Taramasalata

Taramasalata
A plate of taramasalata with garnishes
TypeSpread
CourseMeze
Place of originGreece, Turkey
Main ingredientsTarama (salted and cured roe of cod or carp), bread crumbs or mashed potatoes, lemon juice or vinegar, olive oil
  •  Wikimedia Commons logo Media: Taramasalata

Taramasalata (Greek: ταραμοσαλάτα) or tarama (Turkish: [ta.ɾa.ˈma]), also known as salată de icre (Romanian: [saˈlatə de ˈikre]), is a meze made from a salted and cured roe (colloquially referred to as caviar) of the cod, carp, or grey mullet (bottarga), mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, and a starchy base of bread or potatoes, or sometimes almonds.

Traditionally the dish is made with a pestle and mortar, giving a slightly grainy texture, but commercial taramasalata is usually very smooth.

Taramasalata is usually served as a meze, often with ouzo, as a spread on bread. The colour can vary from creamy beige to pink, depending on the type of roe and colourings used. Most taramasalata sold commercially is dyed pink, but high-quality taramasalata is beige.

In Greece, taramasalata is often served on Clean Monday (Καθαρά Δευτέρα, Kathará Deftéra), the first day of Great Lent, with onions and lemon.

Etymology

The word taramasalata comes from the Greek taramas (Greek: ταραμάς), a borrowing from Turkish tarama ("soft roe").

Normally, tarama is the salted roe itself, but sometimes the prepared dish is also called tarama. The spelling taramosalata reflects the Greek, but in English the a spelling is common.

History

By the late 19th century, tarama was recorded among the meals and appetizers (meze) sold in the meyhane culture of Istanbul. According to researcher Murat Doğan, tarama is one of the several classic tavern dishes that represents a Byzantine cultural contribution to modern Istabulite cuisine. Based on etymological grounds, American food writer and historian Gil Marks points to a Turkish origin for the dish.

While taramasalata was traditionally prepared with the roe of various fish, such as gray mullet, cod, and shad, it became primarily made from carp roe after Sephardic Jewish merchants popularized carp in the Balkans during the 16th century. This shift imparted a preferred pinkish-orange color to the dish, although the pink hue in many commercial brands is now achieved through artificial coloring.

Variants

Variants may include garlic, spring onions, or peppers, or vinegar instead of lemon juice. While not traditionally Greek, smoked rather than cured cod's roe is more widely available in some places, and often used. Bottarga is usually much more expensive than cod roe.

The scandinavian spread known as Smörgåskaviar is almost identical to taramasalata. Some versions of the Scandinavian dish includes tomato paste as a coloring ingredient.

Salată de icre

Salată de icre
Pike egg version

A similar dip or spread, salată de icre ('roe salad' in Romanian) is also common in Romania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria (known as хайвер, or haiver), and Israel (where it is known as ikra). It is made with pike or carp roe, but generally with sunflower or vegetable oil instead of olive oil, sometimes with a thickener like white bread. It is mass-produced and is widely available in grocery shops and supermarkets, as well as being made at home, in which case chopped onions are commonly added. It has a consistency and taste similar to mayonnaise, with the roe taking the place of the egg as protein.[citation needed] The traditional production method of salată de icre is standardized under the Romanian departmental standard N.I.D. 927-70 N 23 and registered as an EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed under the name "Salată tradițională cu icre de carp". The roe of this product is for over 50% carp based.

A dip, fasole bătută or fasole făcăluită (mashed beans), prepared with mashed beans, sunflower oil, garlic and chopped onions, is sometimes called icre de fasole (beans roe).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Also known as taramosalata

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Marks, Gil (2010). "Taramasalata". Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. p. 1800. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6.
  2. 1 2 Felicity Cloake (13 May 2015). "How to make the perfect taramasalata". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 Susanna Hoffman, Victoria Wise, The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking, 2004, ISBN 1563058480, p. 43
  4. 1 2 Kochilas, Diane (February 28, 2012). "Tarama, Greek cod roe, explained". DianeKochilas.com. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Taramasalata". Oxford Reference.
  6. ↑ Sen, Susanto (2025). Sanskrit Origins of English: Etymologies of English Words (Syringa- tormentum). p. 242. ISBN 978-93-343-0613-2.
  7. ↑ Ayto, John (2012). The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink. OUP Oxford. p. 364. ISBN 978-0-19-964024-9.
  8. ↑ Georgios Babiniotis, ed., Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας
  9. 1 2 Basan, Ghillie; Basan, Jonathan (15 April 1997). Classic Turkish Cooking. Macmillan. p. 68. ISBN 0312156170.
  10. ↑ Taramosalata is the spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary, with -a- given as an alternate form. -a- is the only spelling given in The Macquarie Dictionary (1995) for Australian English; in Chambers Dictionary (1994), Collins English Dictionary 6th Edition (2003), Concise Oxford Dictionary 9th Edition (1995), and The Times English Dictionary (2000), all of which represent British English but indicate alternate US spellings and indicate nothing here. -o- is also given, but second so that -a- is preferred, by Longman Dictionary of the English Language (1988) (British publisher). The word was not given at all a few decades ago such as in [Merriam-]Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977) or their three-volume 3rd International (1971) and is now given with -a- in The American Heritage Dictionary, see note above.
  11. ↑ Erdinçli, İhsan (2023). "16. Yüzyıldan 20. Yüzyıla İstanbul Meyhane Âlemlerine Eşlik Eden Mezeler ve Yiyecekler". Tarih Araştırmaları Dergisi (in Turkish). 42 (73). Ankara Üniversitesi: 151–180. doi:10.35239/tariharastirmalari.1052174. ISSN 1015-1826.
  12. ↑ Eksen, İlhan (2008). İstanbul'un Tadı Tuzu: Saray Sofralarından Sokak Yemeklerine (in Turkish). Istanbul: Everest. pp. 29–30, 66, 85. ISBN 978-975-289-486-0.
  13. ↑ Doğan, Murat (2025). "The effects and contributions of Byzantine cuisine to modern Istanbul cuisine". Discover Food. 5 (1). doi:10.1007/s44187-025-00486-4. ISSN 2731-4286.
  14. ↑ "Publication of an application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (2021/C 222/09)". European Union.
  15. ↑ Perianu, Catherina (2008). "Précarité alimentaire, austérité" [Food insecurity and austerity]. Manger pendant la dernière décennie communiste en Roumanie / Eating in the last decade of Communism in Romania (in French). 6 (6). doi:10.4000/aof.4513. Retrieved 2012-02-24.