Help withMaking my own Sushi

[DonJuan]

So I'm tossing around the idea of making my own sushi for my own use. I have the bamboo mats, and youtube vids. Ive been messing with rice recipies and vinegar to get it right, got a sweet knife and cutting stone.

But my question is this: Is there any where else other than T&T that you can get unsliced sushi quality fish? The unsliced salmon T&T has seems Very expensive. Planning on starting with sashimi and basic toro and sake pieces.

[dirtsniffer]

ahh fuck, I tried to make it. I ended up finding it cheaper to go out for it

[dj_rice]

For salmon there is another alternative.


Go to Costco. Find the salmon section. Now this is the most important part. Look for labels that do not have the letter R in the corner on bottom right I believe, or left I can't remember.

R means RE-WRAPPED meaning, anything they didn't sell on Tuesday, they have re-wrapped to sell on Wednesday again or possibly Thursday I don't know.

Getting one without the R means it was wrapped that day and put out into the fridges.


2nd step is to bring it home and slice the salmon into desired slices.


3rd and most IMPORTANT step is, after slicing it, and laying it on whatever serving dish or plate, you MUST put the salmon into the freezer for at least 30 mins - 1hr. Putting it into the freezer kills any bacteria and organisms in the fish harmful to eat. After its been frozen, thaw it out and serve.

One tray of salmon at Costco is $20-22 and is almost one whole filet side of the salmon so will feed alot.

Your welcome for this secret

[Guillermo]

i just go to T&T and get tuna and salmon, you can get big fillets (flash frozen) for like <$8 each... and the 2 of us have NEVER been able to finish that much food (we get 2 fillets). WAY cheaper than going out, dirtsniffer where in the world can you STUFF 2 people with sushi leftover for under $20???

[[Yu]]

I believe Anasakis is the parasite in fish that is responsible for infecting people.

To kill this parasite one must heat the fish @ 60 degrees celcius for 10 mins. Previous one of course does not apply to you.

Flash freeze at -35 for 15 hours or Freeze at -23 for 7 days. These are the practices I got from my Medical microbiology and immunology classes.

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by dj_rice

3rd and most IMPORTANT step is, after slicing it, and laying it on whatever serving dish or plate, you MUST put the salmon into the freezer for at least 30 mins - 1hr. Putting it into the freezer kills any bacteria and organisms in the fish harmful to eat. After its been frozen, thaw it out and serve.


why not just buy flash frozen sushi-grade meat in the first place? BTW, freezing in a regular freezer will rupture the cells and change the texture of the flesh.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by Guillermo


why not just buy flash frozen sushi-grade meat in the first place? BTW, freezing in a regular freezer will rupture the cells and change the texture of the flesh.


Cause this method is cheaper. And still tastes good. Quality of the fish at Costco is great for the price. Not amazing sushi grade but still tastes nice and fatty and fresh. Cut half of the salmon for sushi, use other half for steamed salmon.


Try it sometime.

[dirtsniffer]

I find going out cheaper because of the fact that I mostly eat toro, and my gf mostly eats rolls, and not simple rolls at that.

so maybe not cheaper but, a lot less hassle and not that much more money.

If you guys can tell me how to make some rolls and get some raw fish for less than 30 bucks I would appreciate it.

[Guillermo]

^^dude, go to T&T, in the frozen section they have a couple types of salmon (wild and farmed) and one kind of tuna. get two fillets, they are under $8 each. then, walk over 2 aisles, get wasabi (under $2), some rice (like $5), and some nori (like $4). you'll also need rice vinegar and sugar. look on the internet for a rice recipe and instructions on making sushi... it takes some practice and doesn't look NEARLY as pretty as pro-made sushi, but on the other hand it's SUPER FUN and CHEAP.

considering that you'll use the rice and vinegar several times, the cost works out to less than $20 for two people - and I can guarantee you that you'll have sushi left over. (we always have, anyhow, and I can eat like 23498237489237 rolls and 3598437589743 pieces of sashimi.)

[DonJuan]

Ok So Im definately gonna try this out. THX guys!

Is it ok to use the already frozen fish fillets though? Seems off to me. But I guess if they are flash frozen.

Im gonna try this tomorrow. With the Costco fresh ones. Anyone know when they get their salmon shipments in? Oh and with the costco ones, do you suggest getting the whole fish? and then filleting it or the already filleted halves?

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by DonJuan
Ok So Im definately gonna try this out. THX guys!

Is it ok to use the already frozen fish fillets though? Seems off to me. But I guess if they are flash frozen.

Im gonna try this tomorrow. With the Costco fresh ones. Anyone know when they get their salmon shipments in? Oh and with the costco ones, do you suggest guying the whole fish? and then filleting it or the already fillet halves?

pretty much any sushi grade fish has been flash frozen on the boat, both to kill parasites and to maintain freshness. i've heard of people consuming fresh raw fish, but i'm not aware of anywhere around here where you can get sushi-grade fish that hasn't been frozen. one of my colleague's brothers once got a tapework from eating sushi, but this was back in the 40s or 50s (i think) before freezing was common... so yea, i'm really not into the idea of eating non-frozen sushi :barf:

[[Yu]]

Several people here provide you safe practices for fish preparation, yet you still go the questionably unsafe route just to save a quick buck.


Perhaps you could try calling cityfish, they are one of the major suppliers to many sushi restaurants in Calgary.

Last time I bought a salmon there, I can't remember its weight, it was 17 lbs or 27 lbs. It was definitely a bit over a meter long, and it cost around 80-90 dollars. They also do self sushi-grade fillets that are cheaper if you did not want such a large portion.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by DonJuan


Im gonna try this tomorrow. With the Costco fresh ones. Anyone know when they get their salmon shipments in? Oh and with the costco ones, do you suggest getting the whole fish? and then filleting it or the already filleted halves?


Its already been filet'd for you, they sell it in halves, with skin off and everything ready to go. As for when fish comes in, I don't know. Just get ones without the R.


I've eaten this Costco salmon for sushi for years now and never had any tape worms or gotten stick from it. Up to you to follow my tidbit or not. Just sharing the wealth but nonlinear is getting all proper and gangsta like its how to make pizza :poosie:

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by dj_rice



Its already been filet'd for you, they sell it in halves, with skin off and everything ready to go. As for when fish comes in, I don't know. Just get ones without the R.


I've eaten this Costco salmon for sushi for years now and never had any tape worms or gotten stick from it. Up to you to follow my tidbit or not. Just sharing the wealth but nonlinear is getting all proper and gangsta like its how to make pizza :poosie:

LOL, no offense at all dude, i'm sure your way is just as good!

[DonJuan]

Originally posted by [Yu]
Several people here provide you safe practices for fish preparation, yet you still go the questionably unsafe route just to save a quick buck.


I was just asking because Guillermo mentioned he uses the frozen T&T fillets and I feel uncertain about using frozen fillets as well. If you read my post, I mentioned that I was going to do the Costco fresh route regardless.

Thanks for the tip for CityFish though I will hafta check them out.

[n1zm0]

when me and my little bro were younger up until i left my parents, my mom would do the sashimi with kikkomans/wasabe thing once a month with hot rice and furikake and thats it, a few filets from TnT, wash it under the sink in cold water then 'flash' freeze it (even though it was already done i believe). that method i've been eating for years = never ever had stomach ache or anything ever, even my 4 year old cousin has been eating it with rice and never any problems.

also OP if youre looking to try other quick cheap sushi types:

some of that salmon, the rice, cucumber, maybe get a small container of pork floss too, then head outside to the deli part and get some capelin roe (i could eat it with a spoon lol), finish the roll minus a nori paper and coat the outside with capelin eggs and you have masago roll at a fraction of the cost! also if you want one of those california roll things its really just fake crab (pollock) and the japanese baby mayo stuff in that mix above.

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by DonJuan


I was just asking because Guillermo mentioned he uses the frozen T&amp;T fillets and I feel uncertain about using frozen fillets as well. If you read my post, I mentioned that I was going to do the Costco fresh route regardless.

Thanks for the tip for CityFish though I will hafta check them out.

you should know that just about every sushi joint in North America uses flash-frozen, sushi grade fish... in fact, i've never heard of one that uses unfrozen fish. if you go to the store to buy sushi grade, it's ALL going to be flash frozen. flash freezing is what makes it sushi grade. look on google.

the reason they do this is that fresh fish can contain parasites, which freezing kills. you're not going to get higher quality sushi by using fresh fish, and all you're going to do is save a bit of money AND run the risk of getting parasites.

EDIT: also, freezing in a regular freezer will cause the cells to rupture, changing the texture of the fish. flash freezing avoids this.

so, getting sushi grade frozen fillets is going to give you the highest quality product, BY FAR.

[Guillermo]

and BTW, most "fresh" fish you buy at the store has been previously frozen... and if not, you better hope it was caught and flown in the same day you eat it, because if not, the frozen fish is going to be far fresher as it is frozen on the boat. IMO, if you aren't going to eat the seafood as soon as it's caught, it's best to buy flash frozen. even live crabs and lobsters can get nasty due to their physiology changing when they are removed from the temps and pressures at the bottom of the sea, they stop eating and start metabolizing their flesh and shell.

[DonJuan]

^ I see what you mean. Thanks for clearing that up! I had it backwards. I thought the frozen ones were less expensive and ran the greater risk of parasites. My bad.

I gonna try that recipie n1zm0, when I get better at the rice and rolling.