What Is Shad Roe And How Do You Cook It?

Much like ramps, shad roe is a springtime delicacy that marks the beginning of the season. Shad roe is only available at fish markets and some specialty grocery stores for a short period each year, usually around March (but the shad roe season can be anywhere from February to May, depending on the location along the coast). Later in the season, shad is hard to find on the East Coast, but it is plentiful on the West Coast in June.

Shad roe is the egg sac of the female American shad fish, a member of the herring family. Each female shad produces a pair of lobe-shaped egg sacs. Although the fish itself is quite bony, shad roe is full of rich flavor similar to sweetbreads. But how do you cook shad roe? Most importantly, you should cook the roe at low temperatures to avoid bursting the eggs.

Here are a few ways you can cook shad roe in your own kitchen:

Fried in bacon fat. A classic method of cooking shad roe. Coat the roe with a light dusting of flour. Cook bacon until enough fat renders to coat the bottom of the pan, then lower the heat, add the roe, and gently cook until golden brown on the outside. Let the bacon and shad roe rest on paper towels before serving with lemon and garnished with parsley.

Mix it into scrambled eggs or an omelet. Add the roe to eggs and season with a little bit oif salt and pepper, then cook as desired.

With tomato-anchovy sauce. Anchovies lend salty flavor to a quick-cooking tomato sauce.

Sautéed in butter. Similar to the bacon fat method, simply sauté shad roe in butter at a low temperature until golden brown.

So there you have it, shad roe is actually a relatively easy ingredient to cook with — just like these 24 foolproof seafood recipes anyone can cook.