Sushi fish

[Jenise]

Opa? Swordfish? Thresher shark?

Never seen them done as sushi. Anyone have any opinions about why they wouldn't be good?

%^)

Don't know why the first two wouldn't work but wouldn't the shark be a little tough/chewy ?

Clink !

%^)

It's funny you should mention swordfish and shark, Jenise, as I was just reading about them yesterday - over here in Oz the Food Standards people recommend eating them in limited quantities because they tend to have higher levels of mercury than smaller fish :

http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=104224&catId=100228&tid=100008&p=1&title=Mercury+in+fish

Not sure how shark would taste raw - I've always found it to be a very mild fish. Did a quick google and found this site which suggests that swordfish is occasionally eaten as sushi :

http://ease.com/~randyj/rjsushi.htm

Cheers !

Celia

[Jenise]

Celia, great website. Shark IS mild, but then so is halibut which is often served in sashimi. I notice there was no opa on his list. It's such a beautiful color--light warm pink--that I want it to be good sushi. I bought some yesterday, and was able to choose my cut from the whole piece--got the tenderest bit from the belly, like a good toro. I'd like to just try it, but I worry about the parasite problem that salmon has. I don't know what other fish share that issue.

Not sure about Opa or Thresher Shark, but I do know that swordfish has lots of parasites that makes it unsuitable as sushi grade fish...I have never even seen swordfish cooked rare for that reason.

Dear Jenise,
Great, now you've got me worried about our seared Opah preparation!

The mere fact that a fish is sold as sushi doesn't mean much, since prologned hard freezing will kill the parasites even in a warm-water fish like salmon. Opah is deep water, so it's probably less risky than salmon, but that's just a guess. All I know is that marinated in fish sauce (clever or sadistic? You decide) and ginger and grilled at 550F for about 90 seconds a side, it's one of my favorite fishes, and I'd risk eating it raw. Just be sure you get a section with less connective tissue; apparently there are many different cuts. I've not see belly.

Walt

[Jenise]

Walter, you consider Salmon a warm water fish? As a former Alaskan and current resident of the Pac NW, I'd consider it a cold water fish where Opa, a resident of Hawaiian waters, is what I'd consider a warm water fish. But, honestly, I have no idea why/where parasites are more an issue than not.

I've not tried your method for cooking Opa, but I agree with you that it's one of the best fish in the world. Love it's mild taste and cake-y texture. And agreed about the connective tissue--the store I was at had one humongous piece of opa, and I was able to specify where I wanted my piece cut from--which was far away from the visible tissue you mention.

We lived in Hawaii for two years, where opah (moonfish) is common. It was available between the a months (April to August). Hawaiians consider opah to be a good luck fish. It is usually served baked/broiled, but the darker pieces can be (and are) sliced thin for sashimi.

Tuna and marlin reign supreme for sashimi, but opah and onaga (snapper) are certainly available. That said, we kept to the toro cuts of ahi when available.

Walter, you consider Salmon a warm water fish? As a former Alaskan and current resident of the Pac NW, I'd consider it a cold water fish where Opa, a resident of Hawaiian waters, is what I'd consider a warm water fish. But, honestly, I have no idea why/where parasites are more an issue than not.

You know Jenise, I just tried to find out what the deal is with parasites and couldn't locate a conclusive answer. Some sources said that it was the tuna's feeding at sea, away from mammal contamination that kept it clean. Other sources said it had more to do with the size of the fish. The explanation I'd heard previously was that tuna lived at depth in cold water. I found some statistics on salmon, and they typically stay within a couple meters of the surface, diving ~100 meters to feed. Bigeye tuna typically stayed 200-300 m down, diving as far as 1000 m to feed. Even in equatorial waters, that's going to be around 3C/38F, quite chilly.

If you're interested, there's a neat article from the Nat'l Oceanographic folks about tracking opah, along with some pictures of what has got to be the ugliest fish I'm willing to eat. I guess beauty really is skin deep because once you get through the thick, spotted skin of the opah, it's beautiful!

http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/projects/02census/pelagics/pelagics.html

The article says that the opah occupy roughly the same depth as tuna, so maybe it is safe to eat raw. I'm going to pretend it is, if that's alright with everyone.

And agreed about the connective tissue--the store I was at had one humongous piece of opa, and I was able to specify where I wanted my piece cut from--which was far away from the visible tissue you mention.

Your fishmonger had a whole chunk of opah? That is lucky. We tend to see it already broken down into chunks, so it's a crapshoot trying to find one that's the right size and not too heavy on connective tissue. I really hope we get to try some when we're in Hawai'i next week.

Walt

Scroll down about 2/3 of the way...

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/D ... dfish.html

Honestly, I there are more unique factors when it comes to parasites in fish.

That aside, I wouldn't be interested in any shark or swordfish sashimi for texture issues.