things we went through made us much stronger later in life.

Bear


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

irie said:


> You may be missing out on something amazing. Although I haven't had it from a shad I did have it from a monk fish while I was in Japan. It was delicious!


I'm sure you are right, but I don't think I could try it, probably for the same reason many won't try Roe, but what can I say.

I like Monk Fish though---Around here, we call it the poor man's lobster---My Mom used to make it.

Bear


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

mballi3011 said:


> Yes Bear you are disgusting but but but I do still love you and adore some of the OTHER foods that you make.


Thanks Mark---I think---LOL

Bear


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## irie (Mar 23, 2011)

Yea its good stuff man! If you are willing to the female stuff you might as well try the males! You never know some of the nastiest looking stuff tastes the best!


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## Bearcarver (Mar 23, 2011)

One cup of Shad Roe has 362 calories & 47 grams of protein (95%), but is very high in cholesterol.

In case anyone is interested.

Probably the only real food that is better for bodybuilding than liver. They didn't have the chemicals they have now, in my day.

Bear


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## shortend (Mar 23, 2011)

Bear, I was born on a farm much like your dad. We didn't have many amenities in my earliest years. No electricity, no indoor plumbing. Had a "2 holer" outback and used "honey pots" in the winter. Although, we were fortunate enough to have indoor pumps at the kitchen sinks, fed from a sistern, they'd freeze up when it got real cold in the winter. Had a wood stove for house heat with gravity fed register openings for the upstairs bedrooms. We had plenty of quilts and blankets for bedding and stayed pretty warm at night, although  you could see your breath in the morning. Needless to say, you didn't waste any time getting dressed when you got out of bed. I remember my mom's cook stove that we burned mostly corn cobs in. We were dirt rich and money poor. We raised and harvested almost everything we ate. All our own chickens and livestock. Had a huge garden with all kinds of vegetables, fruit trees, grapes, raspberries, etc. You name it, chances are we raised it, butchered it, canned it, or dried it. No fridge or freezer. Got a big ice block that would last all week for the wooden icebox every Sunday after church from the gas station in town. How many guys out there can remember threshing oats or farming with a 4 horse team of Percherons? We hunted and fished for some of our food, too. To this day, I love eating what most people would consider "guts". With our family (10 kids) you didn't want to get in the way of the "flurry" of forks stabbing the chicken hearts, livers, gizzards, necks, and feet when the fried chicken hit the dinner table. LOL

We ate fish roe, too. I'd nearly forgotten about it. Mom soaked them in salt water overnight and fried them up with scrambled eggs the next morning for a special breakfast treat. Life was much different in those days. In someways much more difficult, but in other ways much simpler and better. Everyone had to work for the betterment of the family, and believe it or not were a pretty happy bunch.

ShortEnd


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## roller (Mar 23, 2011)

I had fried Crappy Roe a couple weeks ago for the first time..It was ok and I ate quite a bit of it .


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## Bearcarver (Mar 24, 2011)

ShortEnd said:


> Bear, I was born on a farm much like your dad. We didn't have many amenities in my earliest years. No electricity, no indoor plumbing. Had a "2 holer" outback and used "honey pots" in the winter. Although, we were fortunate enough to have indoor pumps at the kitchen sinks, fed from a sistern, they'd freeze up when it got real cold in the winter. Had a wood stove for house heat with gravity fed register openings for the upstairs bedrooms. We had plenty of quilts and blankets for bedding and stayed pretty warm at night, although  you could see your breath in the morning. Needless to say, you didn't waste any time getting dressed when you got out of bed. I remember my mom's cook stove that we burned mostly corn cobs in. We were dirt rich and money poor. We raised and harvested almost everything we ate. All our own chickens and livestock. Had a huge garden with all kinds of vegetables, fruit trees, grapes, raspberries, etc. You name it, chances are we raised it, butchered it, canned it, or dried it. No fridge or freezer. Got a big ice block that would last all week for the wooden icebox every Sunday after church from the gas station in town. How many guys out there can remember threshing oats or farming with a 4 horse team of Percherons? We hunted and fished for some of our food, too. To this day, I love eating what most people would consider "guts". With our family (10 kids) you didn't want to get in the way of the "flurry" of forks stabbing the chicken hearts, livers, gizzards, necks, and feet when the fried chicken hit the dinner table. LOL
> 
> We ate fish roe, too. I'd nearly forgotten about it. Mom soaked them in salt water overnight and fried them up with scrambled eggs the next morning for a special breakfast treat. Life was much different in those days. In someways much more difficult, but in other ways much simpler and better. Everyone had to work for the betterment of the family, and believe it or not were a pretty happy bunch.
> 
> ShortEnd


Unbelievable how many more memories you just brought back. Every thing you said was very familiar, except they had to shoot most of their meat, because their only cows were milkers. At my Great-grandpop's, where my Dad was raised, I distinctly remember the GGF lifting one of the lids on the combination cooking/heating coal/wood stove to spit his chewing tobaccy into the fire (sizzle). The house always smelled good, like wood smoke. The pump was about 70' away, and the one seater was about 80' away. People always gathered in the kitchen too, because it was warm there, and we played a lot of Pinochle in them days.

Some of this even carried into the 50s, as my first 3 years of school were in one room schoolhouses, with potbellied stoves in the back of the room, and outhouses in the field out back---one boys & one girls. The lady teachers always pitched for both teams at recess.  My first & second grades were together with only one teacher, but when I went to second grade, their were too many first graders, so they put a partition in the feed mill next door, put 14 desks and chairs in, and I went to second grade in the feed mill. In the 50s, we had indoor plumbing, but not in my school district until 4th grade (1958). Ahhh memories!!!

Thanks ShortEnd,

Bear

*My first grade school house has since been restored by the Richland Historical Society:*

http://richlandhistoricalsociety.com/Home_Page.html


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## arnie (Mar 24, 2011)

Bear, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Brought back many things I haven’t thought about for a long time.


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## meateater (Mar 24, 2011)

Darn Bear, From a guy that likes menudo I'd tear into a plate of that, never had it but wouldn't hesitate. Closest Ive had was a  jar of Pautkzes after a night of fishing and tequila.


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## daveomak (Mar 24, 2011)

Bear, The milt sac is really good. Just mountain oysters from the sea.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Sauteed in garlic butter, low slow and long until the texture is like.......rare liver I guess. I eat it cold as an appetizer. Veerryy good.

No balls, no blue chips.


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## virginiasmokesignal (Mar 25, 2011)

Bear,

My friend you certainly were not boring to me.  I have never had any kind of Roe but we live in the Appalachians. My family always had huge gardens in the summer with some stuff that you did not gather till the fall.  I can remember as a child we did our own hog killing in the fall, I think I have ate about every edible part of a deer, rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, frog legs and lots of trout and catfish and even one time I remember my Grandma fixing a ground hog, now that greasy stuff I want no part of ever again, but all of the rest of it was good. Now even My Grandma, who was born in 1899, had her limits, she refused to cook a coon or a possum.  In this part of the country many many people survived on what they could raise, hunt or catch.  My family, being kind of like yours did always have one thing, a milk cow but everyone did not have one and I have heard Daddy and my uncles talk about how important that the milk cow was.  I remember my uncle Leon, (Daddy's oldest brother also a WWII vet, who helped raise me while Dad was in the military and is now deceased) tell about Liza the milk cow and how if you did not know better you would have thought we were from India where they worship cows.  Now I have never heard about them eating any kind of Roe but maybe they did but when times are tough you did what you had to do to feed your family. Bear, thanks for you and others who have shared and brought back some good memories and reminded me that even thought we are much much better off now than my family was back then it seems life was much simpler back then. I guess what I am trying to say is that when times got tough the tough survived.  Thanks again Bear.

Your Friend,

Barry


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## Bearcarver (Mar 25, 2011)

meateater said:


> Darn Bear, From a guy that likes menudo I'd tear into a plate of that, never had it but wouldn't hesitate. Closest Ive had was a  jar of Pautkzes after a night of fishing and tequila.




You ate the Bait?????   

Reminds me when I used to shoot in the pool league with my best crazy buddy as my partner (two man teams league).

One day I got back from fishing a little late, and had to go right to the match.

I took a small Killifish Minnow (only about 1 1/2" long) in my pocket, into the bar, and when nobody was looking, dropped it into my buddies beer.

Jack took a couple sips, and a couple pool turns, before he noticed the minnow swimming in his mug (still alive).

Then I saw him looking close at his beer for a few seconds.

Then he looks over at me, says, "Is that the biggest one you caught?", and picks up the mug & chugs it!

Bear


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## meateater (Mar 25, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> You ate the Bait?????
> 
> Reminds me when I used to shoot in the pool league with my best crazy buddy as my partner (two man teams league).
> 
> ...


Well actually it was a friend and myself fishing and the jar was empty the next morning along with the Quervo...........


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## junkers88 (Apr 28, 2011)

Wow! Nice little waltz down memory lane, thanks for that guys. I was really surprised to see that anyone at this stuff, well other than me. *laugh* I remember my grandmother frying up catfish eggs and mixing them with scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfasts. There wasn't much on an animal that we didn't eat. Even now I'll eat just about anything and it drives my lady nuts. Nothing better than fried "parts". I'll have to hit the local Asian markets and see if they sell roe or not.


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## Bearcarver (Apr 28, 2011)

Junkers88 said:


> Wow! Nice little waltz down memory lane, thanks for that guys. I was really surprised to see that anyone at this stuff, well other than me. *laugh* I remember my grandmother frying up catfish eggs and mixing them with scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfasts. There wasn't much on an animal that we didn't eat. Even now I'll eat just about anything and it drives my lady nuts. Nothing better than fried "parts". I'll have to hit the local Asian markets and see if they sell roe or not.


If you get some, get a kind that has very fine eggs, like 1/32" in diameter or less.

Shad roe is better early in the run season. They sell them by the set (pair), but even though you get less for your money when the sacks are only about 7" long, they taste much better than later in the season (closer to when they drop them), when the sacks are 9" to 11" long, and the eggs are getting bigger individually.

That's why Salmon eggs are only good for bait!

Good Freshwater roe to eat:

Shad

Sucker

Bluegill

Crappie

Bass (Large M, Small M, Rock,)

Yellow Perch

Catfish (under 20")

Never ate any others.

Bear


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## Bearcarver (May 1, 2011)

Anybody want to learn more about various fish roe, check this out:

Cooking With Fresh Roe: A Rite Of Spring

Link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125898335

And don't tell me this Striped Bass (rockfish) Roe doesn't look awful tasty:







Bear

On Edit:  Since I posted this picture & link above, my Son has brought me a number of large Striped Bass.

I prepared the Roe every way I know, and I don't care for any of them.

Just wanted to let people know---I do not recommend Striped Bass Roe.

There are many fish that have great tasting Roe---IMO, Stripers are not on that list !


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## moikel (Aug 4, 2011)

Bear those roe do look good,I will be cooking a few more as time goes by. I have to compete with Asian & European folk to get them at market. Lady sever said I was the first Australian she had ever seen buy them! Goes to show you how dumb people can be,if its 95% protein for $10 a kg  & farmed Atlantic Samon is $25 a kg 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 Dont complain to me about your food bill.


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## Bearcarver (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks Moikel !!!

Bear


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## checkerfred (Feb 29, 2012)

hmmm, so I've been catching lots of crappie here lately and many of them are full of eggs.....are they fishy tasting?


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