How Much Caviar Should You Serve Per Person?

As the dinner party host, you aim to dazzle your guests with a sophisticated array of dishes, featuring luxurious caviar service. Given the premium nature of caviar, ensuring the proper serving size is key to both impress and manage resources effectively. So, what is the ideal amount of caviar per person for an upscale gathering? Let's explore.

Defining True Caviar

The term caviar is often misused to refer to any bright, popping fish eggs. True caviar however refers only to the salted sturgeon roe harvested from the Caspian and Black Seas. Beluga, ossetra, sevruga and the golden sterlet are famously coveted varietals.

Quality is paramount with true caviar, as subtleties in flavor and texture can mean the difference between pleasantly briny bursts or unpleasantly mushy bites. When served properly, the delicacy delivers a heavenly condensed burst of flavor not replicated in other roes.

Serving Size Depends on the Occasion

The optimal serving size should complement the event you are celebrating without overshadowing other menu items.

Friendly meetings: For more casual get-togethers with 2-6 close friends, allow 1 ounce or 2-3 tablespoons of caviar per guest. This allows everyone a satisfactory taste while keeping expensive waste to a minimum.

Cocktail Parties: For standing mingling events with fluctuating attendance, plan on providing 1⁄2 ounce or 1-2 teaspoons worth of caviar per person.

Spoon dollops onto passed crostini, blini pancakes or endive leaves for convenient bite-sized indulgence.

Formal Dinners: Hosting a seated multi-course dinner? Scale back to 1⁄4 ounce or 1⁄2 a tablespoon of caviar per diner between 10-50 guests.

For context, one ounce equals about one heaping tablespoon.