Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

[Steve Kroll]

Just as the furor over "pink slime" has started to die down, along comes "red slime," an untreated paste made in India from leftover fish parts and used as an ingredient in some Supermarket Sushi.

I'm not a fast food eater, but occasionally for lunch I'll stop by someplace like Whole Foods and grab a tray of sushi. Being that it's sushi, one would just automatically assume that it's all freshly made (after all, there are guys behind the counter making sushi rolls). Apparently that may not be true if you are buying something like Spicy Tuna rolls.

Red Slime: Scourge of Supermarket Sushi - Duly Noted

 

[vitauta]

oh no! spicy tuna has been one of my favorite spur-of-the-moment supermarket sushi indulgences for like forever...and i hate so much having to learn this....

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Yikes!

I usually make my own spicy tuna from whole tuna fillets purchased at my favorite Asian market. At least I know mine aren't made from scrapings.

I quit eating supermarket sushi some time back because what refrigeration does to sushi rice is horrid! The rice in sushi should be served at room temperature. Getting sushi from a supermarket refrigerated case is incompatible with that. Leaving it out on your counter isn't a good idea either, due to possible spoilage and anyway the fish part of the sushi should be served chilled or at least somewhat under room temperature. The only solution is to eat freshly made sushi and let the supermarket stuff stay there.

Or get California roll which has no raw fish, and less likely to spoil on your counter while the rice loses its chill. And has no red scrape!

 

[CWS4322]

I'm so glad I don't eat that stuff! I do make sushi at home, not like Timothy did, I use cooked shrimp, veggies, but I sure won't be picking any up at a supermarket!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

One thing about making your own sushi from raw fish, supermarket fish is not good enough. You need fish specifically intended for sushi use. My tuna and other sushi fish is flash frozen when caught. It's still frozen when I get it at my Asian market and I thaw it myself. (There's an optimum temperature that is best for slicing, still slightly frozen.)

So... Anybody have any recipe ides for red scrape plus pink slime? I guess that would be a kind of squishy surf 'n turf?

 

[CWS4322]

One thing about making your own sushi from raw fish, supermarket fish is not good enough. You need fish specifically intended for sushi use. My tuna and other sushi fish is flash frozen when caught. It's still frozen when I get it at my Asian market and I thaw it myself. (There's an optimum temperature that is best for slicing, still slightly frozen.)

So... Anybody have any recipe ides for red scrape plus pink slime? I guess that would be a kind of squishy surf 'n turf?

I remember Timothy posting about the temps, etc., re: sushi fish. I have no confidence I could get fish fresh enough where I live to even go there. But, I can handle doing homemade with cooked shrimp and veggies.

 

[CharlieD]

Thank G-d I'm keepng kosher. Due to that a lot of the garbage doesn't make on my table.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I remember Timothy posting about the temps, etc., re: sushi fish. I have no confidence I could get fish fresh enough where I live to even go there. But, I can handle doing homemade with cooked shrimp and veggies.

Perhaps you meant fresh in a different context. My understanding is that sushi fish must be frozen at such and so temperature for 24 (?) hours, to kill parasites. I'm quite happy that my sushi fish is not only intended for raw consumption but comes frozen solid, showing me that it is as fresh as it could possibly be without being unfrozen, and of course freezing means it can be caught way out in the ocean (tuna) and still be good sushi for me days later. Actually I have absolutely no idea when my tuna was caught.

I know sometimes sushi is made from fresh caught fish. All I can say is that the chef better know their fish and fish parasites pretty well.