Sashimi (Sliced Raw Fish) is a dish of sliced raw fish, and is a simple dish with no cooking involved. It just requires slicing. All you need is a fresh fish, soy sauce, and wasabi (Japanese horseradish). There are a couple of rules for slicing the fish fillet, but once you get the idea, it’s so easy to make Sashimi.
Japanese people say that almost all the fish you catch you can eat as Sashimi. The best Sashimi is the fish you just caught in the sea. You fillet, slice, and serve it on the spot. Nothing can beat Sashimi made like this!
Unless you can catch a fish yourself, you need to buy fresh sashimi quality fish to eat it raw. Some fish on display at fish shops might have a note to say that it’s OK for Sashimi. Otherwise, ask the shop if the fish is OK to eat raw.
In recent years, Sashimi has become so popular in Australia that you can buy a suitably shaped block of fillet to slice for Sashimi at fish shops. It is sometimes sliced already, or the shop will slice the block for you.
The most commonly available sashimi quality fish where I live is tuna, salmon, and kingfish. I sometimes find deep sea bream or trevally in some fish shops. If I go to the Sydney Fish Market, I might also find other sashimi quality fish such as yellowtail/horse mackerel, snapper, flounder, and swordfish, etc.
From left to right: tuna Sashimi, salmon Sashimi, kingfish Sashimi.
THE THICKNESS AND THE SIZE OF SASHIMI (SLICED RAW FISH)
When I buy a block of sashimi quality fillet I slice it myself, because fish shops slice it too thinly. Depending on the type of fish meat, you should slice the fillet into different thicknesses so that you can enjoy not only the taste of the Sashimi but also its texture.
In the case of tuna and other soft flesh fish, the best thickness of a slice to eat as Sashimi is about 7-10mm/¼-⅜”. Any thinner than that will not give you the texture of the meat (that’s why I don’t buy sliced sashimi!). If the slice is much thicker, the firm and bouncy texture becomes too much and the texture of the flesh stays in your mouth.
If you are making Sashimi out of firm white flesh fish such as snapper, it is better to slice it thinner. To easily slice a block of fish fillet thinly, I use the ‘sogigiri‘ (削ぎ切り, shaving cut) method. The subsequent section describes different ways of slicing a fish fillet.
The average weight of Sashimi is 15-20g/0.5-0.7oz per piece. So, if you have a 100g/3.5oz tuna block, you will slice it into 5-6 pieces. If the fish has a firm flesh, the weight of a slice is less because you slice it thinly.
DIRECTION OF GRAINS IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE SASHIMI (SLICED RAW FISH)
When making Sashimi, the fish fillet should be cut perpendicular to the direction of the spine. This means that you will cut the flesh across the grain to ensure that each piece of Sashimi is not stringy.
In the case of a block of fish meat that is already filleted for Sashimi, the rectangular fillet usually has the right grain direction so that you can simply slice the block.
But if your sashimi quality fish fillet is a block like the photo below, then you will have to cut the meat into about a 3cm x 4cm/1¼” x 1½” rectangular block (see the lines on photo below) then turn it 90 degrees so the grain runs horizontally to the cutting board. You may only get few slices out of each block, but in total you should have plenty of sashimi slices.
If you are making Sashimi out of a side of salmon, halve it along the backbone to make two long narrow blocks. It is easier to make sashimi slices from the dorsal side of fillet because the fillet has the adequate thickness. But the belly side of fillet is fattier and richer in flavour.
The same method of cutting a sashimi block from salmon applies to snapper, kingfish, and bonito. If the fish is small, like yellowtail/horse mackerel, you will use the whole side of fish to make sashimi slices.
SLICING SASHIMI
SASHIMI KNIFE
Before explaining different ways of slicing sashimi, let’s talk about a special Japanese knife crafted for Sashimi. There are various types of knives specifically made for Sashimi. The most commonly used Japanese sashimi knife is called ‘yanagi ba bōchō‘ (柳刃包丁), which means willow blade knife.
It is a thin and long knife where the name ‘yanagi‘ (柳, willow) came from. The blade of yanagi is angled only on one side (the right side for right handers) and the other side has no angle.
This single bevelled blade allows you to make a clean straight cut to the fillet from the side with no angle, while letting the sliced piece easily come off the blade because of the angle.
This is the reason why the right-hand side of the blade should have an angle if you are a right hander. If you are a left hander, you need to buy a yanagiba bōchō with the angled blade on the left.
If you don’t have a Japanese sashimi knife, use a knife with a thin and long blade.
HIRAZUKURI (RECTANGULAR SLICE)
There are different ways of slicing or cutting a fish fillet to make Sashimi. But I usually use only two common slicing methods, unless you are making tataki, e.g. Japanese-style Kingfish Tartare (Kingfish Tataki).
The hirazukuri (平作り, rectangular slice) is the standard cut for most of the Sashimi you will see in restaurants. Place a block of fillet on a cutting board in the way that the grain runs horizontally, i.e., direction of the backbone horizontally.
If you are a right hander like me, start from the right side. The correct way of slicing the fillet is to draw your knife from its base to the tip in one go. Pulling the knife this way will ensure a clean cut. Don’t slice a sashimi piece by pulling and pushing your knife. Tilt the knife to the right slightly to remove the slice from the knife.
SOGIGIRI (SHAVING CUT)
The other method of slicing is sogigiri (そぎ切り, shaving cut). You use this method for white meat fish that has firm, thin flesh such as snapper and flounder.
Sogigiri starts from the left side for the right hander, and you place a knife at an angle, say 45 degrees from the vertical position of the knife. If the fillet is very thin, you may tilt the knife more to make a wider slice.
Firstly, you need to remove the top left corner of the fillet to make the required angle of the cut. I normally put this end bit into my mouth to taste. 😋 Place the fingers of your left hand on the angled surface of the fillet and draw the knife to slice. Drawing the knife from the base to the tip with a smooth motion is more critical in sogigiri than hirazukuri to make a clean cut.
The thickness of the slice can vary but it is usually thinner than hirazukuri slices. Flip the knife towards the left to remove the slice from the knife. If the slice is very thin, you may need your hand to remove the slice from the knife.
In the photo below, I used a block of kingfish fillet to demonstrate hirazukuri (top) and sogigiri (bottom).
When you slice the fillet very thinly to 2mm/⅛” thick or less, it becomes ususzukuri (薄造り, paper thin slice). Pufferfish/blowfish Sashimi is famous for usuzukuri. Paper thin slices are arranged radially on a plate with minimal overlaps so that you can see the pattern and the colour of the plate. See the beautifully presented blowfish Sashimi in the photo below.
PLATING SASHIMI (SLICED RAW FISH)
There are no rules to the way Sashimi should be presented. But I find that grouping only a few slices of sashimi together and placing several groups on the plate is the best way to present it. If you have different kinds of Sashimi on a plate, each group should have the same kind of fish.
From top right clockwise: tuna, snapper, salmon, kingfish.
COMMONLY USED GARNISH TO GO WITH SASHIMI
Almost without exception, a plate of Sashimi comes with sashimi pieces and some garnishes. These garnishes are collectively called ‘tsuma‘ (つま or 褄), which means edge, referring to something that is added to the edge of Sashimi.
From left clockwise: Julienned daikon, perilla leaves, wasabi in a tube.
The most used tsuma is finely julienned daikon. The typical thickness of each strand is about 0.5mm/1⁄64″ but for home cooking, it can be 1-2mm/1⁄32-3⁄32″ thick.
There is a special way of making daikon tsuma using a knife, but it is very technical and time consuming unless you are a professional. So, I use a julienne slicer or a peeler to make daikon tsuma. My julienne slicer makes about 2mm thick julienned daikon. If I want thinner daikon tsuma, I peel daikon to make thin strips, then I cut the strips into thin strands with a knife.
Place the julienned daikon strands in ice water to make them crisp, then squeeze water out before serving.
Other popular tsuma includes perilla leaves, wakame seaweed, julienned cucumber, and julienned carrot.
Tsuma not only makes the Sashimi look colourful and pretty, it also gives you other benefits. Daikon cleanses your palate and perilla gives a refreshing flavour to the Sashimi when eaten together. Julienned daikon can absorb moisture from the Sashimi. By placing daikon under the sashimi pieces, you can prevent your Sashimi from becoming watery and keep it fresh.
Plating Sashimi with daikon and perilla leaves as garnish.
Traditionally a few small mounds of julienned daikon are placed on the plate and some sashimi pieces are placed between the daikon mounds. When the Sashimi is just a white meat fish, I use julienned carrots or cucumbers in addition to the daikon to add some colours to the dish.
SERVING SASHIMI (SLICED RAW FISH)
Sashimi is served with a small plate of soy sauce to dip in and wasabi. In my photo, you can see the wasabi served in a little container made with cucumber, which adds an extra touch to the Sashimi plate. I made it by shaving the end of the cucumber like shaving a pencil. If you shave it slightly more than the full round of the cucumber, it will give you an overlap to secure the cone shape.
Hikari
光一郎