Readers offer tips on where to get mysteriously alluring bottarga

Since my article on bottarga came out on Saturday, I’ve gotten lots of letters from bottarga enthusiasts cheering me on and-or alerting me to other places to find the briny Mediterranean delicacy, as well as a tip for using the cured mullet roe.

Karl Squitier, a classics professor at Cal State Long Beach who teaches a class called “Ancient Eats,” says you can buy bottarga at Cortina’s in Anaheim, a well-known and beloved source for all things Italian in northern Orange County. (Note that at the moment the Anaheim location is closed for renovation after a fire. The Orange location remains open.)

Silvestro Conte, a native of Puglia who is just starting YourItalia, an “eno-gastronomic” travel company based in Washington, D.C., suggests that the best way to peel bottarga is by putting the piece in a bowl of warm water or under the faucet for a minute. “The peel will slide off so easily,” he writes. It’s a trick he picked up from fishermen’s wives in Sardinia.

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Several readers pointed out that Barbara Hansen, a former colleague of mine at The Times, posted a story on her blog TableConversation about bottarga (boutargue in French) at a kosher French-Tunisian restaurant. That would be Got Kosher? Cafe, where owner Alain Cohen prepares pates a la boutargue (pasta with bottarga) and also sells bottarga encased in wax.

Food writer Gerry Furth-Sides reminded me that Sal Marino at Il Grano in West L.A. makes linguine alle vongole with bottarga shaved over the top. He also garnishes his scallop crudo with celery leaves and olive oil with bottarga.

One reader wrote in to ask whether the jar of bottarga di tonno he’s had stashed away in a dark cupboard for several years is still good. He just never quite knew what to do with it. My answer? Taste it.

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Meanwhile, after writing so much about bottarga, I had a craving for the classic spaghetti alla bottarga and on Saturday night made the recipe Valentino chef Nicola Chessa, a native of Sardinia, had given me. The amount of pasta water he adds to the cooked pasta sounds alarmingly large, but works perfectly. Just be sure to cook the spaghetti very much al dente since it continues to cook a little when you add it to the skillet with the olive oil, bottarga and pasta cooking water.

It made a wonderful late supper on a hot summer night in L.A.

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