Olivier Poels returned to the program "Historically yours" on the origins of tarama, this dish from the Mediterranean basin which dates back to Antiquity.

He then delivered his recipe for a preparation in the rules of the art, which does not contain any coloring and which is therefore almost white. 

Tarama has become a staple of the aperitif.

Yet many continue to buy it in industrial jars of pink color.

But chef Olivier Poels is adamant: when done as it should, the dish is pale, even white.

In "Historically your", he told the story of this dish before delivering his recipe, very simple, and encouraged all those who can to abandon industrial products for homemade which has more taste and does not need coloring. .

Mullet roe before cod

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It is in Greece and Turkey that the ancestor of tarama was born.

Since Antiquity, we used to eat fish eggs, especially the caviar which already existed.

Tarama also means in Greek "salted fish eggs".

Originally, this dish was therefore made from mullet eggs.

And in the first preparations, in which a little milk or breadcrumbs were added to this puree, the color was close to beige, tending towards a light salmon pink.

Mullet roe, which is rarer, was then replaced by cod roe.

This is what is found in the vast majority of products today.

But in a real tarama, the color is very pale, almost white.

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An industrial rose

However, for commercial reasons, we have become accustomed to consuming a pink product, sometimes fluorescent, which comes from a very specific dye, E120, carminic acid.

This is cochineal carmine.

So it is crushed insect powder. 

Before the 1980s and Greece's entry into the European Union, this dish was almost unknown in France, except within the Greek community.

Today, there are few houses that prepare it as it should.

Petrossian and Kaviari are examples.

They specialize in caviar but tarama is not that expensive, just under 10 euros.

Above all, you can do this preparation yourself.

To do this, you have to buy smoked cod eggs, easily found in fishmongers.

Olivier Poels' homemade tarama

Ingredients :

- 300 grams of smoked cod eggs 


- 100 grams of crème fraîche


- 50 grams of grape seed oil 


- Lemon juice

Recipe :

Collect the eggs in the bag and shell them.

Mix the ingredients finely then whisk them to incorporate a little air. 

Finally, add a dash of lemon juice.