Fish For Dinner

Last night we had a Japanese style dinner. Ik'o made the usual assortment of vegetable dishes including blanched broccoli spears with a miso vinegar sauce, fuki from our backyard and after proper preparation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petasites_japonicus) with a vinegar-soy sauce-chili pepper marinade, kabocha squash deep fried then simmered in sauce, rice, soup, etc.

I like all the vegetables but the main attraction for me was the fish. I cut up sashimi from a piece of the tuna loin as an appetizer, there was halibut shioyaki, smelt shioyaki and, one of my favorites, smelt karaage

The fish all came courtesy my brother, Keith, the Shacho (president) of Claus Meats, the premium meat supply house I've mentioned previously.

The piece of tuna for the sashimi was from a loin we had for the New Year celebration. In years past I've cut the fish into blocks the right size for sashimi, vac-packed and froze them then thawed and cut into sashimi as needed. This year I cut the loin into pieces the right size for sashimi blocks, vac-packed and froze them whole. As needed I can partially thaw the whole piece, cut into sashimi blocks and then into sashimi. I refreeze the other still partially frozen sashimi blocks to be used soon. This process seems to work much better as you can see by the appealing color and texture of the sashimi.

Tuna sashimi

The halibut shioyaki (literally, salt grilled) was from a small halibut we got a few weeks ago. We had the rest of that particular fillet a few days ago prepared Italian style, but that's another story. This time Ik'o lightly salted and refrigerated it until ready to grill. You notice the pan which is a typical grilling pan from Japan. It sits on top of a gas burner (electric works also) which distributes heat evenly to the grilling surface.

Halibut on the grill pan

The smelt shioyaki was cooked the same but was freshly salted. In Japan small fish like smelt will sometimes be rolled in coarse salt then grilled but I like to eat the skin so prefer to lightly salt just before grilling.

The smelt karaage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaage) is another different way to prepare those small fish. When we make chicken karaage we marinate the pieces and then flour and deep fry. The smelt might profit from that same preparation but it is time consuming so often we will use a premixed powder. The ingredients are flour, arrowroot starch, paprika, salt and MSG, among a few others. Ik'o rolled the smelt in the mix and I deep fried until crispy.

A short side note on the MSG in the deep frying powder. When I first went to Japan more than fifty years ago I was introduced to Aji-no-Moto (literally, flavor more) which is MSG in a granulated form. It used to come in a small tin with a tiny spoon. This condiment was used as a flavor enhancer sprinkled sparingly on pickles, soups and other dishes needing a flavor boost.

A few years ago MSG made the headlines in the West as something harmful and to be avoided. I continued to use it because, for me, the negative consequences of substituting other things to replace the flavor enhancing effect of MSG were unacceptable.

As with many things moderation is the key. A little MSG added to food brings out the taste. The old way of achieving similar results was to add more salt. Well I'd rather use a small amount of MSG (incidentally, it is a natural compound originally extracted from seaweed) than to increase the salt or go to the trouble of brewing a kombu (kelp) or mushroom extraction to get that elusive flavor boost.

I just looked up MSG as a flavor enhancer. More thanks to Wikipedia for interesting background information. Wikipedia isn't always accurate but it often sheds light on many topics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

Back to my dinner. There is a side benefit of smelt karaage. Because the smelt are deep fried until crispy you don't have to worry about taking out the bones. I boost my calcium intake by eating them bones and all.

Smelt karaage sizzling and ready to eat

Yummy fish for dinner.