Tarama

Taramas is salted, cured fish roe, traditionally carp roe in Greece though cod roe is now at least as common, and it is sold in jars as a thick paste rather than as separate eggs. It is a preserved pantry ingredient rather than a fresh one, which is why it keeps for months and why it is bought from a shelf rather than off ice.

Taramosalata is what it exists for: the roe worked together with stale bread that has been soaked and squeezed, or with boiled potato, then let down with olive oil and lemon juice until it turns pale and thick. It is eaten above all on Kathara Deftera, Clean Monday, at the start of Lent, when roe is permitted and most other animal foods are not.

Real taramosalata is beige, or a dull pinkish grey. The bright pink version sold in supermarkets is coloured, and that colour is a fair warning about the rest of the recipe. The two mistakes are using too much roe, which makes the finished dip aggressively salty, and adding the oil too quickly, which splits it exactly as a mayonnaise splits.