Hankering for Sushi?

"A bluefin tuna, bought for nearly three-quarters of a million US dollars has been sliced up and served to eager customers at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. The tuna, caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, (about 736,000 US dollars,) on Thursday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. The price for the 269-kilogramme (593-pound) tuna beat last year's record of 32.49 million yen (around 420,000 US dollars.) Though the fish is undoubtedly high quality, the price has more to do with the celebratory atmosphere that surrounds the first auction of the year. The winning bidder was Kiyoshi Kimura, the president of Kiyomura Co. which operates a nationwide sushi restaurant chain called Sushi-zanmai. The best slices of fatty bluefin, called "o-toro" in Japan, can sell for 2,000 yen (24 US dollars) per piece at Tokyo sushi bars. But the restaurant chain is offering the tuna at its usual price of 418 yen (around 5.44 US dollars) for an "o-toro", and cheaper for other less fatty parts of the tuna. With a long queue of customers circling the block around the restaurant, Kimura has limited orders to just one piece per person. The tuna was caught off Oma, in Aomori prefecture just north of the coast that was battered by the March 11 tsunami. Japan eats 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught, the most sought-after by sushi lovers."
http://lunaticoutpost.com/Topic-Japanese-TUNA-750-000-USA

I am a big fan of raw (sushi) tuna. I think cooking tuna ruins it. Canned tuna is for cats, not people.

While I would agree with Rolly's assessment of sushi, I have had some darned good entrees with properly prepared seared tuna. Overcooking tuna is a sacrilege!

Ferret:

I will admit to using Google Translate just for fun. However, I was raised in Japan from 1949 to 1956 and by the time we left Japan, I was fluent in spoken Japanese, could read the language and write the language. In the 50+ years since moving away from there, those abilities went away!

Rolly- We buy canned tuna, only our cat eats it; however solid white albacore is not so bad.

Ferret- we adore sashimi and I absolute agree the wasabi in the tube is awful, reconstituted dried is the way we choose.

CG- I worked for a Japanese company for six years and the one thing I can say they do love their food! Cost is just no factor when it comes to entertaining. I believe it’s a pride issue. It was nothing to go out to dinner with a party of six and pay $4000 USD for the evening. (Of course this was during their hay day.)

Parker:

You are so right about the Japanese and their entertaining! It and gift giving are such a major part of their culture that one has to be extremely careful when attempting to decline or minimize either since doing so can be interpreted as a "loss of face". Of all the Asian countries we lived in and traveled through, I enjoyed the Japanese the most!

Rolly wrote:I am a big fan of raw (sushi) tuna. I think cooking tuna ruins it. Canned tuna is for cats, not people.

Well, Roll, Dawg´s two cats appreciate youtr notion that canned tuna is for cats but their daily rations of same are canned by the Whiskas people and we stick to the premium varieties of canned tuna which can be quite good if properly prepared as in a Salad Nicoise or served in a salad with grated celery root, boiled potatoes and a French style remoulade dressing. Canned tuna is used extensively in French Mediterranean and Basque dishes with many delicious recipes avaiable on the internet.

Since a branch of the Pacifico seafood people out of the Mercado del Mar in Zapopan opened in West Ajijic, we now get custom thick cut wild tuna there for home preparation and the key in cooking tuna is that it is seared on the outside and still cool and raw on the inside. We learned this trick of preparing fresh raw tuna while living in San Francisco with its strong Asian influences. We have had tuna prepared properly in this fashion at the Tabarka Restaurant in West Ajijic which specializes in Spanish Mediterranean seafood.

We are also big sushi fans but avoid it like the plague where we live both at Lakeside and Guadalajara and in Chiapas. Sushi in Guadalajara, where it is very popular, is to real sushi as Taco Bell tacos are to real tacos and sushi served up by poorly trained chefs can be bad for your continued good health. There might be a good sushi place in Mexico City with a classically trained staff that someone could recommend. However, a few years ago the Japanese government tried to located good classically prepared sushi anywhere in Mexico and was unable to locate even one restaurant that met its exacting standards. One well known restaurateur in Guadalajara locally famous for his Guadalajara style "sushi" was quoted as saying that, if he prepared sushi the way the Japanese govertnment wanted it to be prepared and with the ingredients they recommended, he would be out of business overnight.

Rolly wrote:I am a big fan of raw (sushi) tuna. I think cooking tuna ruins it. Canned tuna is for cats, not people.

Pues meow, I like a good albacore tuna fish sandwich with chips on a hot day.
Chris

Max agrees with Rolly. When tuna is opened around here, he thinks that he should automatically get all of it. And he expresses that belief as only a very large cat can.

Try this:a can of good solid chunk albacore tuna,a little Best Foods mayo,lots of fresh ly ground black pepper,maybe a dash of Lawrys and some thinly diced celery for texture on lightly toasted wheat bread with a slice of good tomatoe if you can find one,voila,a good refreshing sandwich for hot summer day.
Chris

Since u'll have a great new fresh fish store - Pacifico - u can prepare ur own sushi/sashimi. We have a little countertop deep fryer. My Takki is the best.

1 Can Tuna
1 Plop Mayo
1 Small Onion ( diced )... 1 Pickle ( diced ) is a good substitute

Mix er up in small bowl

Place between 2 pieces Rye Bread

Great Lunch for under $2.00 ... have lunch money left over for a


some folks is just fussy!!