The Southern Heritage Cookbook Library “Breakfast and Brunch” edition contains a menu for a “Maryland Spring Breakfast For Two.” The menu includes asparagus, fresh strawberries, cornmeal muffins and the pièce de résistance: ‘Shad Roe with Bacon.’ And this is how shad roe is best served. Simply and traditionally. Cook bacon; sautée onion; cook roe with onion; add lemon.
“Shad Roe and Bacon” has been advertised on Maryland Spring menus for over a hundred years now. So far, I’ve most enjoyed this preparation atop a bagel with cream cheese, served as you would cured salmon.
This hasn’t stopped me from experimenting. I’ve made John Ridgely’s Shad Roe Croquettes for this site. I’ve made shad roe bánh mì.
This year I made shad roe ravioli.
I think that for me, the appeal of shad roe is its relative obscurity- at least here in Baltimore. While it doesn’t come cheap, and is certainly ascending the ranks to *hot ingredient* status, I still get to delight in the thrill of introducing this delicacy to friends. First I entice them with alluring photos of the raw roe sacs. “Maryland’s Polarizing Delicacy,” I call it, referring to the handful of writers who have pronounced it revolting.
“Baltimore has long had some dubious culinary leanings… while on York Road the other night, I spotted a restaurant banner announcing the annoying shad roe.
I do not eat it. It’s worse than tripe, muskrat or kidney stew. Rhubarb is a delicious spring treat by comparison. And why is it, no matter what dining establishment I pick this time of year, that the person next to me is tucking in, with glee, on the vein-filled stuff, smothered with a pile of bacon?” – Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, April 01, 2011
In 2004, Sun writer Rob Kasper theorized that a taste for shad roe separated Marylanders from.. everyone else*.
“One way to tell the native Marylanders from the “come-heres” is to put plates of shad roe in front of them and see who dives in and who shies away.” – Shad roe: “For Marylanders, it’s delicious,” for others, it’s just fishy, Baltimore Sun March 17, 2004
How on earth could I resist that?
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Baltimore Sun used to list the prices of goods available at Lexington Market. Prices for shad roe accompanied weekly announcements about spring arrivals like strawberries and soft-shell crabs, alongside the usual dairy, meats, and vegetables imported from southern states.
Shad Roe’s arrival is also fortuitously timed with Lent, which surely increased its popularity and sense of fleeting blessings.
Much to my humbling, the idea of putting shad roe into ravioli is apparently not an original one. Shad roe stuffed in ravioli is mentioned by none other than James Beard in “Beard on Pasta.” It is also the butt of a joke in the book “American Psycho.”
I first topped my ravioli with beurre blanc with vermouth, capers and shallots. I found that altogether too overbearing and ended up toning it down. When I served the ravioli with a simple melted butter-garlic sauce (ok… a tiny amount of vermouth) then topped it with some parsley, capers and a little Romano.. well it was positively lovely.
This is a dish you’d serve to someone who is not too sure about shad roe. But then, if you’re not all in, why bother? With shad roe’s price and popularity rising, it may be best left to the diehards, served with bacon and toast and a smug sense of Maryland pride.
Recipe:
I used the “Serious Eats” pasta recipe and ravioli method. Shout-out to the kind Old Goucher neighbor who lent me the pasta roller. My neighborhood rules!
- 1 pair shad roe sacs
- ½ to 2 shallots – to taste (garlic would be nice too)
- about 4 tb olive oil or butter
- salt to taste
- pasta dough
On medium heat, sautée a your shallots and onion until translucent. Add shad roe sacs and cover to heat evenly and prevent spattering. Gently move as needed to prevent sticking to pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, until all roe is brown and no pink remains. Sprinkle with salt if desired.
Remove to bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool while you roll pasta (”How To Make Perfect Ravioli” on Serious Eats)
Fill each ravioli pouch with 1 tsp filling & seal.
To cook, plunge into boiling water for 3 minutes.
My sauce:
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tb salted butter
- capers, drained but not rinsed
- pinch minced parsley
- pinch of grated Romano/Parmesan
- parsley and lemon for garnish
Sautée garlic in butter, add a splash of vermouth or white wine if desired and continue to cook until brown and nutty. Drizzle over cooked ravioli. Top with remaining ingredients, garnish with lemon and additional parsley.
For more fun with shad, view last year’s photos of the whole lovely process of gutting the shad.
*Why yes I do know that shad roe is and was consumed all up and down the eastern seaboard, thank you.