Mentaiko substitute

Substitutes for Mentaiko with ratios

1. 2Salted or smoked cod roe

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   The European equivalent, sold as smoked cod roe in Britain and as the base of Greek taramas.

   What changes

   Best for

   mentaiko pasta, dips and spreads, on toast, rice bowls

   Very close in behaviour: fine-grained roe that melts into butter and cream the same way. Smoked versions add a distinct smokiness that mentaiko does not have, which tastes good but no longer tastes Japanese. It is usually saltier, so use a little less and do not salt the sauce at all.

2. 3Taramasalata

   Taste and texture differ

   Use About 3 tbsp for every sac of mentaiko, and cut the butter by half

   Cod roe that has already been emulsified with oil, bread and lemon, which is a shortcut and a compromise at once.

   What changes

   Best for

   pasta sauce, spreads, dips

   It brings the roe flavour and the creamy body in one step, but it is looser, much more lemony and often garlicky, and the bread in it dulls the roe. A mentaiko pasta made this way is pleasant and noticeably tangier. Reduce or skip the added butter and cream, since the emulsion already has fat.

3. 4Grated bottarga

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tbsp grated for every sac (about 40g), plus 1 tbsp extra butter

   Dried, pressed mullet or tuna roe, and the most intense of the substitutes.

   What changes

   Best for

   pasta, rice bowls, finishing dishes

   This delivers the salt and a deeper, drier, more concentrated marine flavour, but no creaminess at all, because the water is gone. Add butter and a good splash of starchy pasta water so the sauce still coats. It is much saltier than mentaiko, so add no other salt and taste before adding more.

4. 5Ikura, masago or tobiko, mashed with butter

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by volume

   Right flavour family, wrong physical behaviour, and worth knowing why.

   What changes

   Best for

   pasta, rice bowls, toast

   These are loose beads with tough membranes, so they stay whole rather than dissolving into a sauce; you end up with roe scattered on pasta instead of roe sauce coating it. Mash them into softened butter with the back of a spoon first to break some of them down, and accept a chunkier, less silky result.

5. 6Anchovy paste plus Japanese mayonnaise

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 2 tsp anchovy paste + 2 tbsp mayonnaise for every serving, plus a pinch of gochugaru and shredded nori

   The genuine pantry fake, honest about how far it gets.

   What changes

   Best for

   mentaiko pasta, mentaiko mayonnaise for bread or potatoes, rice bowls

   This covers all three jobs in the right proportions, salt, umami and creamy body, and it makes a good dish. It does not taste like mentaiko: anchovy is more savoury and less marine-sweet, and there is none of the faint granular texture of roe. The nori is what makes it convincing, so do not skip it.