[SebastianRed]

Hello to all, Not sure the best forum to post this. I have always liked fresh sushi/sashimi, and I know a lot of guys prepare there own. I would like to try this myself. (with fluke/sea bass etc) What is the proper way to care for fish. (from the moment its caught) So that it is safe to serve raw?

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[bonsiguy]

as soon as the fish is boated bleed it and throw it in the cooler on ice .some people guy the fish asap too but ice is a must.the fish is alot easer to make a nice cut when cold too

 

[DarthBaiter]

Catch a legal fish, drain the blood, ice it.
when you get ready to fillet, wipe off all slime and fillet the fish. Take care to not get any slime on the meat. Don't throw it in a bucket of salt water. Get some Korean hot sauce and enjoy.

 

[aFineCatch]

Where does one get Korean hot sauce. Always looks homemade.

 

[bonsiguy]

almost any good supermarket if not any asian market will for shure have it .

 

[MakoMike]

1st bleed the fish, then put it in a slurry of ice and salt water and keep it there until your ready to eat it or take it home. If you can keep it in the slurry on the way home, do it. If not pack it in flake ice for the ride home. Try to keep the fish out of contact with fresh water. not all icing methods keep the fish as cold as you would like and with any fish, sashimi or not, coler is better.

 

[SebastianRed]

Thanks for the insight, sorry I took a couple of days to get back. I am assuming with the bleeding, you are cutting the throat fresh out of the water like a tuna or bluefish, then putting into ice, or slush ice?

 

[CaptPaul]

Bleed fluke or sea bass by making a small, deep incision behind the pectoral fin, on the lateral line. You'll know you've got it when it runs blood. Also, make a puncture at the tail on the lateral line on each side. Put the fish in a bucket of cold saltwater until it dies, so it bleeds out as much as possible. If you cut te throat, it will die much quicker, hence not bleed out as much. Then ice the fish down. A brine will keep it colder, but wrapped in a towel, in a cooler, on ice, will keep it from sliming up. As mentioned before, avoid contaminating the flesh w/ slime or viscera. The purist will gut the fish, wash it and dry w/ paper towels, then fillet it.

For the Korean-style red sauce, get some red pepper paste from an Asian market. Add chopped up garlic to taste, maybe some sesame seeds, a few drops of Sprite or 7-Up to take the edge off. It gets headier after it sits in the fridege for a day or two.

 

[tunafever]

go to mitsuwa in edgewater they should have it under vinegared red pepper past aka korean hot sauce. The sri achi or whatever the chinese stuff is ok but super hott and thin and not that great on sashimi but I will use it sometimes. Go to any Korean restaurant in your area and ask if they have it.

 

[623764]

freezing and bleeding

I cater and will be openning up a restaurant, so i have my food safety and handling license required by the state. If you want to be really safe, you have to freeze the fish for 15 to 24 hours b/c of parasites that can be present in raw fish. this is in fact how almost all sashimi you eat is done.

In terms of bleading, this is just not done by expert fish mongers or chefs dealing w/ whole fish. as long as you fillet it correctly, there is no reason why the fillet should come into conact w/ any blood. if you fillet skills are not up to par, then you may want to bleed the fish.

 

[MakoMike]

rickpsy wrote:
In terms of bleading, this is just not done by expert fish mongers or chefs dealing w/ whole fish. as long as you fillet it correctly, there is no reason why the fillet should come into conact w/ any blood. if you fillet skills are not up to par, then you may want to bleed the fish.

You are correct, its done by the fishermen who catch the fish. Bleeding of a fish after its dead just doesn't work.

All of the Japanese fish buyers require that the fish be bled right after being caught and they verify it by taking core samples. You'll never sell any fish to a dealer that specializes in Sushi/sahimi fish unless it has been bled.

As far as freezing goes, you are correct. But the fish has to be kept at some really low temperature, which can't be done with a home freezer. IIRC it has to be kept frozen at something like -40 degrees for 24 hours. HJ knows the exact spec., maybe he'll chime in.

This post edited by MakoMike 08:18 AM 08/01/2008

 

[rebirthofham]

are there usually parasites in fluke? I usually fillet it myself and run it through a light to see if i see anything, and so far, i have never seen any parasites. Are the parasites microscopic?

 

[blowfish317]

re: Sashimi

For starter, I always bleed them by cuttig behind the head thru spine to kill fish fast. They will die instantly. I always have plenty of ice in cooler and mix 50/50 with salt water. After a few hours in this cold water, my fluke or seabass will have whitest meat you ever seen before.
When I am ready to fillet, if I am hungry, I will fillet usual. If you can take time and do it, I recommend you to scale fish then gut it 2 remove intestines and blood in its cavity. You would cut inside along spine where blood is usually present. Use an old tooth brush 2 remove the rest of blood. This way, you don't have to spit out scales when you are eating....

Its ready for my plate.
There is 2 way of eating Sashimi(Hwae in Korean).
1. Japanese way. Go 2 korean or Chinese market and look for Ponzu sauce and Wasabi. First, take some of wasabi and put it on your sashimi. Then dip it into Ponzu and eat it. You will truly enjoy the real fish taste. This is my favorite way of eating sashimi.
2. Korean way. You need 2 buy GoChooJang(if you like to make from scratch)or ChoGoChooJang(It usually comes in a ketchup like bottle or containers and ready 2 use)You just ask it by name at H-mart in Long Island. I usually add some fresh lemon juice into ChoGoChooJang 2 make it smoother.
Please take easy on ChoGoChooJang bcz you are not tasting fish but spicy sauce. It is best when you dip half of piece and eat..
That is my take on Sashimi...

 

[CaptPaul]

Bleed the fish. The flesh is always better afterwards. Fish don't bleed much after they die, the blood pools in the flesh more than in mammals because they don't have a developed circulatory system.

As Mike said, you need a high-quality freezer to prepare your sashimi properly. Many people who eat it w/o freezing will not do so unless they have hard liquor to chase it w/, as they believe this helps kill parasites.

Paul

 

[MakoMike]

blowfish317 wrote:
For starter, I always bleed them by cuttig behind the head thru spine to kill fish fast. They will die instantly.

That's definately NOT a good idea. You don't want to kill the fish instantly, you want to bleed it while its still alive so that the heart will pump all of the blood out of the circulatory system. Easiest way to bleed any fish is to cut the gills. There are lots of other ways to do it depending on the species of fish, but every species will bleed out if you cut the gills.