Grey mullet is, perhaps more than any other animal, what it eats. In the pond in Cabras, where these grey mullet are raised, the fish eat naturally and healthfully. The mullet's eggs, after being extracted, washed and purified, are put under salt and then hung to mature. At the right moment--and the expertise of the Manca brothers is put to good use in determining exactly when that is--the dried and salted eggs that make bottarga are pressed and sent for distribution. The color of the roe ranges from gold to dark amber. The saline aroma is accompanied by notes of almond and musk. Oro di Cabras has a smoothness that other bottarga can never achieve. A smoothness exalted in the bottarga with su biddiu (in the local Sardinian dialect: the bellybutton). Only the biggest and healthiest grey mullets (one in thirty, on average) allow the expert fisherman to extract the whole egg sac up to the "bellybutton", the external belly part, thus avoiding any contact between the eggs, hermetically protected inside the sac, and the outside. Bottarga can be eaten very simply with bread, after being sliced in thin shreds and left to soften in olive oil for at least half an hour, or in the classic Sardinian pasta dish Spaghetti Con La Bottarga (always add the bottarga at the end on the dish, not in the pan), or in fancier combinations. It is always delicious on omelets, rice, and mashed potatoes.