A friend told me that he never, ever eats frozen fish, but he does enjoy all varieties of sushi and sashimi, and he explained to me that those are never frozen.
I tried to convince him otherwise, but never got anywhere.
At least in the US, a significant amount of the fish you eat in high end restaurants, sushi restaurants and fish markets is never frozen.
It is packed in ice and kept very cold, but not frozen.
Supermarkets are more likely to stock frozen/previously frozen. Lots of commodity seafood is frozen when caught.
Source: Spent a season offshore fishing for swordfish/tuna. Worked in the warehouses that unloaded and shipped the same. Drove the truck that delivered the fish.
If you are in a Western country, then yes, "sashimi grade fish" equals "frozen".
If you are in Japan, then no.
Its all to do with the understanding of fish and its handling.
In the West its all commoditised, quantity over quality.
In Japan, they have a deeply rooted fish culture, a focus on quality and are obsessive over food hygiene.
So in Japan your sushi won't be pre-frozen, but it will have been meticulously inspected and prepared.
Fun fact, salmon sushi/sashimi is a Western thing. The Japanese don't eat it because the parasite risk in Salmon is so much higher than any other fish.
Personally, having visited Japan a number of times, I will not eat sushi or sashimi outside of Japan any more.
1. All Tuna is frozen immediately after being caught on the boat - go to tsukiji (well now toyosu) at the tuna market. They are frozen and they taste better because of it.
2. There is no sushi / sashimi grade in Japan. High quality fish that you can eat safely is just the default
3. It's true that traditional sushi did not include salmon because of the parasites. If you go to a traditional sushi restaurant (3 star Michelin etc) you won't find salmon nigiri. Other than that salmon sushi is everywhere at sushi restaurants in Japan and tons of Japanese eat salmon nigiri and sushi.
1. Noted, although I would say I didn't say all fish was not frozen.
2. That was kind of the point I was making. ;-)
3. I guess we must frequent different places, because the only places I've seen Salmon is Narita airport and at combinis. I don't go to 3 star Michelin, but I do admit I go to more traditional sushi restaurants when I want sushi in Japan. That said, even when I have had sushi at isakaya and small local restaurants, sashimi omakase rarely contains Salmon.
> Its immediately obvious that everything is flash frozen
"Everything" is a bit of an exaggeration.
I'm sure like at all fish markets, there is frozen fish available, either because it was imported or because that's the way it was pre-processed on the local boat.
But to say "everything is flash frozen". That's pushing it. You fall flat at shellfish at a start. ;-)
> Most of us cannot travel to Japan every time we want to eat sushi, so that's simply not practical.
FFS !
Did I ever say I travelled, or that anyone should travel to Japan every time ?
No.
Incase you had not seen, Japanese cuisine goes beyond sushi and sashimi.
The quality of sushi and sahimi in the West is simply so poor compared to Japan I won't waste my money. That is what I am saying.
I simply said I do not eat sushi and sashimi. I can fill my Japanese desires with other culinary aspects and save myself for as and when I might visit Japan.
> Fun fact, salmon sushi/sashimi is a Western thing. The Japanese don't eat it because the parasite risk in Salmon is so much higher than any other fish.
All the conveyor belt sushi chains I’ve eaten at definitely had salmon nigiri on the menu. In fact, they had a wider variety of salmon than what is commonly found in the US. It is most definitely a thing Japanese people eat because otherwise there wouldn’t be five menu items dedicated to just salmon at every major conveyorbelt sushi chain.
Afaik there's very little fresh fish going around, period. It's all frozen on the boat.