Sashimi - what is it and how to cook

The content of the article

What is sashimi
Beneficial features
How to cook
Cutting rules
Sashimi recipe
Serving dishes on the table

The main dishes of national Japanese cuisine include rolls, sushi and sashimi. The latter is especially appreciated by the Japanese, it is a delicacy, because initially only aristocrats could afford it. The main thing for serving sashimi is aesthetics, colors, for a variety of which vegetables are used, variations of their slicing and serving. At first glance, preparing a dish may seem like an easy task, but it’s worth considering that sashimi is made from raw fish. This means that the treatment must be correct, otherwise the consequences will be adverse to health.

What is sashimi

The national dish of Japanese cuisine, which is prepared from skillfully chopped raw fish, is called sashimi or sashimi. The word translates as “chopped meat.” The dish is served at the beginning of the meal, serves not to satisfy hunger, but for aesthetic and taste pleasure. For cutting sashimi, shellfish, octopus or fish are used (tuna, salmon, perch, halibut, yellowtail, catfish, trout, cod, flounder, pike perch, carp, sea bass).

Do not confuse sushi, rolls and sashimi. These are three completely different dishes. For the preparation of sushi, only rice with different types of raw fish, which are combined in the form of tortillas, is used. Rolls – a roll of rice, fish and other ingredients (meat, cheese, vegetables) wrapped in a noriya, and sashimi – pieces of fish cut into thin slices, served with sauces and seasonings.

Beneficial features

In Japan, the choice of fish for sashimi depends on the time of year. Properly selected varieties help to reveal all the useful properties of the dish:

The main ingredient (fish) is rich in proteins, vitamins, trace elements (potassium, zinc, phosphorus) and fatty acids that the body receives with food.
For cooking, only fresh product is used, which is stored at a temperature of -50 degrees, otherwise the risk of infection is high.
Proper defrosting contributes to the preservation of beneficial properties: the product is immersed in cold water, where the salt concentration is equal to sea water.

How to cook

The first rule of cooking sashimi: the fish must be very fresh. To give a special taste and draw out excess moisture, before cutting it is wrapped in kelp, let it brew in the refrigerator for a night or several hours. In cooking sashimi, cutting is important, which depends on the type of fish, the selection of a knife. Serving is also part of the cooking process, as the aesthetic pleasure of eating is important to the Japanese.

Sashimi cooking in Japan depends on the type of fish. For example, a cook cuts a poisonous puffer dish with a special knife (hickey puffer). Slices should be so thin that a plate shines through them. With proper preparation, the percentage of poison in the fish is small for poisoning, but causes euphoria. A few years ago, a species of puffer fish without toxins was developed in Japan. It is harmless, but no longer euphoric.

Cutting rules

One of the stages of preparation of sashimi is the correct cutting, which is done with a special knife Yanagiba (Yanagiba – willow leaves), the blade of which must be sharpened very sharply. Fish without scales, heads and entrails are cooled (do not freeze) and only then they begin to divide into pieces (the softer the product, the thicker it is cut). Different types of fish have their own way of cutting:

Hira giri (slices) – a form suitable for any kind. The thickness of the piece should be 0.5-1 cm and length 5 cm.
Ito zukeri (using wire or thread) – suitable for slicing squids and medium-sized fish. First, a slice is cut along the length of 0.5 centimeters, after which each slice is trimmed to the same width.
Kazu weights (cubes) – slicing according to the ito zukeri principle, after which the edge is trimmed to 1 cm. This type is used to feed tuna.
Usu zukuri (slices, paper thick) – white fish (bream fillet, pegra) is laid out on a flat surface, clamped by hand and cut at an angle by transparent thin slices.
Sorigi (at an angle) – a method for cutting the top layer near land, for which salmon or tuna is used. A corner is cut off from a rectangular piece of the product, 0.5–1 cm slices are made.
To cut a flat or small fish, a fillet is taken, cut in half and cut diagonally into thin slices.

Sashimi recipe

Time: 30 minutes.
Servings Per Container: 1 Person.
Calorie dishes: 138 kcal per serving.
Purpose: appetizer, start of dinner.
Cuisine: Japanese.
Difficulty: medium.

Sashimi in traditional Japanese culture is not intended to satisfy hunger. A dish is served before the main meal, since the Japanese believe that at this time the taste buds have not yet lost their subtle perception. Available and easy to prepare types of fish – salmon or salmon, which after cutting should be seasoned with sauces, spices. In serving for traditional Japanese cuisine, the esthetic side of the dish is important, which should not be forgotten in the final stages of preparation.

Ingredients

salmon – 100 g;
soy sauce – 1 tablespoon;
olive oil – 1 tablespoon;
garlic – 1 pc;
green onions – 1 bunch;
ginger root – 1 pc.;
lemon – 0.5 pcs.;
pickled ginger – 20 g;
sesame seeds to taste.
wasabi – on the tip of a knife.

Cooking method

Pick up fresh fish that was “totally” frozen at -50 degrees. Defrost it in cold salt water. The amount of salt should be approximately the same as in natural seawater.
Dampen the product with a damp cloth, clean the scales with a knife from the tail to the head.
Cut the flesh of the gills until you hear the sound of a chopped spine. Cut off your head, pull out the insides.
Rinse the fish in salt water, then wipe dry. Cut the carcass from the belly to the tail on one side and along the back from right to left on the other.
Separate the flesh from the bones towards the head from the tail. Remove any remaining bones..
Separate the skin from the pulp, remove the remaining small bones.
Before you cut the product, wrap it in a kelp, send it overnight in the refrigerator.
When the preliminary preparations are completed, cut off the corner of the fish and chop the pieces in the way of litter weights (at an angle). Slices should be 0.5-1 cm thick.
Chop finely green onions, fresh ginger root.
Pour the soy sauce separately, add chopped garlic or passed through a garlic press. Add the juice of half a lemon (about 1 tablespoon) to the sauce. In the resulting mass, add wasabi to taste. The Japanese believe that this seasoning has an additional disinfectant for raw fish.
For serving sashimi, take a long, narrow plate, lay the pieces of salmon at an angle.
Sprinkle with a mixture of onion and ginger.
Preheat, but not boiled olive oil, pour salmon, onions and ginger. Sometimes wine vinegar is added to the oil (2 tablespoons).
Pour the sauce on top of the dish, garnish with slices of lemon, sesame seeds.

Serving dishes on the table

Raw fish in Japanese (or just sashimi) is served before the meal. It is important to beautifully decorate the dish. For this, figuratively sliced and unusually folded fresh vegetables, lime, avocado, seasonings, seaweed, wasabi and ginger are used as a side dish. For the classic design, the Japanese take noriya (red seaweed), zucchini, daikon (grated Japanese radish) or carrots. Sometimes, shiso leaves (grass, like mint) or ground coriander are added to the daikon. According to Japanese tradition, there should be an odd number of slices on a plate (3, 5 or 7).

Wasabi with ginger are antibacterial agents. They disinfect raw fish, give additional prevention to the product. Wasabi is traditionally dissolved in soy sauce, where sashimi should be dipped before meals.

Ginger serves to interrupt, refresh the taste between the intake of different seafood and varieties of fish. It is not put on food, but eaten between meals. Japanese eat sashimi sticks. It is customary to serve dry white wine, beer, sake (Japanese vodka) for the dish. During a non-alcoholic dinner, it is customary to treat guests with green tea without sugar and lemon.