Fresh catch vs sushi
May 3, 2013 7:58 AM Subscribe
simple question: what is the difference between catching a fish directly out of the water and eating it verses eating sushi grade fish.I would think because they are both fresh it should be perfectly safe to eat. Thoughts?
Sushi is usually not made with freshwater fish except for cooked and highly cured versions.
Lots of other stuff is almost always frozen first to kill parasites, other kinds are just as you describe it - but you have to be a little knowledgable on the subject. Also really really good sushi fish is sometimes killed and bled in a very specific way to create a certain texture.
Google Ike-jime.
posted by JPD at 8:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
Lots of other stuff is almost always frozen first to kill parasites, other kinds are just as you describe it - but you have to be a little knowledgable on the subject. Also really really good sushi fish is sometimes killed and bled in a very specific way to create a certain texture.
Google Ike-jime.
posted by JPD at 8:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
Parasites for one thing... also, for example, fugu is not going to be safe just because it's fresh....
posted by The otter lady at 8:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 8:08 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't think I understand the question. Are you talking about just taking a bite out of a random fish that you caught? Or are you talking about catching a species used in sushi and then appropriately gutting and cleaning a fish before eating the fish meat?
Like, you could go out and catch a tuna or a yellowtail and gut and clean it on board and it would be fine, but that's just exactly what sushi-grade tuna is. You would turn the dead fish body into sushi-grade fish meat.
You probably shouldn't catch a trout and eat it raw - there's a (parasitic) reason that sashimi is not usually freshwater fish like trout.
posted by mskyle at 8:15 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Like, you could go out and catch a tuna or a yellowtail and gut and clean it on board and it would be fine, but that's just exactly what sushi-grade tuna is. You would turn the dead fish body into sushi-grade fish meat.
You probably shouldn't catch a trout and eat it raw - there's a (parasitic) reason that sashimi is not usually freshwater fish like trout.
posted by mskyle at 8:15 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Besides the freshwater angle, the main appeal of eating "raw fish" at a sushiya is that you can find varieties of fish that you can't get at a local supermarket.
However, if you have access to fresh fish (and most people in North America do not), there is nothing stopping you from buying a fish, taking it home, dressing it, and eating it raw.
We do this all the time in Japan. However, the fish is caught the same day and is trucked in from the fishing port two blocks away.
Most of the fish that can be caught off the breakwater wouldn't really taste good raw - too small and bony - but they do taste good deep-fried. Some people go squid fishing from the breakwater, and you can eat that raw once you catch it, no problem.
But the supermarket (in Japan) and the sushiya have the best selection of fish.
Plus: the only reason sushi fish is frozen is because it has to be shipped, and freezing raw fish destroys a lot of the flavour and certainly most of the texture. Blech.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:24 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
However, if you have access to fresh fish (and most people in North America do not), there is nothing stopping you from buying a fish, taking it home, dressing it, and eating it raw.
We do this all the time in Japan. However, the fish is caught the same day and is trucked in from the fishing port two blocks away.
Most of the fish that can be caught off the breakwater wouldn't really taste good raw - too small and bony - but they do taste good deep-fried. Some people go squid fishing from the breakwater, and you can eat that raw once you catch it, no problem.
But the supermarket (in Japan) and the sushiya have the best selection of fish.
Plus: the only reason sushi fish is frozen is because it has to be shipped, and freezing raw fish destroys a lot of the flavour and certainly most of the texture. Blech.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:24 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't think the OP is asking about freshwater fish -- just freshly caught fish. As mskyle said, with the right species of fish it would be sushi. Well, sashimi. And, having had the chance to do this once, let me say: yum.
posted by kestrel251 at 8:29 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by kestrel251 at 8:29 AM on May 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
I used to do a lot off offshore fishing and, while it's not my favorite way to eat them, I've had freshly caught (like, literally caught five minutes ago) yellowfin and bluefin tuna, dolphin, and wahoo raw many times.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 8:48 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Benny Andajetz at 8:48 AM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]
No reason you can't eat it right off the pole/out of the net. Chances of parasites in ocean fish are low but of course possible.
posted by latkes at 10:09 AM on May 3, 2013
posted by latkes at 10:09 AM on May 3, 2013
Sushi grade fish is processed by Ike Jime, the point of which is to quickly kill the fish and drain all the blood out. As others have mentioned, eating a fish straight out of the sea without cleaning it and draining the blood could expose you to a bunch of impurities.
The Houston Press had some great articles a couple of years ago on a guy who was trying to set up a sushi operation in the Gulf, you may find them interesting:
The Roughest Catch: Ike Jime on the Gulf Coast, Part 1 of 4, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
The Fish That Got Away
The Art of Ike Jime (warning, has videos of the technique that some may find disturbing)
posted by IanMorr at 10:28 AM on May 3, 2013 [3 favorites]
The Houston Press had some great articles a couple of years ago on a guy who was trying to set up a sushi operation in the Gulf, you may find them interesting:
The Roughest Catch: Ike Jime on the Gulf Coast, Part 1 of 4, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
The Fish That Got Away
The Art of Ike Jime (warning, has videos of the technique that some may find disturbing)
posted by IanMorr at 10:28 AM on May 3, 2013 [3 favorites]
Sushi grade fish is not fresh, that's why it's safe to eat. It's been frozen to kill parasites. More info here.
Fresh fish is not safe to eat, therefore eating a raw fish directly out of the water is not safe.
posted by yohko at 3:09 PM on May 3, 2013
Fresh fish is not safe to eat, therefore eating a raw fish directly out of the water is not safe.
posted by yohko at 3:09 PM on May 3, 2013
There's the traditional way, borne out of centuries of trial and error. There's the FDA way which is to make sure that the lowest common denominator of fish catch isn't going to likely kill anyone. Then there's the common sense/middle-path way.
I've eaten plenty of fresh-caught wild sockeye salmon raw, and sockeye that had been caught earlier that day and iced immediately from fishermen that I trust to know what they're doing. Never-frozen fish does have a different taste/texture to FDA-guidelines-following-processed fish. I prefer fresh, but processed is just fine.
Halibut is almost never served as sashimi because of their high parasite load. I don't think that I have ever seen trout being served as sashimi. I would never eat un-processed farmed salmon nor sockeye from the back of a truck.
Also, some random person hacking up a fresh fish is very different than a sashimi chef. One should know how to clean (gut) the fish properly and almost as importantly, how to cut out portions so that it the taste and texture is appropriate for consuming it raw. Like, you don't slice off a slab of roast beef with the grain; it's cross-grain, doubly so for flank and hanger steak. Same general idea applies to fresh raw fish, too.
posted by porpoise at 8:37 PM on May 3, 2013
I've eaten plenty of fresh-caught wild sockeye salmon raw, and sockeye that had been caught earlier that day and iced immediately from fishermen that I trust to know what they're doing. Never-frozen fish does have a different taste/texture to FDA-guidelines-following-processed fish. I prefer fresh, but processed is just fine.
Halibut is almost never served as sashimi because of their high parasite load. I don't think that I have ever seen trout being served as sashimi. I would never eat un-processed farmed salmon nor sockeye from the back of a truck.
Also, some random person hacking up a fresh fish is very different than a sashimi chef. One should know how to clean (gut) the fish properly and almost as importantly, how to cut out portions so that it the taste and texture is appropriate for consuming it raw. Like, you don't slice off a slab of roast beef with the grain; it's cross-grain, doubly so for flank and hanger steak. Same general idea applies to fresh raw fish, too.
posted by porpoise at 8:37 PM on May 3, 2013
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posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:02 AM on May 3, 2013 [3 favorites]