Raw salmon for sushi/etc.

[1StarRestaurant]

Is there a way to find out if the salmon you buy is safe to eat raw? Cuz there's all that risk of food poisoning or whatever from eating raw meat. I've had raw beef before too, is this stuff you just wanna do at restaurants or is it possible to do this at home too?

 

[themonkeytree]

For fish, as long as it is fresh it should be safe to eat. Yes you can make sushi at home. Usually fish that is used for sushi is very good quality fish. If you go to a good quality supermarket like whole foods, or something similar you can ask the person at the fish counter which fish would be good for making sushi.

Sushi is not the easiest thing to make. I know it sounds very simple. It is just rice, seaweed, fish, and some vegetables or some variation of those ingrdients. The hard part is getting the rice right. I mean people in japan can spend 10 years learning how to cook rice for sushi. I am not saying you need to spend 10 years making sushi rice, before you can make homemade sushi, but it is not something you will learn the first time. I am not very good at making sushi rice, so I just decide to go out for sushi or buy already made sushi from whole foods.

As for beef carpaccio and other raw forms of beef, it is safe to eat at home. When I have had it at home, we always use a meat grinder and grind the beef ourself. It is just a meat grinding attachment to the electric mixer. That way you know you are getting good quality meat. If you do not have a meat grinder or do not want to take the time to grind it yourself, ask your butcher. If it is a good butcher they should grind the meat for you if you ask.

With all that said, there is always a risk when eating raw food. No matter if it is at a restaraunt or at home. Just stick to using fresh and good quality products and you should be safe.

 

[Kuijt]

When its very difficult to take out the pinebones of the fillet with a pincer, the fish is fresh!!

video

greetings
www.filleting-fish.com

 

[BreezyCooking]

1Star - if you plan on making sushi (or gravlax for that matter), it's currently advised that the fish - any fish - should be frozen solid for 24-48 hours before thawing for use raw. It doesn't make any difference where you buy it from.

As far as beef, last I heard raw consumption at home wasn't/isn't recommended.

 

[1StarRestaurant]

oh, I'm not too crazy about raw beef...I do like them rare done though with blood juicing out of it =D

If you freeze the salmon, wouldn't it kill some of its flavor?

 

[1StarRestaurant]

whoa!! thats a pretty informative looking site you have there on fishes. Bookmark!! =D

 

[BreezyCooking]

If you freeze the salmon, wouldn't it kill some of its flavor?

Absolutely not! In fact, fish that's been frozen & stored properly is actually fresher & more flavorful than most supposedly "never frozen"/"fresh" fish that's gone thru several middlemen &/or been shipped long distances for a period of who knows how long before it hits your seafood market. Just today I picked up an absolutely gorgeous wild-caught sockeye salmon filet from Whole Foods that had been previously frozen, & I know from previous experience with their fish that it will be fabulous-tasting when I cook it tomorrow.

I do know that, for safety reasons, all the sushi restaurants we've ever dined at only use raw fish that's been frozen at zero degrees for a specific period before
use.

 

[mozart]

oh, I'm not too crazy about raw beef...I do like them rare done though with blood juicing out of it =D

If you freeze the salmon, wouldn't it kill some of its flavor?

That one made me laugh out loud .

The reason the FDA requires freezing is specifically to kill parasites like worm larvae. Of course, I'm not saying that dead parasites have any less flavor than live ones, but at least you won't get worms.

But then the same thing happens when you cook fish.......

 

[BreezyCooking]

Exactly!! A number of years ago, before sushi places (at least back in NY & around here in VA - I don't remember when/if any law went into effect) began freezing sushi fish before thawing/serving, there were a number of highly-publicized cases of folks who had contracted fish parasites from consuming sushi.

Since the freezing thing went into place, I've yet to hear of any cases of this.

 

[kitchenelf]

If you ask the market where you buy your salmon from they will tell you, more than likely, that it has been previously frozen already. If there is some concern about this you can ask them for some already frozen pieces. Just take home and keep frozen for a couple days to be safe.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Actually - it's best if you actually ask your seafood vendor if the fish they're selling you is safe for sushi. Around here, even regular supermarkets sell sushi-grade tuna & salmon, & it's noted as such. If they're not sure, then regardless of how great the fish looks, it's best to buy it for cooking & pass on it for sushi.

 

[337daberry]

Yes you can make sushi at home, the best way i think is to ask them how they prepare the salmon by law the FDA recommends freezing at -35°C (-31°F) for 15 hours, or at -20°C (-4°F) for 7 days to be on the safe side.

 

[GuamDude]

I'd say to just trust your nose. There's a big difference between good and starting to get bad. And if your monger won't let you smell it, I wouldn't go back to him.

That said, some salmon slices with a little bit of wasabi, soy and touch of lemon... wow. I just broke my mouth.

 

[BreezyCooking]

GuamDude - the big question here isn't about the "freshness" of the fish, it's about parasites present in the fish flesh. Parasites that can live on in the human body & cause all sorts of serious intestinal problems. And it's a fact that most fish do carry them.

Sniff the fish all you want - it still won't show you whether or not parasites are present. Regardless of how fresh the fish is, it still needs to be frozen at certain temps for a certain period of time to be absolutely sure that any parasites are dead.

 

[Bigjim68]

Two things that I do with Salmon and most other fish. I would buy wild caught, not farmed, and if it has been frozen, I want to buy it frozen. If you ask the vendor, generally they will get it from the freezer. If they won't, I walk away. I have heard that farmed fish tends to have more parasites than wild, and I suspect that most fish available, particularly in supermarkets, has been frozen. Seems to me that if it is still frozen, it has been frozen long enough to kill parasites, and there is not much to worry about.

 

[GuamDude]

I guess I'm coming from a different mindset being from the islands. it's not uncommon that when people go to our fishermen's co-op, the mongers know who caught the fish and when the boat came in. I can't speak for salmon because we import it but as for tuna andn marlin, it's not frozen before it is sold as sashimi in their refrigerated display cases. It may be a fact that parasites are in most fish but here it's a non-issue when it comes to sushi/sashimi.

 

[AlanS2323]

As far as I know, the only raw fish that's safe to eat is "sushi grade," which means it's flash frozen as soon as it's plucked from the water, it remains frozen during transport, and then it remains frozen until sold.

I'll tell you one thing that disturbed me, though. When the fish guy was cutting me a slab of sushi grade tuna, he was using a knife he grabbed off the counter. Was that knife only used on sushi grade fish? I would have felt like a jerk asking.

 

[Bigjim68]

This is one of the reasons that I want to buy frozen fish frozen. You haven't got a clue how long is has been sitting, how long in the display. Whether it has been cut up on a clean board, with a clean knife.

 

[alexk]

Once I had caught fresh pacific salmon in small alaskan town. I wanted to eat it raw. A man told me I should probably freeze it first, is there any truth to that?

 

[BreezyCooking]

YES!! Even fish you've just pulled out of the water contain parasites that are capable of parasitizing YOU. The fish still needs to be frozen, preferably at zero degrees for 24-48 hours, or at lower temps for a longer period (please read all above previous posts here).