Caviar ceremony

The caviar ceremony refers to the ceremonial serving of sturgeon roe, presented in its tin set on a bed of crushed ice and lifted with a mother-of-pearl spoon. Metal is banned because it taints the flavour, leaving only nacre, horn or gold acceptable. The grains are tasted plain or on warm blinis with cream, kept at a temperature between zero and four degrees to preserve texture and aromatic finesse.