Fish & Shellfish
The varieties of fish and shellfish plus the safety of the consumption of mercury.
A lot of you would love to make sashimi or sushi like Jin and Jungkook and you can we have provided ways to debone and butterfly a fish, in the future classes you will get the full step by step of creating sashimi. Now non-sushi grade fish may contain high levels of parasites that could cause food-borne illnesses, including listeria, salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Even sushi-grade fish may contain some amount of these parasites, especially if it isn't kept refrigerated below 41 degrees Fahrenheit or frozen until you are ready to use it to keep these parasites from multiplying. Thaw frozen fish in the fridge and keep it refrigerated until you serve it, as thawing it on the countertop increases the risk of food-borne illnesses. Always ask your fishmonger to help you when it comes to choosing “sushi grade fishes”.
TYPES OF FISH
Seafood commonly used in raw preparations like sushi include sea bass, tuna, mackerel, blue marlin, swordfish, yellowtail, salmon, trout, eel, abalone, squid, clams, ark shell, sweetfish, scallop, sea bream, halfbeak, shrimp, flatfish, cockle, octopus and crab. Certain types of tuna, including yellowfin, southern bluefin, northern bluefin, Thunnus alalunga, Thunnus atlanticus and Thunnus obesus are particularly good for serving in raw form because they are less likely to cause food-borne illnesses and don't need to be frozen first.
BUYING FISH
When buying fish to serve raw, purchase fish that are labeled sushi-grade, as this type has been pretreated in such a way as to limit the risk of food-borne illnesses. This involves freezing the fish for a certain time at very low temperatures that you cannot achieve with a home freezer. Health regulations stipulate that seafood that is going to be served raw must first be frozen in this manner, except for certain types of tuna, so any sushi you purchase at restaurants has been previously frozen. Don't purchase frozen fish in packages that are damaged, that contain ice crystals or frost on the packages or that are stored above the frost line of the freezer.
MERCURY LEVELS
Blue marlin, mackerel, sea bass, swordfish, tuna and yellowtail are high in mercury, so limit your consumption of these high-mercury raw fish, since mercury in high amounts can affect your nervous system function. King mackerel and swordfish are among the types of seafood with the highest levels of mercury, so you may want to avoid consuming them.
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SEAFOOD 101
How to make fish less smelly?
1. Before cooking, soak the fish in milk for 20 minutes. In this scenario, the protein in the milk binds with the compounds that cause that fishy odor, in essence extracting if from the fish. What's left behind is sweet-smelling, brighter flesh with clean flavor. (Just make sure you pour that milk down the drain. 'Cause ew.)
2. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish before cooking it. Lemon juice will neutralize those odors, but it will also leave the fish with a citrusy flavor.
3. Vinegar also works wonder.
4. Adding aromatics like garlic and ginger etc can also help lessen the potent smell.