Definition of sushi grade fish. How to make your own.

[BiG Boar]

Found an interesting article yesterday. I eat a lot of sushi, and I wanted to know the definition of sushi grade fish. Its actually pretty simple and most of you could make your own sushi grade salmon.

What is sushi (http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-grade-fish.htm#) grade fish?

Parasite destruction guarantee, which is accomplished by 'freezing and storing seafood at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time), or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 24 hours' which is sufficient to kill parasites.

So my next question is, how cold does your deep freeze get so you can do this with your own salmon? I called whirlpool to find out. Now you should test your own unit at home, but they told me -5F.

Has anyone ever done this before? Here is a link I found on the subject. http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-grade-fish.htm

[Wolfman]

I love sushi too - but never thought about making it from fish I caught ;-)

Wolfman

[Ubertuber]

I love sushi too - but never thought about making it from fish I caught ;-)

WolfmanI've made and eaten my own sushi for many years. My understanding is home freezers don't get cold enough to meet the standards set forth for selling the fish, but I talked to a sushi chef about it and he said a home freezer is fine as long as you leave it in there for a few days. He also said that any parasite worth worrying about will be visible when cutting your fish (that they're not microscopic). That said, in the last 15 years of making my own I've never seen anything in my salmon or had any ill effects from consuming it.
Note that only salmon needs to be frozen, tuna, prawns, scallops, oysters etc don't need to be frozen and can be eaten immediately after catching.:cool:
Edit to say that fresh water fish are a no go. Do not use trout for sushi.

[BiG Boar]

Yes, or river caught salmon is what one web site said that I found. Only ocean caught fish are considered safe.

[Wolfman]

I've made and eaten my own sushi for many years. My understanding is home freezers don't get cold enough to meet the standards set forth for selling the fish, but I talked to a sushi chef about it and he said a home freezer is fine as long as you leave it in there for a few days. He also said that any parasite worth worrying about will be visible when cutting your fish (that they're not microscopic). That said, in the last 15 years of making my own I've never seen anything in my salmon or had any ill effects from consuming it.
Note that only salmon needs to be frozen, tuna, prawns, scallops, oysters etc don't need to be frozen and can be eaten immediately after catching.:cool:
Edit to say that fresh water fish are a no go. Do not use trout for sushi.

Uber,

Why not trout? Just curious.

Wolfman

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Wish I would have known this a few years ago. Could have avoided one of my knicknames:-(.

SSS

[Ubertuber]

Uber,

Why not trout? Just curious.

WolfmanI was told this by a sushi chef years ago, but here's a snip from sushiFAQ.com

"No one should ever eat freshwater fish raw under any circumstances as the risks of parasitic infection increase dramatically due to the large number of freshwater parasites that exist, the freshwater ecosystem being a much better environment for parasitic creatures."

Because salmon live mainly in salt water, they are considered ok to eat.

[Wolfman]

Well, that makes sense.

Thanks

Wolfman

[spreerider]

there are way more saltwater parasites but they do normally survive in non saltwater species, so if you eat the saltwater parasite it will die before being able to infect you or do any damage.
There are some that may be able to cross the border but alot of the fresh water parasites part of their lifecycle is to infect bears racoons and other fish eating species including humans.
In the ocean this is not a common situation so not much would have evolved along this path.

[1899]

My brother worked for one season on a boat that sold much of their salmon catch to Japan. Their on-board freezer went to -40C, they dipped the fish in water, put it on a rack, and repeated the process several times. This was done immediately after catching the fish.

[newhunterette]

I have made sushi/sashimi many times and have used fish we have caught or someone else has caught and as well purchased sushi fish from specialty shops - the new refridgerator I have has a setting for flash freezing seafood to to kill any bacteria causing parasites - flash freezing or glazing fish is one of the best known ways to freeze fish quickly and effectively - most commercial boats do this after dressing fish as they can then sell the fish as considered fresh

[huntergirl270]

I have made sushi/sashimi many times and have used fish we have caught or someone else has caught and as well purchased sushi fish from specialty shops - the new refridgerator I have has a setting for flash freezing seafood to to kill any bacteria causing parasites - flash freezing or glazing fish is one of the best known ways to freeze fish quickly and effectively - most commercial boats do this after dressing fish as they can then sell the fish as considered fresh

Hey Ali.. what model/brand is your fridge? I WANT one!!

[newhunterette]

Hey Ali.. what model/brand is your fridge? I WANT one!!

here it is :)
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/detail/features.do?group=homeappliances&type=refrigerators&subtype=quatrocooling&model_cd=RM257ACRS/XAC

sorry for the tiny hijack, Bigbore :)

[Stone Sheep Steve]

here it is :)
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/detail/features.do?group=homeappliances&type=refrigerators&subtype=quatrocooling&model_cd=RM257ACRS/XAC

sorry for the tiny hijack, Bigbore :)

That fridge is bigger than my house:shock:.

Did you hang your moose in there???

SSS

[Dirty]

Spreerider is right. The parasites that live in salt water are not compatible with our body systems for the most part. However, freshwater parasites are compatible. I have an invertebrate zoology prof that will not eat raw sushi. That says something right there. Has anybody ever caught fish that has worms? I have caught lots of fresh water fish, including salmon that have worms in their flesh and stomachs.

[Gateholio]

I know of a few people that have got worms from salmon...And many fish caught have worms on them...

I still eat sushi, of course. You can't serve non flash frozen salmon in BC.

[huntergirl270]

When fishing at my grandpa's cabin in Egmont, we would get ling cod or rock cod that had little white worms in the meat.. We'd be cutting the meat up for sweet and sour cod and they would wiggle out. Gross but we ate them anyway. Apparently its normal?

[spreerider]

I have caught alot of trout and fresh water salmon that had worms but never anything from the sea and most of the trout with worms came from smaller shallow lakes, big lakes like great central or cowichan lake have been good every time.

[Johnnybear]

Are the worms bad for you? or are we talking parasites? Just wondering as I have eaten lots of cod that had worms with no ill effects(yet). Hell they eat tape worms in Africa.

[FLHTCUI]

Spreerider is right. The parasites that live in salt water are not compatible with our body systems for the most part. However, freshwater parasites are compatible. I have an invertebrate zoology prof that will not eat raw sushi. That says something right there. Has anybody ever caught fish that has worms? I have caught lots of fresh water fish, including salmon that have worms in their flesh and stomachs.
I aint an expert here but , here goes...
Most Commercial Halibut fisherman wont eat a hali caught in the last hour.... they will dress it and ice it down... generally in a 4-6 hours the worms in said hali will be looking for a more hospitable place to live....
If I recall at my days working for BC Packers, and spending a few weeks a year working in Cold Storage they said the fish had to be frozen for 6 months in storage before it could be sold/used for Sashimi ...again this was 20 years ago now +-a couple years.
But if your really concerned about it, check out the Canadian government Health Canada web site, it would only take a few minutes to get the goverrnmants version of what is safe.
Cheers,
Rob

[BiG Boar]

Well I have just talked to save on foods people and they told me what thier standards are for thier frozen fish that they sell. It has to be -19F in thier freezer. So if you look on the label and its packaged date is more than 7 days ago, you should be good to go. Even talking to them they said a lot of people use thier fish as sushi grade raw fish. Havnt had any complaints.