Author Topic: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi  (Read 17889 times)

Offline Brown Eyes

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Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« on: February 14, 2008, 10:46:42 pm »

I'm just curious about this particular foodie preference.  I love sushi and sashimi and I eat them all the time.  My all-time favorite is always tuna (all varieties in both sushi and sashimi).  And, I love the way oyster look and taste, but I'm really afraid of getting food poisoning from oysters in particular.  So, I tend to avoid raw oysters most of the time (even though I like them).


<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/midsize/3789043-3cc.jpg" border="0" /><img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/midsize/3789044-f43.png" border="0" /><img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/3789042-289.jpg" border="0" />




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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2008, 10:53:29 pm »
Hey Amanda!! :D

I picked "Other" because I don't like fish, but I have been curious about sushi for some reason. But sushi really isn't raw fish is it? Sushi is a rice, am I correct? Sashimi is the raw fish? Anyway, it's extremely popular in the Midwest. There are Sushi - Sashimi restaurants EVERYWHERE - especially in the larger cities.

So, I guess I'm curious but I haven't worked up the nerve to try it yet. What is the stuff they put on the top of the fish? Is that fish skin? Because you see, I could NEVER eat fish skin. The raw fish, MAAAAAAYBE, but not fish skin.

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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2008, 11:00:38 pm »
Hey Amanda!! :D

I picked "Other" because I don't like fish, but I have been curious about sushi for some reason. But sushi really isn't raw fish is it? Sushi is a rice, am I correct? Sashimi is the raw fish? Anyway, it's extremely popular in the Midwest. There are Sushi - Sashimi restaurants EVERYWHERE - especially in the larger cities.

So, I guess I'm curious but I haven't worked up the nerve to try it yet. What is the stuff they put on the top of the fish? Is that fish skin? Because you see, I could NEVER eat fish skin. The raw fish, MAAAAAAYBE, but not fish skin.



Hey Friend,

Sushi is many things.  It most commonly refers to raw fish combined with rice (as in the photo above to the right with the chopsticks... the three bits of sushi are shown with pieces of fish tied to beds of rice with seaweed).  Or, some sushi is raw fish (or cooked fish or veggies) rolled with rice in a seaweed wrapper.  Sushi can be completely vegetarian and it also can contain only cooked fish.  Some sushi is also made with cooked egg.  But, quite a lot of classic sushi dishes involve raw fish.  I think rice is the common denominator.

One thing I love about sushi is how beautiful it is.  I always feel like I'm eating little sculptures.

Sashimi is simple slices of raw fish.  As shown in the bottom photo in the first post.

The most surprising thing about (raw) sushi and sashimi is how mild tasting both are.  It's a huge surprise usually for folks to realize how non-fishy-tasting these things are, even if they love fish in general.  If you don't like fish at all, I would tend to avoid sushi as a general recommendation.  Raw oysters have a very strong seafood flavor (at least in my opinion).


the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2008, 11:05:51 pm »
Do they leave the skin on the fish sometimes? See, that's the part that bothers me. I seriously doubt I could swallow it. The raw fish I could (espeically if it doesn't have a strong fish flavor) but not the skin. Some of those pictures look like the sushi has skin on it. I think I even see a fish tail up there!!  :o
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2008, 11:09:41 pm »
Do they leave the skin on the fish sometimes? See, that's the part that bothers me. I seriously doubt I could swallow it. The raw fish I could (espeically if it doesn't have a strong fish flavor) but not the skin. Some of those pictures look like the sushi has skin on it. I think I even see a fish tail up there!!  :o

There are lots of kinds where there is no skin.  If you try it... you might ask your waiter for suggestions about the kinds that don't have skin.   I just picked a pretty picture for the first post.  There are a million varieties of sushi.  And, yes, some have skin, etc.  I prefer the kinds without skin myself.  There's also one kind (sea urchin) that I think is absolutely repulsive... and that has all to do with it's texture.  Certain kinds of sushi... like tuna are awesome in terms of texture because they're entirely smooth.




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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2008, 11:15:05 pm »


<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/3789145-2c1.jpg" border="0" />

Here's another pic of a fairly typical tray of sushi (this is a pretty small serving)... but these look like classic selections.

Usually, when you order sushi you pick each roll or type that you want individually (a la carte).  So, it would be easy to avoid the skin if you want.

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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2008, 11:18:45 pm »

<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/3789145-2c1.jpg" border="0" />

Here's another pic of a fairly typical tray of sushi (this is a pretty small serving)... but these look like classic selections.

Usually, when you order sushi you pick each roll or type that you want individually (a la carte).  So, it would be easy to avoid the skin if you want.



Okay! Amanda PLEASE don't log off yet! Because I am VERY curious about something. See that picture? What is that on the top of the fish and what does it taste like? I've seen it over and over again in pictures and I can't figure out what it is! And I can't imagine what it would taste like.

I watched a very funny episode of Two and a Half Men where Jake is visiting his grandmother. She serves him sushi (just like in that picture) and he takes a bite. The top part pulled away and he quickly spit it out. Then he said he wanted to get the taste out and he accidently swallowed some wasabi. It was a very funny episode.

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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2008, 11:30:19 pm »
Okay! Amanda PLEASE don't log off yet! Because I am VERY curious about something. See that picture? What is that on the top of the fish and what does it taste like? I've seen it over and over again in pictures and I can't figure out what it is! And I can't imagine what it would taste like.

I watched a very funny episode of Two and a Half Men where Jake is visiting his grandmother. She serves him sushi (just like in that picture) and he takes a bite. The top part pulled away and he quickly spit it out. Then he said he wanted to get the taste out and he accidently swallowed some wasabi. It was a very funny episode.



Me log off?  Never.  :-*




Well, in this most recent photo... The three flat pieces towards the top of the pic are (left to right) shrimp, tuna and salmon.  Usually, flat pieces like that are adhered to the bottom bed of rice with a bit of wasabi (not too much... it's usually not very spicy at all)... and the rice itself is special sticky sushi rice.  But, yeah, getting a full mouthful of wasabi would be painful... eating too much wasabi actually makes my sinuses hurt.

Then, the four rolled pieces to the bottom right of this pic... well... I can't really tell what's inside, but they're probably a combo of fish (maybe cooked or maybe raw) and veggies.  The black wrapper holding the roll together is seaweed. 






And, in this pic...



The black stripe is seaweed.  Which I think is extremely delicious.  Seaweed has a very distinctive flavor... it really tastes just like the ocean.  I don't know how else to describe it.  In some ways the seaweed part tastes more "seafoody" than the fish itself (which again, sushi fish is often surprisingly mild).

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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2008, 11:36:19 pm »
Thanks Amanda! You answered my question. For some reason I always thought the white part was the fish, and I wondered what the top part was. But the TOP part is the fish (or shrimp, etc) and the bottom part is RICE!

Mystery solved! :)

Thanks sweetie! :-*

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Offline delalluvia

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Re: Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2008, 11:47:55 pm »
I only eat vegetable or cooked sushi.

After taking Invertebrate Zoology and Entomolgy in college, I haven't had the urge to eat meat raw- neither would you.  :P

The only meat I eat somewhat rare are steaks.