I live in Los Angeles. I want to begin making my own Sushi at home. But I am
kind of nervous about buying the fish. Where should I buy it? Can I get good
enough quality at Vons or Ralphs? Or is that being crazy?

K

Keith Sumrall > wrote:
> I live in Los Angeles. I want to begin making my own Sushi at home. But I
> am kind of nervous about buying the fish. Where should I buy it? Can I
> get good enough quality at Vons or Ralphs? Or is that being crazy?

Mitsuwa Marketplace in Little Tokyo, http://www.mitsuwa.com/ is where I buy
excellent sashimi grade fish. They also have great produce and a fine
selection of sakes. HTH

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~ www.delphiayachtsusa.com

This is where I get mine: http://www.catalinaop.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y
Very good selection and quality. Best Uni around.

On Feb 23, 5:19 pm, Keith Sumrall > wrote:
> I live in Los Angeles. I want to begin making my own Sushi at home. But I am
> kind of nervous about buying the fish. Where should I buy it? Can I get good
> enough quality at Vons or Ralphs? Or is that being crazy?
>
> K

Nijiya Market and Marukai (search on the web for LA area locations)
will have sashimi-grade fish. When in doubt, be sure to ask the person
behind the counter if the fish is sashimi-grade. If there isn't
someone right there cutting the fish for you, anything wrapped should
say something like "for sashimi" on the package.

Not all fish, even if it's fresh, is suitable for sushi/sashimi. The
seafood manager of a local story once told me how a customer came in
and complained how she had gotten very ill once after eating sushi she
had prepared from fish she had purchased at her store. When the
manager asked her what she bought he had to tell her that they were
not suitable for sushi.

HTH,
Tmo

"Keith Sumrall" > wrote in message
...
> I live in Los Angeles. I want to begin making my own Sushi at home. But I
am
> kind of nervous about buying the fish. Where should I buy it? Can I get
good
> enough quality at Vons or Ralphs? Or is that being crazy?
>
> K

Whether for sushi or sashimi, I recommend you purchase fish from Japanese
Food Store.
Both Mitsuwa and Nijiya are well known, but there are many others.
Japanese food stores in the US generally do not sell whole fish for raw
consumption.
Most of time the fish are pre-cut into small workable blocks.
The labels on them should state "for sashimi" in English. If in Japanese, it
will say
"nama shoku OK" (OK for raw consumption").
Fish/seafood not for raw consumption will say "kanetsu you" (for applying
heat..ie cooking).
Occasionally you can purchase raw consumption grade fish from a fishstore
but it is best
if you know the place and the person behind the counter. Otherwise the best
way to obtain
a whole fish fresh enough for raw consumption is to catch it yourself.
M

Just to add my two yen he My wife has had very good success buying
raw salmon from both Costco and Sam's. We make sure that its the
natural ocean grown and harvested salmon instead of any colorized farm
salmon. Salmon and other oily fish do not tend to go bad as quickly as
some other creatures of the deep.

For medium grade tuna, we haven't had good success except through a
company that supplies the local Japanese restaurants and expats.

-- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

"Rik Brown" > wrote in message
...
>
> Just to add my two yen he My wife has had very good success buying
> raw salmon from both Costco and Sam's. We make sure that its the
> natural ocean grown and harvested salmon instead of any colorized farm
> salmon. Salmon and other oily fish do not tend to go bad as quickly as
> some other creatures of the deep.
>
> For medium grade tuna, we haven't had good success except through a
> company that supplies the local Japanese restaurants and expats.
>
> -- Rik
>

I'm surprised at your success. At Costco I see nothing but farmed atlantic
salmon,
and once in while they'll carry whole coho with the head at $2.99 a pound.
But neither
seems to be up to raw consumption grade.
M

Musashi;1262608 Wrote:
>
> I'm surprised at your success. At Costco I see nothing but farmed
> atlantic
> salmon, and once in while they'll carry whole coho with the head at
> $2.99 a pound. But neither seems to be up to raw consumption grade.
> M

Yes, we stay totally away from the farmed salmon. So the salmon we've
been getting at Costco is only the ocean harvested fish. We can't
always get it but my wife keeps an eye out for it. If we can't get good
salmon that we can eat as sashimi/sushi, we then cook it (and some of it
ends up inside onigiri).

Cheers -- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

Musashi wrote:
> "Rik Brown" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Just to add my two yen he My wife has had very good success buying
>>raw salmon from both Costco and Sam's. We make sure that its the
>>natural ocean grown and harvested salmon instead of any colorized farm
>>salmon. Salmon and other oily fish do not tend to go bad as quickly as
>>some other creatures of the deep.
>>
>>For medium grade tuna, we haven't had good success except through a
>>company that supplies the local Japanese restaurants and expats.
>>
>>-- Rik
>>
>
>
> I'm surprised at your success. At Costco I see nothing but farmed atlantic
> salmon,
> and once in while they'll carry whole coho with the head at $2.99 a pound.
> But neither
> seems to be up to raw consumption grade.

Same at BJ's Wholesale.. all Farmed Salmon.
I have seen wild salmon at Whole Foods, and used
that for sushi.

--
Dan

Musashi;1175469 Wrote:
> Whether for sushi or sashimi, I recommend you purchase fish from
> Japanese
> Food Store. Both Mitsuwa and Nijiya are well known, but there are many
> others.
> Japanese food stores in the US generally do not sell whole fish for raw
> consumption.

I was just up in Chicago this past week and we found a Mitsuwa there
where we stocked up on some items:

Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court
100 E. Algonquin Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Arlington Heights is a northwestern suburb and easily accessible by
car.

In addition to cuts of sashimi they also carry Japan bred beef (wagyuu)
that looked pretty good for shabu-shabu or sukiyaki. We found the
employees very helpful and friendly. They have a map in Japanese
showing restaurants and companies in the surrounding area that cater to
Japanese.

If you arrive late in the day, leftover boxes of sushi are marked down
by about 30%. The one's we purchased were fine once they warmed up from
the refridgeration.

If anyone knows any better source in Chicagoland, I'd like to hear from
you.

Thanks. -- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com