Sashimi

Joels picts of the vermillion got me thinking.

What types of fish have you guys had sashimi style (raw)?  Excluding the stuff served in restaurants.

Given my Japanese heritage, sashimi was always high on the list.  Here's what I've had so far:

Stripers (we had a lot of this from the bay, prior to the health warnings).  Its fairly firm white flesh, that's very good.  Haven't had this since the late 70's/early 80's.

Perch (barred and sometimes redtailed):  Haven't had this in a very long time either.  Its a little firmer than striper, but the unusual thing about perch are the tiny black veins in the meat.  Not the most appetizing thing to look at, but my parents served this whenever we caught a big one.  Also, 3-4lbers are not very common anymore.  

Halibut:  Another firm, white flesh fish.  The color sometimes has a rainbow effect or glow.  Downer is that the belly section usually has worms so its not that high on the list.  I only do the top section and cook the lower fillets.

Rockfish:  Had this a couple times when I was younger.  Its firm like perch and striper.  Can't recall which species we had, but we only had it a few times, probably due to fear of worms.

Lingcod:  Had this for the first time last week (thanks Elk!).  My in laws insisted, so I tried it.  The texture was surprisingly chewy for fish.  Not that impressed with it raw, though they loved it.  I'll keep frying all future lings.

Salmon:  Only started having this raw recently (2-3 years ago).  Parents never did this one as sashimi, but I really like it now.  Its somewhat firm, yet rich and oily.  Very good.  It leaves a moderate oil slick in the soy sauce/wasabi.  This one comes right in with BFT/YFT.

Albacore:  My all time favorite.  Its super rich/oily and soft.  IMO, it kicks ass over yellow fin (ahi).  Most people can't eat a lot of this because its so rich, but my wife and I can go to town and demolish a 3/4 of a loin with a few bowls of rice.  Flavor is a little stronger than BFT/YFT and the flesh is more of a light pink.  IMO, its the texture that makes this stand out.

Bluefin:  Similar to yellowfin.  Only had this about 8-10 times.  Most were from Mexico, but I had 2 local fish.  Not as soft as Albacore, but the dark color and moderate flavor make it and YFT favorites.
Also, I had the belly section (Toro) a few years back.  The fat was marbled in the meat and it was rich, but still not as rich as albacore IMO.
Overall, its very near the top for me.

Yellowfin:  Had this almost as many times as bluefin, all from Mexico long range trips.  Nothing really sticks in my head, so I guess I rate it the same as bluefin.  Ahi/maguro is considered at the top of the sashimi tuna.  Call me weird, but I'll take albie any day of the week over BFT/YFT.

Yellowtail:  This is not a tuna, but in the Jack family (I think).  Its a great fish.  Fairly rich, but not quite as strong as albacore.  Another fish near the top for me.

Never had mackeral, bonito, mahi mahi or wahoo raw from our local waters.  These were all cooked, don't know why though.   And I've never had a white sea bass, cooked or raw.  Maybe someday.

Non fish:
Squid (ika):  Soft, chewy/pasty texture.  Not a favorite raw, but excellent fried.  Used to hammer them at night from the Monterey Pier, under the lights 1st or 2nd week in July.  That was a blast trying to fill up a bucket.

Abalone:  Hard, almost crunchy texture.  IMO, ok raw, but even better pounded and fried.

Pismo Clams:  Very good.  Slightly sweet flavor.  Ate one right off the pitch fork when I accidently split it.  Friends were grossed out, but it was tasty!!!  I'd rather eat it then have a seagull dine on it.

Uni:  Slimy yellow roe.  This is one that I don't really care for.  My in laws go nuts for this, but I think it would be a good contender for Fear Factor.

What have you guys had?  Am I missing out on something???????

Stuart

I've had (halibut) hirame and striper, but stopped all that when I saw something on TV about a parasite found in fish that would eat YOU inside out. Though I believe this parasite (or was it virus) was mainly found in Texas it got me thinking about worms and such.
My Dad had a tapeworm in the Philippines when he was in his late 20's. Ate all around him but kept losing weight. Finally HAD to go to the Doctor where they found a 3' tape worm in his intestines.
I'll leave sushi to the experts.

btw: what about ceviche? Do worms survive the citric acid?

As a hawaiian my experieces as a kid were similar to Stu's except we never did stripers or perch.  I too love salmon, but it is a high-risk species, but i order it almost every time I go to sushi.

We also used to eat alot of what hawaiians call Aku, or skipjack.  Awesome, especially in a dish called poke, which has seaweed and aku cubes mixed together.

We also ate raw abs cut into small pieces in a concoction similar to poke, yum.

When absolutely fresh, for me its tough to beat YT, BFT, or YFT.  I have had them all minutes they came over the rail, and its insanely tasty.

It would be really fun if all of us went together on a short tuna trip out of SD.  We could all find our outer limits of sashimi eating, at least quantity wise!

It would be really fun if all of us went together on a short tuna trip out of SD. We could all find our outer limits of sashimi eating, at least quantity wise!

YES.... I've been wanting to do this!

My favorites for sashimi/sushi are uni (sea urchin), ama ebi (raw sweet shrimp w/ the deep fried heads), hamachi (yellow tail), ahi tuna, ika (cuttle fish), sake (salmon),.... and as for poke, I've had ahi, tako (octopus), and even raw blue crab poke.  Damn.... it's all good!..  

SD tuna would be fun.  

Sean/Brian,
What fish have "cooties" and are considered risky raw?  
Rockfish/lings/Salmon?  What about halibut?  Stripers?

Even though the above fish sometimes have visible worms, would they survive in a human stomach?  Also, what about the living organisms which you can't see?

I assume all the Tuna/YT are all fine, correct?

Stuart

especially in a dish called poke

ooohhh....goooood stuff!   I ate this almost everyday when I visited my buddy in Oahu.
Ono Hawaiian Grill in HMB serves them - unfortunately, it's expensive  

SD tuna would be fun.  

Sean/Brian,
What fish have "cooties" and are considered risky raw?  
Rockfish/lings/Salmon?  What about halibut?  Stripers?

Even though the above fish sometimes have visible worms, would they survive in a human stomach?  Also, what about the living organisms which you can't see?

I assume all the Tuna/YT are all fine, correct?

Stuart

Stu and others... here's a good primer from the DFG website...

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/parasites.html

Yum Yum... enjoy...

The worms that can affect humans are ones that live in marine mammals in the wild.  Fish-only parasites can't live in mammals.  Basically any fish that comes close enough to the coast to share an ecosystem with pinepeds is at risk of containing worms.  It's more a matter of where the fish are than what species of fish you're dealing with.   Unfortunately, from the kayaks we can't get past where you'd find sea lions around here, so all fish are suspect.

Thanks for link Erik.

It was a good read over lunch (spaghetti).  I think I will stick to Tuna and perhaps Salmon.

I don't know anyone personally who has gotten sick from fresh sashimi (sushi bar yes).

Stuart

Great link Erik, that's a sound primer.  After my fish pathology class at HSU I have a short list of what I eat without flashbacks.  Small flatfish of any kind cooked or otherwise are OUT, cooked or raw, they are wormy bastards!

Tunas/jacks/mackerels-bring 'em, cold or hot!
Halibut/rockies/striper-cook the piss out of it without drying it out
salmon-my guilty pleasure, I know better but eat it raw anyways.

Doh! That was me.

You guys gotta try the cabezon sometime. I was fishing the rocks off Westcliff a few years back, adn this old Japanese dude caught a huge cabby. He then cut it up and ate it on the spot. Though the row is poisonous, the flesh makes excellent sashimi. Serve chilled with a glass of unfiltered Nigori Sake and a plate of wasabi, ginger and soy sauce.
As far as cooties go, I've heard that freezing your catch for over an hour will kill all worms. I love sashimi, but my mom got a gnarly worm travelling Indonesia back in the sixties, so I'm extra careful and inspect all my fish and freeze all salmon and halibut.

It would be really fun if all of us went together on a short tuna trip out of SD.  We could all find our outer limits of sashimi eating, at least quantity wise!

I was so close to doing the kayak mothership out of SD last June.  I'd like to do it for next year.

The other option would be a day and a half trip or even a 3 day - I just worry about if I have the right equipment for a real boat trip...

When I went out of SD they provide the trolling set-ups and all you really need is a live bait rod of your own (they may even have those).  Its very fun, and when I went we all caught a bunch of tunas.

The only kind I've made/caught was salmon, which needs to be cut a certain way aginst or with the grain (I'm not sure), and gaper (horseneck clams). Both were good, although the salmon is much better. Just dip in  soy sauce and wasabi!