I would, too!
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Agreed. Selection has been disappointing at times.
“Sushi grade” often means frozen to temperatures low enough to kill parasites.
Lol I knew you’d note the use of that term.
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I took that class! It was great. I keep meaning to go back to that fish market but don’t feel like getting up and out at the crack of dawn to do it properly…
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That chicken! 
I noticed this too. Curious to taste and find out what dry-aged seafood is.
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Nice. Is this similar to the aging some itamae do with tuna at sushi-yas?
Check out the pied piper of dry aging fish Chef Josh Niland from Australia on Instagram. He was definitely inspired by Japanese sushi chefs and how they handle and age fish -as well as Fergus Henderson (the whole noise to tail thing applied to fish)
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Will do!
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This 2020 Robb Report article, nicely written by Andy Wang, does a nice job of introducing what Liwei Liao is trying to do…
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I’ve been watching Liwei for the past few years, pretty impressive how he’s transitioned his business especially thru covid. Speaks volumes that the caliber of chefs are using the products he’s producing, great story, great guy.
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Oh, yes, now I remember reading this article
when someone posted it last year. Maybe my brain will retain it a second time. Thanks.
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Everything AND the ‘oink’!
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All itamae worth a lick age (to some extent) all their fish
I’ve been a fisherman all my life. One thing that always surprises people I give fish to or people new to fishing is that fish is NOT at its peak the day you catch it – not by a mile. Actually, fish day-of-catch is kinda bad. All fish needs some time to relax, depending on the type of fish and what you’re using it for, it could peak after just one night or it could be 5 or more days before it peaks.
Tuna, particularly otoro, peaks right before it spoils. Local yellowtail (which is hiramasa, NOT hamachi) is downright crunchy when eaten raw within the first couple days of catching. Not pleasant.
And I’m not doing any fancy complex dry aging process, this is just a combination of leaving the fish thoroughly on ice for a few days before cracking it or leaving the fillets on ice and/or in the fridge for a few days after filleting.
Dry aging supposedly enhances the benefits of the few days’ age I do, and I’m super curious to see for myself, but my point in general is that no itamae is going to serve you a truly fresh fish because they’re gross, even if it was logistically feasible to do so.
A good itamae would know exactly how many days old the fish is and how it was handled from catch to plate, and often would do some further aging in house until the texture and flavor peaks. Knowing that timing is a big part of the skill of the chef.
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Agreed on all topics, seems like a general misconception that “the fresher, the better”.
The only counterpoint I’ll make is that some people(regions/ethnicity) actually prefer that crunchy texture. Which is why see quite a few restaurants that serve live or just killed fish. In my limited experience I find that traditionally Koreans prefer quite a bit more bite to their sushi depending on the fish and person of course. Secondly, I think your point is limited to finfish because the other exception to this rule is live/fresh shellfish but that may be obvious to most.
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does this apply to hikarimono like saba?
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Yes, it’s possible. Kimura-san has been known to age his sardines up to 10 days.
… with the one exception possibly being live fish prepared ikizukuri-style…
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