buying and preparing fish/seafood

[BON]

Oysters are in season in Japan!

We eat them raw, but the most popular cooking form is butter-fry.

Isn't it interesting that in sashimi realm Oysters, which are eaten often raw in Western contries, are eaten cooked with heat?

[jhlurie]

Another great installment from BON!

BON:  are the Oysters dipped or coated with anything else before they are fried in the butter?

[BON]

jhlurie:

Oyster fries are coated in bread crumb. Its cocking procedure is coating an oyster in flour, dipping it

into mixed egges, coating it with bread crumb, then

deep-frying.It's common for oysters, pork, and chicken.

Is there any difference from yours?

[smallworld]

At the supermarket yesterday I came accross a huge mound of squid tenticles in the odds'n'ends corner of the seafood section (you know, where they sell bones, heads, innards and stuff). All for 230yen! I'm a sucker for a bargain so I just couldn't refuse.

Thing is, I've never prepared the tenticles before, just the body. And I suddeny realized that I had eight or nine squid's worth of tenticles and no idea what to do with them! The most I could get from my cookbooks was to cut the tenticles into twos and chop off the ends to make even lengths, then REMOVE THE SUCKERS. Didn't say how, just said to get rid of them. Great.

Tried cutting them off, but the little tenticles were too slippery to stay still. Ended up scraping the thin skin off with the back of the knife, which also took off the suckers. It kind of worked but took forever. After just two squids' worth I gave up.

Dinner last night was seafood lo mein (a kind of lightly flavoured Chinese-style yakisoba) and it was great, but it didn't contain much actual seafood. I purposely didn't buy any shrimp since I knew I had all that squid. D'oh!

Any ideas on what to do with the horror show sitting in my fridge (If I was back home I'm sure I could make it into some kind of Halloween display!)? Is it even neccessary to remove the suckers?

PS, Jokes, as well as advice, are appreciated.

[helenjp]

Hi!

I've had this problem too...on the cheery side, you can wait till they lose that first flush of freshness, then they just generally start to disintegrate and the suckers come off QUITE easily...

But the more useful way is to get out your coarse salt and rub them with it, then rinse off. Salt is also handy for getting the skin off squid tubes.

The one food prep problem I have never solved sound unbelievably trivial in comparison...getting the thin transparent skin off green soybeans. I thought I would make zunda-ae (fish or veges in a mashed green soybean dressing) mainly because it looks so nice. I tried it twice and came to the conclusion that UNRIPE means UNMANAGABLE -- those skins stuck like glue, and here I was expecting to be able to just pop the bean out of its sac. Feh! Never again.

[Bux]

How large were the tentacles? I've mostly cooked pretty small squid here in NY. Rarely are the whole squid as much as a foot long. I separate the tentacles from the body and rub them vigorously under cold water, but I don't worry about the tentacles or the skin. Much of it comes off, but the rest gets cooked. Perhaps the squid are so small that it doesn't matter or perhaps we are talking about different varieties.

[torakris]

I have never really tried to get rid of the tentacles

I just sort of rub them under running water and whatever comes off, comes off and the rest gets eaten!

Kristin the lazy cook!

they are edible aren't they?

[smallworld]

These tentacles were about 10 to 12cm long. The two extra-long ones (there must be a special name for these) were about 20cm long.

I'll try the rest of them tonight and just give them a quick wash/rub. Maybe the cookbook meant just the suckers on the long tentacles- those ones were hard and sharp and definately had to be removed.

Thanks alot!

[Texan]

A little late... Maybe for next time around. The way I clean the suckers off is by placing fingers around the tentacles, apply pressure while pulling from one end to another. It worked well for me.

[kangarool]

I've searched the Japan forum for this topic and didn't see it, so apologies if I'm retreading old ground.

I'm just wondering what's the best way, and what time constraints are there, to keeping a nice slab of sashimi-grade tuna as fresh as possible?

More specifically: I'm lucky enough to have a spectacular fresh fish market on my way to work from home. Most stalls offer beautiful looking tuna (and all other basic sashimi fishes). It opens very early, and finishes around midday. So, I can't get the tuna on the way home, to make sushi or sashimi at home like i want to.

If I were to pick it up early in the morning, will it stay essentially good enough by dinnertime? If so, should I just chuck it in the fridge at work? Is there a better way, maybe icing it down until i take it home? Would the same storage details apply to all sashimi fishes? I'm under no illusions it will be as perfect as when i bought it, but then again, it obviously was stored for a little while at least, on the way to the market itself.

Thanks for any advice and tips you can provide, everyone.

[torakris]

When I buy sashimi style fish in Japan, the packs usually have an expiration date of the same day. To get the freshest flavor try to eat it soon after buying, if you need to store I would suggest putting it in the coldest part of your refrigerator. If you are really worried put some ice on it.

It should be fine for 24 to 48 hours but there will probably be a decrease in flavor.

For the best flavor buy a block and then slice it just before eating, you don't want it to be warm but you don't want it to be too cold either.

[wesza]

I've searched the Japan forum for this topic and didn't see it, so apologies if I'm retreading old ground.

I'm just wondering what's the best way, and what time constraints are there, to keeping a nice slab of sashimi-grade tuna as fresh as possible?

More specifically: I'm lucky enough to have a spectacular fresh fish market on my way to work from home. Most stalls offer beautiful looking tuna (and all other basic sashimi fishes). It opens very early, and finishes around midday. So, I can't get the tuna on the way home, to make sushi or sashimi at home like i want to.

If I were to pick it up early in the morning, will it stay essentially good enough by dinnertime? If so, should I just chuck it in the fridge at work? Is there a better way, maybe icing it down until i take it home? Would the same storage details apply to all sashimi fishes? I'm under no illusions it will be as perfect as when i bought it, but then again, it obviously was stored for a little while at least, on the way to the market itself.

Thanks for any advice and tips you can provide, everyone.

Kangarool:

I'd recommend that you prepare a Sealed Type Plastic Bag plus a Foam Insulated Container.

Have your Fish monger pwrap the fish well and put it into your plastic bag and seal the bag are overwrap it again.

Full you foam Container 1/2 full with crushed Ice then put your fish into the middle and then full the Container with Ice to the top.

If possable keep it refrigerated until you get home, or leave it in the trunk of your car if your in a Cold Climate. Packed this way it won't freeze if left out for up to 12/15 hours.

It will taste store fresh until your ready to eat your fish.

If you get it home, open and drain the fluid accumulated in the box and put the whole thing in your refrigerator. It will keep for over 24 additional hours.

Irwin

[kangarool]

Thanks guys, those are some great suggestions. It makes me comfortable that I'll essentially have the same quality in the fish that I'd have, if I were able to use it immediately. That was my main concern, that buying it 'too early' would be all for nought by the time I got it home. Now i just need to find some fresh wasabi rather than the tube, not sure how easy it will be to find.

BTW torakris, I made your Nikujyaga from the eGCI this weekend, it worked out spectacularly! Well, actually, I turned it into a gyudon (are the two synonymous?), just with beef and onions, and it worked out perfectly... just needed some oshinko to accompany it (which I'm going to go visit its forum now to learn how to make them).

thanks again/kanga

[jango]

Tuna tastes better and has a more buttery mouthfeel 24 hours after it's been killed anyway.

My family are seafood exporters from Sth Australia - we've had lots of practice getting it just right and we always let it rest overnight before slicing it up.

Someone in Tasmania is growing fresh Wasabi - I remain eternally hopeful that one day I'll locate the source.

[scottie]

Well, I asked this question on another forum, but I figured this would be a good place to ask, too:

I have a nice piece of Spanish mackerel, which I would like to marinate in rice vinegar Japanese-style. The one recipe I have for this says to salt the fish and let it sit over night before marinating. My question is, is that necessary?

Is there a shortcut so I can eat this fish tonight?

thanks,

scottie

[torakris]

I have only made this once because it is so cheap to buy it already made in the stores here and also because no one in my family likes it except for me.

I didn't salt overnight, just one hour.

Here is what I did:

Very heavily salt (about 2tbsp per fillet) the mackeral and place in in a colander (or a bamboo strainer if you have one) for an hour. Rinse under cold running water and then pat dry.

Place into a mixture of vinegar, mirin (or sugar) and salt and leave for 1 to 2 hours, remove and pat dry again and then peel off the paper skin and remove any small bones. It is ready for eating.

Jamie Oliver in his Jamies Kitchen book has a recipe for mackeral that I have been wanting to try. he doesn't salt at all and just "marinates" the raw fillets in a white wine vinegar and salt mixture for about 7 hours and then mixes it with pomegranate juice, lime juice and tequila....

[tissue]

I have this frequently at a restaurant where the waitress brought out a blow torch and torched the skin of the saba. It had a nice char that complemented the vinegar-y aspect of the fish.

[scottie]

Thanks for the replies.

That Jamie Oliver recipe sounds yummmmmy!

I'm just going to broil the fish tonight, I think, but I just started working at a store with an excellent fish market, so I will be experimenting a lot more with mackerel in the future.

And posting the results, as long as they're good!

[torakris]

oysters are everywhere wet turn now. Though in Japan they seem to be much more popular cooked, kaki fry (panko'd deep fried oysters), oyster stew, oyster nabe, etc

Any favorite way to oysters Japanese style?

[helenjp]

nabe!

Tip from Japanese magazine...drain (shucked, water-packed) oysters and drop in a little arrowroot powder (katakuri-ko). Swish round, then pull oysters out and toss in nabe. This stops them shriveling up when cooked.

It works! I thought it would make them gluey, but most of the katakuriko just slides off the oyster (together with any tiny bits of gunk) and stays in the pack.

Hankering for oysters, but younger son doesn't like them, and brother-in-law is in one of his suspicious moods where he thinks almost any food will make him sick.

[Udara]

I am craving salmon sashimi

In the past I've always relied on specially prepared cuts of salmon but having recently moved to London, I no longer have the benefit of a nearby Japanese market. There is plenty of salmon fillet at my local Marks & Spencer, but is it safe to consume it raw? And if so, which cut should I select? Do Japanse fish mongers take special measures to safeguard salmon from parasites whereas western mongers assume we will cook the salmon?

[prasantrin]

I would not suggest using just any salmon fillet for sashimi. I think it's very important to buy sashimi-grade fish which would probably be fresher and possibly more carefully inspected (though I don't know that for a fact).

You might want to post to the UK&Ireland forum. People there might have a better idea as to where you might buy sashimi-grade salmon--you might not have to go to a Japanese market to get it.

[Schneier]

At a food stall near Ueno Park, I saw a package of squid beaks for sale.

Of course I had to buy it.

Wandering around Google, every recipe tells me to discard the beak. Have I been had, or is there some interesting way to eat these things?

Squid beak soup?

Suid beak and marinara sauce on pasta?

Squid beak curry?

Help.

Bruce

[torakris]

Did you buy the dried ones?

Most ways I have seen squid beak, called ika no kuchibashi, is skewered and then grilled similar to yakitori. Usually it is simply seasoned with just salt.

Here is a picture before cooking:

http://www.roman-noto.com/foods/allseason/...n-megarasu.html

this is often referred to as ika tonbi

this guy says it tastes best when eaten raw, sashimi style, it is the round thing in the middle of the dish:

http://www.ymzk.org/~yama/diary/cook/2002/ika04.jpg

[torakris]

also, if you have the fresh ones you can toss them onto a grill and sprinkle with salt, my husband does this when I am am preparing a lot of squid, he likes to dab them with wasabi before eating.

They taste similar to nan-kotsu, the chicken cartilege that you often see deep fried in izakayas, deep frying would probably work on these too, though I have never seen them like that.