Kushiyaki Salmon

Many of you probably know what Yakitori (焼き鳥, やきとり) is – it’s basically a Japanese type of skewered chicken. But the Japanese also skewer other meats, seafood and poultry to which they call it Kushiyaki. However, the term Yakitori can sometimes be refered to skewered food in general. Skewered food are also called brochettes or satay in other parts of the world. So today, I am going to present to you my version of skewered yakitori but instead of chicken, I’m going to use Salmon, which is then wrapped in bacon. And instead of using mirin and sugar, i used honey as my marinate – which i think gives it that nice brown caramelized flavor.

Kushiyaki Salmon – The Raw

This is a very simple and very easy to make recipe. You can make a lot in advance, which makes this a very good party food ;) The salmon wrapped in bacon gives it a unique smokey flavor which complements the honey and soy marinate. And since it’s bacon, the drippings from it ensures that the salmon stays moists and succulent after it’s cooked!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

For the fish marinate:
1 tbsp of grated ginger
2 cloves of grated garlic
1/4 cup of soy sauce
3 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon pepper

500 g of Salmon fillet, clean and cut into 1 inch chunks
10 strips of bacon or more
1 onion, quartered

bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Method

1. Combine the ingredients for the fish marinate together. Stir well and set aside.
2. Make sure that your salmon cubes are dry off excess water. It helps to marinate better. Put the pieces into a container.
3. Pour the fish marinate into the salmon cubes and make sure the marinate covers every bit of the pieces. Cover and marinate for 2 hours at least.
4. Take your bamboo skewers and skewer a cube of salmon and alternate with a little bit of onion, and continue until you reach the tip of the skewer.
5. take a slice of bacon and drape it around the skewered fish. Set aside and repeat step 4 and 5 till you’re out of fish.
6. Let the skewers sit in room temperature for about 30 minutes before you start baking them in the oven. Pre-heat oven to 400 Fahrenheit or 205 Celsius. You can also barbeque this… it’s prefect for bbqs! But since it’s winter where i am, i have to make do with an oven……pfft.
7. Put each skewer on a baking pan and bake for 45mins. Turn over the skewers once after 15 minutes. At the final 5 mins of the cooking time – turn the grill on and grill till the brochettes are a little brown.

Source: A series of Kitchen Experiments; Wikipedia

Sashimi

Now, the Japanese are perhaps the ONLY people in the world who eats their fish raw save for a handful of people in Latin countries and Italy where they eat their fish and beef raw with a squeeze of lemon and herbs, they call it Carpaccio. So today, we’re going to focus on Sashimi, notoriously mistaken for as sushi by *most* of our western counterparts who didn’t know any better. Frankly,all my western friend who have never been exposed to much asian/japanese culture (as in i have been their first asian friend) do not know the difference between sushi and sashimi. But then again, sushi and sashimi are quite similar… but not similar that they are the same.

Anyway, that’s not the main reason of the post here. Today it’s all about the freshes of the freshes of fish.

Sashimi (Japanese: 刺身) is a Japanese delicacy primarily consisting of very fresh raw seafoods, thinly sliced into pieces about 2.5 cm (1 inch) wide by 4 cm (1½ inches) long by 0.5 cm (¼ inch) thick, and served with only a dipping sauce (like soy sauce with wasabi paste and thinly sliced ginger root, or ponzu), and a simple garnish like shiso and shredded daikon radish.

To make sashimi work, you need to use sushi grade fish. And that means, the fish has to be the freshes in the market. Sushi grade fish are perhaps more expensive than the usual – esp in Canada and US where sushi grade fish are reserved for restaurants and cheffies mostly. The look of a sushi grade fish is distinct – translucent, glossy flesh that springs back at a mere touch and does not smell AT ALL except for the smell of sea salt. So unless you know your fish seller well, you’re not likely to get any good stuff readily available.

The number one rule in choosing fish for your sashimi is that you should ALWAYS use salt water fish and never fresh water fish. Reason being, in fresh water fish, even though it’s fresh it’s not necessarily free from other pollutants such as parasites and bacterias that normally wouldn’t grow in salt water conditions. I get goosebumps thinking about what could be in a raw fresh water fish really but yes, always choose salt water fish like mackeral, bonito, octopus, squid, tuna, salmon, milk fish, yellow fin, trout, sea bream, sea bass and king fish (among others). And Of course, the notoriously poisonous fugu (blowfish), one of Japan’s highest level in form of delicacy that’s all about risks.

Fugu Sashimi

To eat fugu sashimi, make sure you go to certified fugu chefs only because one drop of its poison is enough to kill you instantly – however if you survive a fugu experience, you’ll probably say you went to heaven and came back becos the exquisite taste of fugu is unlike any other sashimi you’d ever eaten. How would i know? Well, many people who has eaten fugu and lived to tell the tale told me…of course their fugu meal cost them a bomb too. Fugu is expensive. There are also people who tells me that the novelty of eating fugu is just the risk that it could kill you, taste wise it’s just real bland. Hm…to each his/her own i suppose..

Chirashi Sushi

Here’s a picture of my favorite sashimi – Toro Sashimi

Toro Sashimi

Here’s a simple sashimi and rice recipe that i absolutely love – it is categorized under sushi but to me, i think this dish is the link between sushi and sashimi – Chirashi Sushi. It’s basically, Japanese rice topped with sashimi. I love mine with raw salmon roe and Toro (the fattiest part of tuna) – it’s absolutely divine with wasabi, soy sauce and bonito flakes (i heart bonito flakes).

But this recipe is a recipe I modified to suit my cravings, it’s an adaptation from About.com

Chirashi Sushi ala Expedit

Ingredients:
3 Cups of cooked Sushi Rice
4-6 rehydrated/fresh shitake mushroom
1 teaspoon miso
1/3 cup water
300 gram block of Toro (Fatty Tuna OR just normal sushi grade Tuna)
100 gram salmon roe
Omelette
sliced cucumbers

Soy sauce, mirin and wasabi for sauce.

Method:
1. Cook rice. Click here to see how to cook the perfect sushi rice.

2. Cut your cucumbers into fine slices diagonally (cos it’s prettier that way). Set them aside. Flavoring your mushrooms: add miso and water in a pan, add mushroom and cook till liquid dissipates. Slice them finely and set aside. Make your omelette the way you know how and cut them into strips.

3. Take your Toro out from the fridge. Make sure your knife, cutting board and hands are clean. I’m a freak when it comes to handling and eating fresh, uncooked food.

4. Your toro should be in a square block, just cut them into 0.5 cm slices with a very sharp knife. It’s essential to have a sharp knife in your kitchen then preparation and cutting will be very pleasant. And since I like my fish to be thinner than usually, I am not going above 0.5 cm in thickness. you can also cut your fish in strips as well if that’s what you like.

5. Scoop some hot sushi rice into a bowl, add your mushroom slices, toro slices and your salmon roe…arrange them nicely. Spread your cucumber slices around the bowl and add strips of omelette over the top of your rice.

6. Add equal parts soy sauce and mirin and add as much wasabi as you want. Mix into a sauce. Pour over your sashimi and rice and add some bonito flakes, if you’d like.

7. Eat. :)

This is my version of Chirashi sushi – of course, you can put whatever toppings of fresh fish you like. This recipe feeds 4 people.

Source: Wikipedia; Haacked, About.com

Suddenly Boing Boing and Mother Digital started posting links to sushi-making machines manufacturer Tomoe, so I decided I should link to it before it becomes a meme and 3Yen is left behind in the dust… In fact, I came across this website a while ago, when I was planning on getting a whole series of machines: a cotton candy one, a crepe one, a pop corn one, etc. Then I got wiser and realised I should hire a sushi chef full time instead… But that’s another story.

Anyway, Tomoe has put up a pretty good website, promoting their very cool machines. And although there is a fair chance you are not going to buy one, you should go read how they work, how they were invented, what makes a good sushi, and so on. At least, go there for the pictures…

Regarding the photo at the top (MSR-3000W):

- This machine is the most high speed in the world．
- The producing capacity of this machine is 50pcs/minute (3,000pcs/hour)
- So you will be relieved even when a peak hour operation．
- The table and the hopper was made low to improve working efficiency
- Control panel used touch panel type. All you have to do is any used from install．
- The exchang of the amount of Wasabi became possible by the easy operation．
- The Front panel was made by the new specification, too．
- It is excellent in the durability and there won’t be a trouble．

No, I don’t mean “Sushi”…
The Boneless Fish (骨なし魚) is a fish-based frozen food invented by Dairei Corporation (大冷株式会社) of Japan in 1998. It is essentially a fish that has been scaled, gutted and deboned by a skilled worker before being reassembled to look like a dressed fish (gutted and with its head and fins removed). The fish is then flash frozen and packaged. It remains uncooked.

It is possible to use this process to manufacture a boneless fish with its head and fins intact. However, this is not very practical.

Purpose

The Boneless Fish was initially intended to feed three groups: the elderly, hospital patients, and schoolchildren. It differs from an ordinary frozen fish fillet, as the Boneless Fish looks just like a dressed fish. It is also cooked in the same manner as an ordinary fish.

Dairei began to market it to families in 2002. Aside from being easy to prepare, cooking boneless fish at home generates very little kitchen waste.

Production

The production of the Boneless Fish is labor intensive. Dairei set up HACCP-certified factories in Thailand, China and Vietnam. The workers cut open the fish and use a pair of tweezers to remove the bones. The end product is then examined to make sure that it is free of bones and then “glued” together using a food-grade enzyme produced by Ajinomoto.

This binding agent is a transglutaminase (product name: Activa TG-B) which is separated from a culture of Streptoverticillium mobaraense. It works by binding the collagen in the fish tissue. At temperatures under 5°C, it may take several hours for the enzyme to do its job properly.

Controversy

While serving boneless fish to hospital patients is not controversial, as it keeps the ill and weak from avoiding food, the inclusion of deboned fish in schoolchildren’s meals makes some proponents of table manners unhappy. Eating a whole fish properly using chopsticks is an important element of etiquette in East Asia. Letting children eat boneless fish seems to be anti-educational because it deprives children of the chance to learn to enjoy slow food.

From another point of view, it has been observed that the younger generations of Japan are already spoiled by fast foods. Fish consumption has declined and schoolchildren are allegedly throwing their fish into trash cans. Making fish boneless may be a way to bring people back to traditional Japanese cookery. The popularity of sushi is proof that children still eat fish.

As a country with a long tradition of eating fish, there exist techniques to make fish practically boneless; sushi is the most obvious example. A traditional method to make fish with countless fine bones (such as pike eel, Muraenesox cinereus) edible is to make 1 mm cross cuts on the fish meat while leaving the skin intact. It is an art developed in Kyoto, Japan’s de facto cultural capital. Only a well-trained Kansai chef with a special eel-cutting knife (hamo kiri bojo; 鱧きり包丁) can perform such exacting kitchen knife work[1] (http://homepage3.nifty.com/ajiyoshi/hamo1.htm). Therefore making fish boneless per se is not historically a bad idea.

Similar products

The success of Boneless Fish inspired another technology-intensive product, “Fish with Delicious Bones” (骨までおいしい魚; honemade oishii sakana), on sale since 2004. The fish, in the form of a butterfly fillet, is prepared by a patent pending process that uses heat and pressure to tenderize fish bones. It is said the entire fish, including the head and fins, becomes completely edible, much like what happens to canned sardines. It is a joint invention of Maruha Corporation (株式会社マルハ) and Miyajima Soysauce Corporation (宮島醤油株式会社).

Another, chimeral, product is the “Cold Set Bound Fish Kebabs” made from alternating layers of salmon and cod which are “glued” together by transglutaminase.

External links

• Boneless Fish Q & A (in Japanese)
• “Boneless fresh fish gains popularity”, December 17, 2002
• Boneless Fish manufacture (in Japanese)
• Fish with Delicious Bones at Maruha Corporation and Miyajima Soysauce Corporation (in Japanese)
• Boneless Fish: A debate (便利？それともおせっかい？賛否両論の「骨なし魚」; in Japanese)
• Ajinomoto: Enzyme for Binder and Texture improver
• Ajinomoto enzyme catalog in Japanese
• United States Patent #5,156,956: A transglutaminase catalyzing an acyl transfer reaction of a Γ-carboxyamide group of a glutamine residue in a peptide or protein chain in the absence of Cz2+ by Ajinomoto
• United States Patent #5,658,605 Process for producing bound-formed food by Ajinomoto
• United States Patent #5,968,568 Enzyme preparation for use in the binding of food materials and process for producing bound food by Ajinomoto
• Innovation Product Library see page 18, “Cold Set Bound Fish Kebabs”

Via Wikipedia

Sushi (鮨 or 鮓 or 寿司) is a Japanese dish consisting of vinegared rice combined with other ingredients such as raw fish, raw or cooked shellfish, or vegetables. Sushi is sometimes confused with sashimi, which is the seafood sometimes served with sushi. In Japan, conveyor belt sushi restaurants are a popular way to eat sushi.

History

Chinese origins

Sushi is made up of three simple ingredients; rice, rice vinegar, and fish. So one would think that the cultivation of rice was necessary, however, the history of sushi begins before rice. The first “sushi or 鮨” might have been a salt pickled pork.

The first use of “鮨” appeared in the oldest Chinese dictionary “爾雅” believed to be written in 3rd or 4th century BC. It is explained as “魚謂之鮨 肉謂之醢”, literally “Those made with fish (are called) 鮨, those made with meat (are called) 醢”. “醢” is a sauce made from minced pork and “鮨” is a sauce made from minced fish. The Chinese character “鮨” is believed to have a much earlier origin, but this is the earliest recorded instance of that character being associated with food. “鮨” was not associated with rice.

Five hundred years later, in 2nd century AD, “鮓” appeared in another Chinese dictionary: “鮓滓也以塩米醸之加葅 熟而食之也”, which translates as “鮓滓 is a food where fish is pickled by rice and salt, which is eaten when it is ready”. This food is believed to be similar to Narezushi or Funazushi and was eaten after removing the rice.

A century later, the meaning of the two characters had become confused and by the time these two characters arrived in Japan, the Chinese themselves did not distinguish between them. The Chinese had stopped using rice as a part of fermentation process, and then stopped eating pickled fish altogether. By Ming dynasty, “鮨” and “鮓” had disappeared from Chinese cuisine.

Origin of Sushi

In 718, the first written record of “sushi” in Japan appeared in the set of laws called Yororituryo (養老律令). As an example of tax paid by actual items, it is written down as “雑鮨五斗 (about 64 liters of zakonosushi or zatsunosushi?)”. However, there is no way to know what this “sushi” was or even how it was pronounced. By 9th and 10th century “鮨” and “鮓” are read as “Sushi” or “Sashi”. These “Sushi” or “Sashi” were similar to today’s Narezushi.

For next nearly 800 years, until early 19th century, sushi slowly changed and the Japanese cuisine changed as well. Japanese started eating three meals a day, rice was boiled instead of steamed, and most important of all, rice vinegar was invented. The time of fermentation gradually decreased and rice could be eaten as well. Soon, Oshizushi was made by using vinegar and skipping the fermentation process. This new process gradually took shape in Muromachi period. In Azuchi-Momoyama Period, Namanari was invented. In 1603, a Japanese Portuguese dictionary was published and this had an entry of Namanrina Sushi, lit. half made sushi. This namanari was believed to be fermented for a period less than that of narezushi and possibly marinated with rice vinegar. It still had the distinctive smell of narezushi.

The smell of narezushi was likely one of the reasons for shortening and eventually skipping the fermentation process. It is commonly described as “a cross between blue cheese, fish, and rice vinegar”. A story from Konjakumonogatarisyu written in early 12th century makes it clear that it was not an attractive smell, even if it tasted good. A man visited a friend in Kyoto and got on a horse to go home. A drunken woman sleeping nearby woke up startled and got dizzy and she vomitted on a bowl of narezushi she had been selling on foot. Instead of throwing away or trying to scoop out, she quickly mixed it into narezushi. The man stingingly pointed out that narezushi was like a pile of spit to begin with and those who bought them most have eaten them anyway. He would from this point on, tell any one who would listen to him to not to buy a narezushi from anyone or any store.

From Oshizushi to Sushi

In the early 18th century, Oshizushi was perfected in Osaka and it came to Edo by the middle of 18th century. These sushi were sold to customers, but because they still required a little fermentation time, stores hanged a notice and posters to customers on when to come for a sushi. Sushi was also sold near a park during a hanami period and a theater as a type of Bento. Inarizushi was sold along oshizushi. Makizushi and Chirasizushi also became popular in Edo period.

There were three famous sushi restaurants in Edo, Matsugasushi (松が鮓), Koube (興兵衛), and Kenukisushi (毛抜き) but there were thousands more sushi restaurants. They were established in a barely twenty year span as soon as 19th century started. Nigirizushi they sold was an instant hit and it spread like a wildfire in Edo. In a book Morisadamanko (守貞謾稿) published in 1852, the writer wrote that for a cho(100 by 100 meters or 10,000 square meter) section of Edo, there were twelve sushi restaurants but only one soba restaurnt could be found in 12 cho. This means, that there were nearly 150 sushi restaurants for every soba restaurant.

These early nigirizushi were not as same as today’s nigirizushi. Fish meat were marinated in soy sauce or vinegar or heavily salted so there was no need to dip into soy sauce. Some fish were cooked before put onto a sushi. This was partly out of necessity as there were no refrigerators. Each piece was also larger, almost the size of two pieces of today’s sushi.

Styles and varieties

There are a number of different styles of sushi, of which some of the most common are:

- Narezushi (なれ鮨) is an older form of sushi. A fish is stuffed with salt after its organs and scales are removed. These fish are placed in a wooden barrel doused with salt and weighed with a heavy tsukemonoishi or a pickling stone. They are fermented for ten days to a month. Then these fish are placed in water for 15 minutes to an hour. Fish are then placed in another barrel sandwiched and layered with cooled steamed rice and fish. Then it is again partially sealed with otosibuta and a pickling stone. As days pass, fermented water seeps out and these must be removed. Six month later, these “funazushi” can be eaten but it can be eaten for another six month or more.

- Makizushi (巻き寿司) which is made by taking a sheet of dried seaweed, putting on a layer of rice (leaving a couple of centimeters free in one end), and then adding some vegetables like cucumber. This is rolled up using a makisu mat and “glued” together by wetting the seaweed so that it sticks together. The roll is then cut up into slices about two centimeters thick.

- Nigirizushi (握り寿司) is made by pressing rice together into a lump slightly smaller than a hen’s egg. On top of this, a piece of fish, prawn, or something similar is placed, often with some wasabi underneath it. Sometimes a thin band of seaweed is used to hold the fish in place.

- Temakizushi (手巻き寿司 or handroll) is a large cone formed by a sheet of dried sea weed filled with rice and other ingredients. A handroll is eaten with the fingers since it is too big to be held by chopsticks.

- Inarizushi (稲荷寿司) is vinegar rice wrapped into a thin slice of fried tofu (油揚げ or abura age). The tofu is briefly boiled in a sauce of sugar, mirin and soy sauce before usage. Inarizushi is either rectangular or triangular, not unlike an onigiri.

- Chirashizushi (散らし寿司), also referred to as barazushi (ばら寿司), is vinegar rice mixed with fish, seafood, slightly boiled and sweetened vegetables and thin slices of fried egg. It is said to be the simplest to prepare within the sushi family.

- Oshizushi (押し寿司 or pressed sushi) originated in Osaka and is vinegar rice, marinated fish and other ingredients, such as shiso, layered and pressed into an oshizushihako mold. The resulting loaf is cut into mouth size pieces before serving.

Common ingredients

Seafood
Certainly the majority of sushi is made with raw fish and other seafoods. For both aesthetic and health reasons, fish that are to be eaten raw must be fresher and of a higher quality than fish that will be cooked. A professional sushi chef is trained in recognizing good fish, which is clean-smelling, vivid in color, and free from harmful parasites. Only ocean fish are used raw in sushi; freshwater fish, which are more likely to harbor parasites, are cooked. In addition to fish, common seafoods used in sushi are squid, octopus, shrimp, eel, fish roe, sea urchin (uni) and various kinds of shellfish.

Sushi rice
The rice used in making sushi is a short-grained, sweeter variety rather different in consistency from the long-grain and Indian rice strains Westerners may be more used to. It is cooked with rice vinegar, or vinegar may be added after cooking, and is cooled before being used to make sushi.

Nori
The seaweed wrappers used in maki and temaki are made of a cultivated sea vegetable known as nori. Originally, this plant was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into sheets, and dried in the sun. Today, it is farmed and industrially produced, and can be bought pre-cut into neat, ready-to-use squares. Some novelty shops also offer nori with decorative cut-outs in the shape of popular cartoon characters.

Other ingredients
Not all sushi contains seafood. Many things can find their way into sushi: pickled daikon radish, fermented soybeans (natto), avocado, raw quail eggs, tofu, pickled plum, omelet, beef, ham, and more.

Condiments
Sushi is served with soy sauce, wasabi (green horseradish paste), and sweet pickled ginger (gari). Wasabi is said to be an effective antidote against fish poisoning.

Recipe

A basic recipe for sushi rice is as follows:

Take one cup of short-grained rice and rinse in cold water until water runs clear. Combine rice, 1 1/4 cup cold water, and a small piece of dashi kombu (a type of seaweed, optional if not available) in a saucepan and turn heat to high. Remove kombu just before water boils. After water begins to boil, turn heat to low, cover pan tightly, and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and leave in covered pan for 10 more minutes. Use a wooden paddle to scrape rice into a large bowl, then gently stir it with the paddle while adding about 2 tbsp. of seasoned rice vinegar (season with just under 2 tbsp sugar and just under 1/2 tsp salt over low heat). Stir until rice has cooled somewhat and looks shiny.

Cover rice with a damp towel and use in any sushi recipe within one day.

(Source: Wikipedia)