With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I know some of you are planning a homemade sushi dinner. Whether this is your first time or you’re a seasoned pro, making sushi at home can be simple, fun, and rewarding. I’ve written before on how to make sushi rolls and Adrianna recently did a post on temaki, but the question I get asked the most is some version of “how do I know if the fish at my store is safe to eat raw?”. The term “sushi-grade” is often tossed around to imply some level of freshness, but in the US, there’s no regulation around the use of the phrase, so it can be used to describe anything. That said, most stores aren’t in the business of getting their customers sick, so they usually reserve the label for their freshest fish. Unfortunately, just because it’s fresh doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat raw. Some fish, such as salmon, contain parasites that will make you sick unless they’ve been destroyed. Another potential problem is cross-contamination.

This happens when “sushi-grade” fish gets cut on the same cutting board or using the same knife or handled with the same gloves as non-sushi-grade fish. where to buy sashimi knifeIf your fishmonger is storing unwrapped sushi-grade fish in the same refrigerated case as non-sushi-grade fish, this should be a big red flag.free online games sushi go round For fish that contain parasites, the FDA provides guidance under their Parasite Destruction Guarantee. buy sushi rice canadaThis states in part that fish intended to be consumed raw must be “frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days)”.best sushi restaurants in london ontario

Cross contamination is a bigger issue. Because most stores don’t sell a high enough volume of fish intended to be eaten raw, they don’t maintain a separate space for handling their “sushi-grade” fish. What’s worse, because tuna is such a large fish, most stores don’t deal with whole tuna, they buy them pre-filleted, which means you have to take into consideration not only the stores handling of the fish, but their supplier’s handling of the fish as well. Ultimately, what it comes down to is how much you trust your fishmonger to understand the best practices for handling fish meant to be consumed raw, and how much they trust their suppliers to hold the same standards. Here are a few things to remember when buying fish to ensure you have a safe and delicious sushi-dinner: Observe and see for yourself whether they’re cutting their sushi-grade fish on the same cutting board as their other fish, without changing gloves or disinfecting their knife and board first.

Ask whether they fillet the fish you’re looking to buy themselves, or if they’re getting them pre-filleted. If you are buying salmon, ask if they can produce logs that show the times and temperatures that the fish was frozen. If you can’t find a local place you can trust with raw fish, why not try filling your sushi with vegetables, cooked fish, or even meat. California Rolls and Caterpillar Rolls may not be traditional, but that doesn’t make them any less delicious!For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blog in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.I would not buy fish at a grocery store and eat it raw.... there are so many reasons why you shouldn't and most of them involve bacteria and parasites. where you know the fish is safe to eat raw.

Definitely do *not* buy fish from a grocery store and assume it's safe to eat raw, the potential for cross contamination is astounding.The main difference is freshness, or the time it would take to reach your "mouth."All the sushi restaurants I've worked in Los Angeles and San Francisco got their fish directly from the wholesale fish supplier and they all used those fish within days.Because those fish were "sushi" or "sashimi" grade (not an official term, it's just a term used by grocery stores and consumers), they needed to be as fresh as possible and had to meet sushi chef's freshness quality standards.Some of the same fish suppliers deliver those fish to the supermarkets, and they do sit in the fridge until a consumer purchases it and takes it to home to cook.Many factors would make fish a "Sushi" or "Sashimi" grade (in commercial terms), so, unless labeled, grocery stores like Whole Foods can keep the fish a bit longer than sushi restaurants it it were meant for "cooked" consumption.

Fish sold for sushi is handled in a shorter, more direct logistic chain than fish sold for home or restaurant cooking.Fish sold for sushi (i.e.,  fish sold for uncooked consumption) is kept frozen until thawed for preparation of the sushi, unlike fish sold for cooking, which may be shipped on ice, and is thawed for sale.What qualifies fish as sushi-grade?What does the supply chain for sushi grade fish look like? Can you get sushi grade fish at your nearest chain grocery?There's generally five de facto grades for fish at a commercial fish market, usually bought in the "what sells first for how much" order:The best and most expensive stuff the sushi guys buy first.The next best stuff, that restaurants buy for the catch of the day.What the supermarkets buy for the fish freezer.What the canneries buy for canned fish.What the pet food people buy for pet food...and also what the "discount sushi" people buy (i.e. never eat "discount sushi').A lot of places have exclusive deals with fisheries, like CostCo does.

Whole Foods has some direct vendor relationships, as detailed here:SeafoodIt's difficult to understand the "real" or intrinsic difference between excellent quality fish and not-excellent quality fresh fish unless you've worked with it for a period of time.  Once you know it though, great fish sticks out like a sore thumb.Depending on the species, great, fresh fish has a unique translucence and texture.  It's more "clear" than stuff of lesser quality and the texture is more like jello jigglers.  It has a bounce.  Conversely, less than pristine fish is cloudier and has more give.  Great quality fish is great not only because it tastes and eats better, but it's about 10x easier to work with and cut.  Lesser quality fish are more delicate and are more easily damaged.Now that we've covered the flesh itself, there's one common misconception to take care of.  Most people think that sushi is all about the "freshest fish," and have the idea that the less time that the fish spends between the ocean and your mouth, the better. 

The reality is that getting peak flavor from fish all depends on the fish.  Most sushi fish benefit from some sort of aging, curing, pickling or any combination of the three.  Just like with land animals, you develop flavor with time.Here's a picture of 10 day aged fish from Zaiyu Hasegawa of Den in Tokyo:And just like with land animals, there is a difference between aging and just plain rotting.  The former is the result of deliberate handling and the latter, one of neglect.Some fish, endangered Blue Fin Tuna is a good example, are flash frozen on the boats, auctioned frozen, and then further kept in deep freezers for months until ultimately thawed out by the restaurant to be cut and served.  Most of the most expensive tuna that you'll have at the nicest sushi restaurants in the US will have gone through this process.  Never frozen Japanese Bluefin tuna is highly sought after, but it's a minority of the trade and almost never leaves Japan.Going back to fish before any processing, aging, or storing, great quality fish is a matter of good fishing practices, selection and proper handling. 

Culturally, the Japanese are of a completely different mindset compared to the western world in each of those aspects.  Through experience, they readily identify and classify the quality of the fish and sell it accordingly.  There are US importers of fish that have gone through the Japanese system, and so it is possible to get high-quality fish if you're willing to pay for it and seek it out.  Getting fish through the US fishing system, my experience is that "fish is fish" so it's more luck-of-the-draw and your own personal selection required to get a great quality fish.  I've used the best local fish purveyors that I could find, and even then, it's not unusual to get just one excellent quality fish out of a batch of  60 fish.So, given how difficult it is for me, as someone who actually cares and knows the difference to get excellent quality fish out of the local wholesale system, you can imagine the quality of fish that end up at your local fish counter.  At my favorite local supermarket, they do from time to time luck out and get a few high-quality pieces of fish.