Although sashimi perfection may be years away, this simple beginner's guide will have you slicing away in no time.At its most basic, sashimi is something raw, sliced and served. It can be anything - beef, scallops, even chicken - and by far the most popular sashimi is seafood. Almost any fish can be eaten as sashimi. In Australia, tuna, salmon and kingfish are commonly used for sashimi in Japanese restaurants.  But some of the best seafood varieties for sashimi in this country are: scallop, squid, tuna, trevally, kingfish, bream, bonito, garfish, whiting, flounder, flathead, snapper and even leatherjacket.When it comes to raw fish, there's more to good sashimi than just being fresh. The flavour and texture of fish changes over time, and just like good beef, some fish improves with a bit of time to age. As a general rule smaller fish and seafood like prawns and squid are best eaten as soon as they're dispatched, and larger fish like flounder and snapper might need to be rested on ice for a few hours or overnight for their muscles to relax and their flavour to improve.

Some even think very large fish like tuna are at their best aged for week or two. But be warned - ageing fish to be eaten raw is strictly for the experts and my advice when choosing fish for sashimi is to follow the advice of a good fishmonger. Once the fish has been selected, it is filleted and skinned (if choosing a whole fish). Then there isn't much more to the preparation of sashimi than just cutting it up. Japanese chefs can name dozens of different slicing techniques for sashimi, but you only need to know a few. The hira-zukuri (rectangular slice) cut is the most common. Starting from the right side of the fillet (for right handers) draw the knife from its base to its tip in a single vertical stroke. This is for a clean slice of fish between half a centimetre to more than 1cm wide. The slices are stacked like books on a bookshelf. This cut is commonly used for tuna, salmon and kingfish. The angled usu-zukuri (thin slice) cut begins from the left of the fillet, drawing the knife at a nearly horizontal angle across the grain, creating a very thin, diagonal slice that is perfect for firm, white fish with thin fillets like bream, flounder and whiting. 

Other cuts such as the kaku-zukuri (square slice) creates small cubes of thick, soft fish like tuna and the ito-zukuri (thread slice) produces thin slivers of narrow fish and seafood like garfish and squid.tenzan sushi order onlineFor all the fancy names and techniques, what's most important is that each slice of each type of fish is the same. where to buy sushi grade fish kitchenerSlicing creates texture and if the slices are different widths, the texture of each slice will be different.sushi online bestellen greifswaldAfter it is cut, sashimi is nearly always arranged as a kind of landscape with three edible garnishes on the plate - ken, tsuma and karami - a base, a highlight and a spicy condiment. sumo sushi menu birmingham al

Ken is the base or background and sits at the rear of the dish. sushi co online siparisPopular ken include a mound of shredded and curled daikon radish or Japanese leek, or wakame seaweed. geta sushi oaklandThe bulk of the ken holds up the fish and its colour helps the fish stand out visually, but it can also be eaten as a kind of palate cleanser when moving from one variety of fish to the next.Tsuma literally means "wife", but in the context of sashimi it refers to a highlight or foreground element partnered with the fish. Tsuma are smaller, often vibrantly coloured piles of tiny herbs, cresses or flowers such as shiso (leaves, buds or flowers) or benitade (a peppery purple herb). Tsuma are placed below the fish in the foreground, and can be used to flavour the fish as well.Karami is any kind of pungent spice accompanying sashimi.

Wasabi, the intense green horseradish we all know, is by far the most popular. But the type of karami served will vary by fish and by region. Mountain wasabi (a large brown-white root similar to Western horseradish) is popular in the north of Japan, grated ginger is served with oily fish like sardine and bonito and the preferred karami for vinegared mackerel is hot mustard.As with most parts of Japanese culture, there are rules for eating sashimi. Some are fairly straightforward but others might come as a bit of surprise.When adding soy sauce to your individual sauce dish, add only what you need rather than filling the dish completely, which can be considered wasteful. Just a half teaspoon or so in the bottom of the dish is usually plenty to season just a few pieces of sashimi.Many say it's taboo to mix wasabi and soy sauce together for dipping sashimi into, but I know many Japanese who do just that. Personally, I think it's best to keep the wasabi (or other karami) separate and dab just a little on the fish before dipping it lightly in the soy sauce.

That way you can vary the amount of wasabi for each type of fish and in any case, in a mixed plate of sashimi the karami served with each piece may be different.Wearing aftershave or perfume to a sushi restaurant (or any restaurant for that matter) is thought quite rude in Japan, as strong smells interfere with the delicate taste of the fish. Considering that our perception of flavour is mainly aroma, this is a good rule to follow to maximise your appreciation of the meal. It's easy to get confused by the rules of Japanese food even when it comes to something as simple as a few slices of raw fish, but just remember to treat them as rough guidelines rather than absolute requirements. Above all else, enjoy the food and your first forays into the world of sashimi are unlikely to be your last. Sushis by Geneviève Everell Tartares by Geneviève Everell Quebec fishing and seafoodIT’S pronounced poh-keh, a traditional Japanese-Hawaiian fusion of raw cubed fish and salad that is starting to catch on.

So far it has popped up everywhere from chef Mark Jensen’s new Salmon & Bear in Zetland to Easy Lane at Windsor RSL.Candace Wu and Sam Constantinou fell in love with the dish after getting married on Oahu’s north shore in 2011 and after several trips to Hawaii and Japan, to research the dish and the best fish to use, the pair opened Poke in Coogee earlier this year, the first of its type in Australia.Last week they travelled all the way to San Diego to compete in the seventh annual I Love Poke Festival, the first Australians and first international visitors to do so.And so novel was their appearance, even the local TV station had them on to demonstrate one of the dishes they serve at their restaurant — cubed salmon, green onions, tomatoes, black sesame seeds, and a little gluten-free soy.“We didn’t place (in the competition) but we got really good feedback,” Wu says. “And we had to feed 800-plus people.“The food that we make, the food that we cook is clean, mostly gluten free,” she says.

“Everything is super clean and super healthy and you can get it really fast.”“American food is so heavy and sugary, as a light dish it was refreshing for customers (at the competition), they loved the light flavours.”Wu and Constantinou were driven to open the restaurant by a lack of healthy choices in quick meals back home.“My husband and I, we eat really clean, healthy food. I guess when you think about it, we are both busy, he runs his own business as well, and it’s just that fast takeaway option we were looking for. There isn’t a lot of it out there. That was one of the big reasons why we started the restaurant.”Apart from salmon they also use yellowfin tuna — known as ahi in Hawaii.“It’s raw sashimi grade, which is locally sourced and we don’t get any of the frozen, chemically-treated stuff from overseas. We only use (fish) that comes out of Australian waters,” she says.“When we first started out we had lots of meetings with the fishmonger (Martins Seafoods), just letting them know what we were doing and how the tuna was going to be served and we always get A-grade yellowfin.media_cameraAn ahi — or yellowfin tuna — poke bowl at Poke in Coogee.

Picture: Chris PavlichWhile top-quality tuna comes at a price, they have managed to keep the dishes accessible.“It’s a very reasonable price point and we have kept it that way to make it accessible to the general market. We didn’t want it to be a high-end product, but when the fish does come in, it has a tendency to fluctuate (in price), so we either one don’t use yellowfin or add an extra $2 on it. Our customers are cool with that.”While most customers are loyal locals, they are also seeing visitors from as far afield as Campbelltown and Newcastle who have loved their poke experience in Hawaii or the west coast of the US where the dish also popular. They now think it’s Australia’s turn to jump on board the trend.“Even the kids are coming in and eating the poke which is amazing, mum comes in from pilates or dad likes to stay healthy, he might like a pork roll, but he’ll have the poke every once in a while.”At the other end of the scale, veteran restaurateur and former chef Rob Rubis last week hosted a dinner showcasing the skills of sashimi master Hideo Dekura, in collaboration with his Manta executive chef Daniel Hughes.Among the raw dishes were Moreton Bay bug sashimi, hiramasa kingfish and lightly seared calamari.“

The guys are quite excited. It’s the sum of many parts,” he says of the dishes presented to 100 diners. “It’s an art form, and it put art back into our cooking and that is what it is all about.“It’s the best produce we could get our hands on.“Having eaten in Japan and skied in Japan.“Inherently what we do is raw seafood, what we do is probably at a level more influenced by Europe and the Mediterranean and a different style of raw. What I’d like to do more of is raw like sushi, such as master Hideo has shown us. In a sense it’s back the future.”Both Dekura and Hughes are learning from the dinner experience, which may well be repeated.“It’s going back to the basics and doing things properly. It’s been refreshing to do things from scratch and being taught by Hideo is amazing,” says Hughes. “And the seafood we get in Australia is second to none so it’s a lovely way to eat it and we are lucky that we get to eat so much of our seafood raw here because it is so good.

Dekura, who also runs a cooking school in Chatswood, is happy to pass on his classic raw dish skills, plus add some new twists.“We are working together to create modern classics,” says Dekura. “There is no secret to raw dishes, Australia seafood is of the best quality and aquaculture is getting better and better.”The menu at this bright little backstreet Coogee bolthole features sustainable, seasonal and locally sourced produce, including ahi — or yellowfin — tuna. Their twists on poke include ingredients such as coconut, ginger, kale, citrus and lots of seasonal vegetables. .auHere fresh-cut salmon sashimi, wild rice salad, a soft-boiled egg and pickled ginger is offered as a simple poke salad, which has been dubbed an Hawaiian surfer’s paradise. .auDeciding on sustainable salmon or tuna is the only pressing decision that needs to be made at Salmon & Bear by chef Mark Jensen (Red Lantern). There are two options, spicy or sweet poke, both served on fluffy coconut rice. The salmon poke has a sweet soy and sesame dressing and is served with a corn salsa and avocado.

The tuna poke is served with chilli and lemongrass dressing served with a kimchi and seaweed salad. There’ll be another Salmon & Bear in King St, Newtown soon, which will be a replica of that in Zetland. Both are smart-casual venues where orders are placed at the counter and delivered to the table.6 Defries Ave, Zetland, 9662 8188; 226 King St, Newtown; .auIt may not be close to the ocean but Easy Lane’s poke is as fresh as it gets with this new kid in town doing a more traditional take. Cured and chopped tuna is added to a base of rice, avocado, red onion and soy..auThis poke is served in the traditional way, with sashimi cubes marinated in Hawaiian poke sauce, it is served with classic trimmings of shallots, alfalfa and avocado. .auThe QT is known for its seasonal produce and here its version of a raw fish dish is A Crystal Cup of ceviche of Moreton Bay bugs, prawn, snapper, loads of lime juice, young coriander, mint, pickled padron peppers and radish flower buds. /sydney-cbd/With skills learned from his Japanese father and experience in the kitchen at famed US diner Nobu, Chase Kojima presents one of the best raw fish offerings in town.