'Grey Babies' — The Lavish Seafood Elizabeth Taylor Couldn't Get Enough Of

As a woman known for her jewelry collection as much as her movies, it should come as no surprise that Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor had some expensive tastes in food. Fashion designer Vicky Tiel, who lived with the actress and her husband for more than 10 years, recalls Taylor's love of the finer things in life on her personal blog. In particular, her fondness for Iranian beluga caviar.

Taylor was such a fan that she even had a nickname for the fish eggs: grey babies. Iranian beluga is larger and lighter in color, something akin to grey pearls. Taylor preferred them to all other types of caviar and considered serving the small black caviar a "no-no". This was a treat to be enjoyed at New Year's Eve in particular, when Taylor celebrated by flying in her favorite foods from around the world,

Tiel also shares the star's recipe for caviar "sandwiches." It starts with baking Idaho potatoes, which are then cut in half and emptied of the flesh, leaving a very thin skin. The skin is loaded with crème fraîche, two or three generous spoonfuls of Iranian beluga, and finely chopped white onions. It's then topped with another potato skin to create a rather luxurious sandwich. And to serve, a glass of the best champagne, of course.

Think of the most expensive and luxurious foods and caviar would certainly be on the list. While there are other kinds of fish eggs, true caviar is only taken from sturgeon, the scarcity of which contributes to the delicacy's famously high prices. Within the world of caviar there are different grades and price points determined by the type of sturgeon and the region where it is produced.

Beluga caviar comes from the huso huso sturgeon, one of the largest species of sturgeon. The eggs are larger and light in color (hence Taylor's name for them), and the texture is delicate and creamy. Other types of caviar include osetra caviar, which is firmer than beluga with a nutty taste, and sevruga caviar, smaller in size with a fresh saltiness.

Beluga sturgeon is native to the Caspian Sea — which is bordered by Iran and Russia among other countries — and the fish is also farmed in China and several European countries. Iranian beluga is considered to be some of the best thanks to the good water quality, sustainable harvesting, and manual processing.

For those who'd like to celebrate New Year's Eve a la Elizabeth Taylor but don't have the Hollywood budget, there are more affordable caviar alternatives. Roe from salmon or whitefish can hit the spot just as well, particularly if you have all the right caviar accompaniments.