sushi anyone???

[Crazys13]

Now I need to go out for sushi, because I won't be spearing any for a while! My mouth is watering...

 

[drunkinbda]

anyone got any thoughts of hogfish sushi..be it sashimi, nigiri, or maki...?

 

[blaiz]

anyone got any thoughts of hogfish sushi..be it sashimi, nigiri, or maki...?

Is your hogfish a type of trigger fish? I have heard that poke' made from hoggies is pretty good. If you are not familiar with the term poke' its kind of like the hawaiian version of tartar.

I dont have an exact recipe, I usually just season, and oil to taste but here are the ingredients.

take your desired amount of fish (raw) cubed into 1/2 in or 3/4in cubes

Chop up green onion, yellow onion, garlic, ginger,

mix ingredients with enough sesame oil to thouroughly coat all fish and onions.

Add toasted (black or white) sesame seeds, chili flakes (optional), Hawaiian rock salt (or mediteranian), pepperm and a bit of soy sauce.

My secret ingredient (shhh... dont tell anyone!) is saracha. Its a tai hot sauce that comes in a clear bottle with a green twist cap with a chicken on the label. Its not too spicy but has awesome flavor.

Mix up all ingredients and wa la... poke'! my favorite types are ahi, uku (green jobfish), aku (skipjack tuna), Ulua, or any other fish that makes good sashimi!

There are many different variations on poke' here too. Basically all the same ingredients pluss a few more i.e

Shoyu poke- add a little brown sugar and lots of soy sauce

Korean poke- add kimchee

limu poke- add seaweed (edible type found in hawaii)

wasabi poke- add wasabi paste or powder.

This same recipe can be used for tako (octopus) poke'. Tako has to be tenderized, cooked, and thinly sliced.

My favorite tako poke is the kimchee tako poke'. Friggen awesome!

 

[monchan]

Oldsarge says.

That only requires primium soy sauce in a bowl, some miso, some hot chinese mustard

I find some soy too strong in taste, especially the soy you can get that's made for sashimi. Over here you can get a great soy called kakishoyu or oyster soy sauce great flavour, and it lets you taste the fish. You could try a lightish soy and add a few drops of oyster suace. Sounds strange but try it.

Hot chinese mustard? I guess you mean wasabi/ japanese horseraddish?

If making sushi rolls seems difficult, don't make them. Just make the sushi rice as metioned before, make tight shapes like a egg thats been flattened a little and place your fish on top. this type of sushi is often eaten by just using your hands and no chopsticks, though thesedays it's a bit of an old mans way of eating it. but its easy.

Crazy13 said

For some reason I was only thinking of chemical pollution, wasn't considering the bacteria pollution.

I wont comment on this except to say, sometimes fresh fish can have parrasites.
If you ever go to Tokyo one of the most popular dating spots is a small museum called the parrasite museum, its popular with young couples on there first or second date because the girl freaks out and gets in close to the man HUgs him as she is scared or disgusted. Anyway they have a display with parrasites from salmon sashimi, made someone quite sick apparently. You can also see a tape worm someone had for 11years, Cant remember but it was 11m or 22m long. its sick there.

In Blaizes recipe he refers to something called panko, this means bread crums.
"Pan" is bread and "ko" means small/ little. Two types dried or fresh shredded bread.

Ipirate.

i mostly catch cod and a few striped sea perch, are any of these good for sushi or sashimi

Not sure about the perch but most cod here are great for either sushi or sashimi.

Oldsarge said,

Sushi is only safe when made from pelagic or deep saltwater species.

Not true those types of fish are larger and can be targeted easily by fishing boats so those types of fish are what usually end up in restaurants.

Many reef fish make great sushi/ sashimi Two of the fish I like to get are great for this purpose, but you cannot buy them and very rarely find them in sushi restaurants here. Ishidai (Japanese knifejaw) and Kobudai. The later I will only take if it's a good fish, reproduction is slow.

Blaize said

Only one way to find out:blackeye I would suggest that when you filet your catch leave it in the fridge over night. The meat will loosen up a bit and be a lot more tender. Fresh isnt always the best for sashimi. When a fish is caught and dies the meat tends to tighten up a bit, a fresh killed fish (unless stoned, bled, and put on ice immediately) will tend to make "tough" sashimi. A filet left to loosen up for a night will make very tender sashimi. I have learned this through personal experience

I completely agree. How long you leave it in the fridge though can vary depending on the fish. Some fish are good striaght out of the ocean but not that many. MOst fish will usually taste better for being left in the fish. The flavour starts to come out as the flesh softens.

Some fish though will always be a little tough ( Often reef fish) Like the Ishidai I mentioned before and leather jackets (they make good sushi, rare to get in the sushi shops here and usually cost a little extra) With this type of fish the thing to do is after letting it soften in the fridge, slice the fish quite thinnly 2-3mm. Then wash the sliced fish in ice water for 4-5 seconds. This causes the flesh to firm up a little and shrink a little, but when you eat it, it will be more tender. If the water turns quite milky it means the fish has a good fat contents. means good taste.

Sciencemike,

The fish and the nori (please remember to toast it )

You must be confused with korean nori, it's toasted and often flavoured with seseme
seed oil and salt. tastes great, but japaanses nori is used as you buy it.

Let me finish with one of my favourite recipes.

Any white flesh sashimi fish, this is good for the scrapy bits.
dice or slice the fish it's up to you. I usually use the untidy leftovers
when I make sashimi.

Get some dried wakame. (a type of seaweed) Most asian shops
will sell it or something like it.
soak it it water till it is soft and expanded. 3mins. or so.
Squeeze as much water out as possible.
Mix it with the fish.
Then top with some kind of dressing.

These work well:
Soy
Ponzu (as sciencemike said)
I often use Goma dressing ( japanese sesame dressing) once again
Some asian shops will have it. This is my fav. too.
Anything really. many salad dressings are good.

Then lastly sprinkle with toasted seseme seeds.
Makes a good side dish, puts a bit a colour on the table (green)
not quite a salad but really nice.

Most Of what I wrote, My wifes father told me. He's a chef here
and has tought me a bit about the local fish I bring home

Anyway sushi rolls while being very common in other countries,
Here they are often bought from super markets and the like.
If you go to a sushi place. most sushi it just on a bed of rice, but not all.

 

[Oldsarge]

Anyway sushi rolls while being very common in other countries,
Here they are often bought from super markets and the like.
If you go to a sushi place. most sushi it just on a bed of rice, but not all.

I would suspect that's true. I know that here in SoCal, my favorite sushi bar will only make rolls if you specifically request them. All the rest is as monchan reports. Wonderful stuff, sushi.

 

[Crazys13]

Boy, you can say that again!

 

[slingshaft]

Man it is so good to hear that other spearos take their catch to the next level! I've always said that speargunners have the opportunity to eat like kings, look great, and live forever! Here are some of the ingredients I use often. I'm actually out of Oyster Sauce, always buy the best, it will have more flavor and less salt. You only use a small amount,and can use less soy sauce. In the picture, on the right, is pickled radish. It is already cut into long strips, so it is easy to lay onto the sushi rice. You can find everything at the local Asian Markets. By the way,Blaiz, I want to thank you for the kind compliments you posted about young Jennifer's performance with Janis Joplin's band. She is a work in progress.

 

[slingshaft]

The little green bottle is Dill, and the bottle on the right is high quality fish sauce.

 

[blaiz]

Sraracha!!

 

[drunkinbda]

im still a little astonished people sushi up their personal catch..
doin that scares the crap outta me but i gotta admit i am tempted...

i guess the worst thing we really have here is cig (well at least theoretically, ive never heard of a case), so maybe it really doesnt matter if im cooking it or not

 

[Paul Maxwell]

im still a little astonished people sushi up their personal catch.. doin that scares the crap outta me but i gotta admit i am tempted...

Hi
There are very few fish I like the taste of traditionally cooked so for me either smoked, pickled or sushi. I can eat baked / grilled / fried fish but it has no WOW factor (I think to many spearfishing trips eating just fish killed it for me). If it is baked / grilled / fried then it would have to be a reef fish. The pelagics all taste very similiar to me.
Here in the UK there are only about 4 regular fish that one spears, the fish I catch 80% of the time is Seabass. Seabass is a firm fish which I believe is Pelagic and tastes "pelagic" thus i have had to be creative in my preperation of it. Now I have been doing this for a while I far prefer it to cooked fish. It gives it that WOW factor. There is a fish in the UK called the Pouting. It is a bottom dweller and always found in and around caves or wrecks. They are totally ignored by spearos here as the flesh is very soft and rarely grow to more than 1 Kilo. If I see a decent one I always take it. Sushied it has sweet flesh and is fantastic.

I must say it is difficult to beat sushied Wahoo or King / Queen Mackeral prepared at sea but unfortunately for me they are non-existant here.

Regards Paul

 

[monchan]

im still a little astonished people sushi up their personal catch..
doin that scares the crap outta me but i gotta admit i am tempted.

When it comes down to it raw fish is raw fish. There is no magic to make it safe.

Some fish are easier to cut and slice than others, thus anyone can cut/ prepare sushi/ sashimi.

Some fish taste better than others

Some fish have a hard/ soft texture

some fish can be a bit tricky/ F#$king hard to cut/ prepare, thats why we have sushi chefs.
If they sell it in a sushi shop don't be afraid to try it yourself.
As long as the fish has had some time on ice, or in the fridge
it will be ok. (taste/ texture)

99% of sushi will be fine The other 1% wont matter if you make the sushi or if you buy it at a restuarant. But thats the same with anyfood or restuarant.

If you chose a nice fish for sushi, the worst you could do is butcher it
a bit and have messy looking sushi, in which case who cares.

I was once fishing with my work mates in Sydney during lunch (rod fishing)
Got a nice little snapper and proceded to make sushi from it.
It would have benifited from being iced though. To this day they call me snapperhead, but it was such a sweet tasteing fish.
It's not I whom is missing out due to misconception.

give it a go, mate.
Sooner or later you'll think shit I wish I did.

Sushi chef = knowledge of many fish
and how to prepare lots of the different kinds of fish
(not really but thats what I think)

Most of us will have regular fish we catch and soon know if it's good for sushi. either by asking, searching( google) or buy just trying it.

 

[blaiz]

i guess the worst thing we really have here is cig (well at least theoretically, ive never heard of a case), so maybe it really doesnt matter if im cooking it or not

If your worried about cig its not going to make a lick of difference whether its cooked or not. Ciguatera is a toxin not a bacteria and there for can not be cooked off. The main concern with sushi is parasites. The difference between cooked and raw is that parasites will survive if left raw, if cooked the parasites are most times killed.

Another way to eleviate this concern if you are really worried is to vacuum seal your catch or filet and freeze it over night. Freezing it will kill the parasites as well. The problem with that is that now your catch has to be thawed out and is not the same as fresh sushi. I have never been too concerned about this. Unless I open up a fish and see lots of worms I have no problem sashimi'ing it up! I usually dause my sushi or sashimi with so much wasabi I dont know how I survive it:blackeye Its not hot enough unless i can feel it in the back of my head.

 

[drunkinbda]

hehe ya i figured if im gonna get cig then im gonna get it..but ive only heard that hoggies can get it..never actualyl heard of anyone tho..

ill give it a whirl next time i get one. im sure my friends will think it quite gross but as moncham said.. "It's not I whom is missing out due to misconception."

 

[drunkinbda]

ok so here's the plan.

i FINALLY got some friends rounded up for some spearfishing. gonna be out for the first half of the day and roll up to the raft-up around 1!!

so the plan is.. if/when/hopefully we catch some hoggies or snapper, im following some of the thoughts here and am gonna try to sashimi it up. We figure bring some lime pepper and soy with us, fillet at the dock after spearing, let it marinade on the way out to the raft... and enjoy some lovely fresh slices while everyone else settles with stale or wet potatoe chips hopefully this soy/lime stuff will tenderize it in the short time.

will let ya know the outcome of how good this "personal catch sashimi" is..:inlove

 

[blaiz]

Be sure to save some to try the following day. Ill bet you will find a world of difference from the fresh "same day" sushi!

 

[agbiv]

Just a quick bit of information--vibrio generally on hits in warm water--so the old saying here don't eat oysters in a month without an R. However pressure treating kills the bacteria so most shucked oysters sold at retail now are treated as are many oysters in the shell. I still like a 100 ct gunney sack full myself. Cig is toxin accumulated from coral reef structure areas and works up the food chain. No coral no cig toxins.

 

[drunkinbda]

hehe well .. we went..did a few hours.. got a hoggie and bonita. we BBQ'd with soy sauce and lemon juice. I had cut off a bit of each type for my sashimi experiment. I must say quite good, but as you said..not very tender. We didnt have much for storage so didnt bring any home but that will come next time!!!

but ya.. good stuff... every now and then my head thinks its spinning, but i think thats just cause of the 12 hrs on the water heheheh

 

[monchan]

I got a nice bass yesterday. My brother in law was visiting and wanted to try it sashimi, even though I said it wouldn't be at it's best. So we did one fillit for lunch, it was ok at best. (no real taste though) But the second fillit that went in the fridge till evening. Full taste had come out, very tender as good as it could be for that type of fish, SUPER.

I went out again this morning got one rock cod, one good snapper (50cm) and an octopus. The octopus was done sashimi to, There are a few different ways to do octopus. large ones are good 100% raw, but the way I do the medium ones is like this;

First, clean the shit out of the head (done at the beach before I go home)

Second, Before cooking take a good handfull of salt and rub the octopus between your hands. (not sure why must ask my father in law)

Third, near to boiling water dip it in by its legs slowly, bobing it up and down a few times the legs will curl up and you will end up with a nice looking octopus.

Forth, the thing is to only cook it for a little while leaving it half rare on the inside.
Take it out rince it in cold water. Slice it sideways along the legs, thinly.

Lastly, Eat it as you would any other sashimi.

This is really good, it's not tough, just slightly chewy and full of flavour.

 

[drunkinbda]

So we did one fillit for lunch, it was ok at best. (no real taste though) But the second fillit that went in the fridge till evening. Full taste had come out, very tender as good as it could be for that type of fish, SUPER.

oh more taste too? ill definitely have to bring more ice next time to save some.

so ya.. that thing about rubbing salt (ask your father in law), reminded me of a story of traditions, not that it has any bearing on salt on octopi (i would imagine it cleans it? perhaps?), but i just read this two days ago.

so..

There was once a family who was preparing thanksgiving dinner. The little girl really wanted to help out, so asked her mother what she could do. Her mother told her she could cut the ends off. The girl was happy to help, but asked her mother why do they cut the ends off. Her mother replied "i think its to increase the flavour, but why dont you go ask your grandmother".

Sure enough the little girl went to her grandmother and asked her why they cut the ends off of the ham. Is it to increase the flavour? The grandmother just smiled and said "im not sure, why dont you go ask my mother, you're great grandmother."

So the little girl goes to her great grandmother and asks again, but if forwarded on to her great great grandmother. she asks her mother's mother's mother's mother "do we cut the ends off the ham to hellp the flavour".

She laugh and replied, "no no sweetie, we cut the ends off the ham because when i was your age we had a very small oven so we had to to make it fit."