Sea Urchins in brine?

[Jenise]

I was investigating bottarga on Amazon and came across this product, too. I can't quite imagine preserved, non-fresh Uni but this product out of Chile is just that. Has anyone tried anything like it?

https://www.amazon.com/GEOMAR-Sea-Urchi ... F0aWM&th=1

Never heard of such a thing, but at $8.99 I'm tempted to try it out.

I've never heard of it, either, but Google has recipes for maloreddus that use it. (Maloreddus is a Sardinian pasta shape and I've actually eaten maloreddus with sea urchin... at a good Italian restaurant so I assume it was fresh.)

[Jenise]

For some reason, mentally comparing fresh uni with a brine version brings about an unsettling reminder of the ugly choice I had to make in high school science class: dissect a freshly killed frog or one preserved in formaldehyde?

At least you didn't have to perform frog vivisection, which I was forced to do in Physiology Lab in college. If I had the decision over again I would have told the professor I'd take a zero on the lab experiment if that was the alternative.

-Paul W.

For some reason, mentally comparing fresh uni with a brine version brings about an unsettling reminder of the ugly choice I had to make in high school science class: dissect a freshly killed frog or one preserved in formaldehyde?

Well that did nothing to further my interest in brine cured uni!

[Jenise]

Sorry; not sorry.

At least you didn't have to perform frog vivisection, which I was forced to do in Physiology Lab in college. If I had the decision over again I would have told the professor I'd take a zero on the lab experiment if that was the alternative.

-Paul W.

Boy - I bet the frog was pithed off! (I had to do that sort of thing too).

My thought on the bottarga is that being salted to a degree that would preserve it would change the taste substantially. We need to hear from someone that has tried it!

The only frog I ever cut into had been injected with various colors of latex to highlight different biological systems. Bleh.

Bottarga is nice stuff, in small doses. It still tastes like fish eggs but it is very firm (i.e., a block of it can be shaved with a sharp knife) and it is very salty.

[Jenise]

Note, the bottarga I was interested in was a wholly separate product than the brined sea urchins. The latter only came to my attention because Amazon threw one of those "People who purchased this product also bought..." things at me.

I love bottarga used correctly (and mentaiko). I also have a block of tarako (mentaiko minus chile) in freezer, but needs to be amped up a bit.
Preserved urchin is pretty different, and I have trouble imagining, but as Mike said if I saw at $9 I'd probably experiment (I pay $15 for a small tray of uni).

[Jenise]

I love bottarga used correctly (and mentaiko). I also have a block of tarako (mentaiko minus chile) in freezer, but needs to be amped up a bit.
Preserved urchin is pretty different, and I have trouble imagining, but as Mike said if I saw at $9 I'd probably experiment (I pay $15 for a small tray of uni).

The last time I bought uni was for Terrine Day at Bill Spohn's. I went Mexican: served a slice of scallop terrine topped with a scallop ceviche nested in a corn husk and for garniture I added chicherones stuffed with fresh uni and small dice of spicy avocado aspic. Those were the days! Now I know very few people who will eat it. Bob was not a fan.

I can take or leave uni. It's nice enough but I don't get all the fuss over it.