Sashimi
Sashimi is a popular Japanese dish that originated from China. It usually consists of extremely fresh, raw meat or fish that has been sliced into thin pieces. The term ‘sashimi’ means a pierced body. The culture of consuming uncooked and raw fish first started in the republic of China in the early years of 500 BCE. This delicacy was first introduced in Japan during the Heian Period. A majority of non-Japanese nationals use sashimi and sushi terms interchangeably. However, those two delicacies are completely different and separate. The term sushi is used to refer to any food that has been prepared with vinegared rice. Raw fish is among the traditional sushi ingredients. Consequently, some sushi dishes are made up of seafood that has already been cooked, while others contain no seafood at all. Sashimi, on the other hand, is just a thick piece of raw fish.
In most cases, sashimi is the first course meal in a formal Japanese dish. Nevertheless, it can also be served as the main course when presented together with rice and miso soup, which are served in different bowls. Sashimi is considered by a majority of Japanese chefs as the best dish in a Japanese dining setup. They recommend that sashimi should be consumed before any other strong flavors affect the palate.
Sashimi Styling
Sliced seafood that encompasses the main ingredient is mostly draped over a garnish. Daikon is a typical garnish that is considered Asian white radish. It is usually shredded into single leaves of perilla/shiso herb or into long and thin strands to provide an aesthetically pleasing look to the sashimi serving.
In most cases, sashimi is served with soy sauce or other types of dipping sauce. Additional condiments like wasabi paste mixed with grated fresh ginger can be used as well. For meat sashimi, additional ponzu and garnishes such as shiso and sliced daikon radish can also be added. The wasabi paste is, in some cases, directly mixed with soy sauce to act as a dipping sauce to enhance the flavor of the meal. This is usually done when eating sushi. A number of purists are against the practice of mixing together wasabi and soy sauce. They argue that this action dilutes the sweet and hot flavor of wasabi. A different way of flavoring soy sauce with wasabi is by placing a wasabi mound into a dish of soy sauce dish. This enables the wasabi to absorb the soy sauce more effectively instead of mixing the two together. The original reason as to why wasabi is served with sashimi, besides its flavor, is that it kills harmful bacteria and parasites that may be present in the raw seafood.
Sashimi Cuts
In order to display a fish’s appearance, a chef is supposed to cut it into pieces of different thickness. A hira-zukuri cut refers to a rectangular slice. This is the most popular and standard cut for sashimi. A cut in this hira-zukuri style is the size of a domino with a thickness of 10mm or 3/8-inch. The three most common types of fish that are cut this way include: tuna, kingfish and salmon.
An uzu-zukuri cut refers to an extremely thin slice that is cut diagonally. This type of cut is usually used on firm fish like flounder, bream and whiting. The measurement of this kind of fish is mostly 50mm or 2-inches in length and 2mm or 1/16-inch width. A kaku-zukuri cut is a term used to refer to a square slice. Using this style, sashimi is usually cut into small and thick cubes that measure 20mm or ¾-inch on each side. The ito-zukuri cut refers to a threaded slice. With this type of cut, fish is cut into thin sheets that measure less than 2mm in thickness. Garfish and squid are the types of fish that are usually cut by the ito-zukuri style.
Sashimi is typically ordered in 3 pieces. In other words, one order of Sashimi contains 3 pieces.