How to Make Romanian Icre – Fish Roe Salad Recipe

Ever since I was a little girl, I remember eating fish roe salad. My mother would often make it and make my sandwiches with it sandwiches for school. The fish roe salad is a staple of the Romanian cuisine, and it is not only used as a spread for sandwiches, but it is always served with Easter or Christmas dinners too.

Whilst these days you can easily buy the fish roe salad already made from any Romanian shops abroad, or any supermarkets in Romania, it’s not the same as making your own, so it will taste different.

Making Romanian fish roe salad is not hard at all and requires only a handful of ingredients. When you make the fish roe salad you can control how much oil you want to put in, as well as how acidic you want it to be.

The fish roe salad is technically a spread, and not really a salad. The most popular fish roe to make this salad are cod and herring. If you visit the Danube Delta in Romania, you will also find it made from pike roe, which is a delicacy.

The Ingredients for the Romanian Fish Roe Salad

There are only a few ingredients in a fish roe salad. You can find fish roe in jars in most of the Romanian shops. Alternatively, you can buy them from your local fishmonger. In this case, you will need to salt them and leave them for a few days, then drain them well.

You will also need vegetable or any neutral oil, as well as lemon, a couple of slices of white bread soaked in milk, and a small amount of mineral water. You could skip the mineral water, but this is what makes the roe salad fluffy and light.

In my opinion, one of the key ingredients of fish roe salad is the finely chopped onion. There are some who won’t like it because it’s raw, but I love it and I will always add it to my salad for an extra layer of flavour as well as a bit of texture. 

How to Make Romanian Fish Roe Salad

The secret of making a good Romanian fish roe salad is how you pour the oil into the food mixer. You must be patient and do it very slowly whilst continuously mixing, to avoid the splitting of the salad. If you’re unlucky and the salad does split, you can easily fix it by adding a bit more lemon juice.

You will start by mixing the fish roe for a couple of minutes, before carefully adding the oil, little by little. It is better to use a stand mixer to make this salad, as it’s easier to keep the mixing continuously whilst you add the ingredients.

Once the fish roe have started to go white and the mixture has thickened, add the bread. Make sure you squeeze it well first, so there is no liquid going into the mixer.  Continue adding the oil the same way as before, alternatively with the lemon juice, pouring little by little. Halfway through, add two spoons of mineral water, which will make the salad fluffy. Continue until you finish the oil. Make sure to taste the salad as you go along, and when it is to your liking, stop adding the lemon juice. I like mine more on the sour side, so I will usually add all the lemon juice.

Once you’ve finished with the oil, before taking it out of the mixer, you can add the chopped onion into the salad and mix it well one more time.

How to Serve the Romanian Fish Roe Salad

The Romanian fish roe salad is usually served with bread. The bowl is decorated with slices of lemon, parsley, and sometimes black Kalamata olives. I like to top my bread with slices of tomatoes as well, as I feel the combination works very well together.  

You can keep the fish roe salad in the fridge for 2-3 days, but I can guarantee you will eat it all before that.

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