Chef Rob Ruiz from Land and Water Co. in Carlsbad, CA has a very unique style for making salmon sushi that combines very traditional Japanese style with an intense focus on sustainability and minimizing waste. His detail oriented approach to making sushi is incredible to watch and there are many small details he covered in this breakdown.
Creating Salmon Sushi:
1. Make sure your knife is extremely sharp to get the best result. Using traditional sushi knives is recommended because the added weight of the knife helps break through bones and cuts through the flesh with less effort. The single bevel also glides closer along the rib bones than double beveled knives. Here are a few recommendations for entry level and mid level sushi knives. Rob had his knives custom made in the prefect in Japan that is best known for making sushi knives.
2. Any wild fish that has lived in fresh water for a period of its life, like wild salmon, needs to be frozen for at least 24 hours to kill any harmful worms, bacteria or viruses. Farm raised salmon never lived in fresh water so most farm raised fish are fine to eat without freezing if the farm approves it for raw consumption. Check with the source of your salmon before eating it raw to make sure you don’t need to freeze it first.
3. The first step is to scale the fish completely making sure no small scales remain. Any amount of scales will catch on your knife and make the cut inefficient. Scales also harbor bacteria, so removing them decreases the amount of potential contamination to the meat. This is very important for raw preparation.
4. Cut through the spine where the back of the gill plate meets the top of the head. Cut around the gill plate leaving the collar and fins to release the head form the body. The remaining cavity should be in the shape of a C.
5. Angle the salmon diagonally on the board with the tail facing your body and cut from the belly cavity to the tail gliding along the top of the ribs all the way to the spine. This will be around 2-3 smooth cuts.
6. Flip the salmon 180 degrees so the head is facing you and make a cut down the back of the fish no more than one inch deep. This first cut should be angled slightly down so you can feel your blade hit the rib bones. Then make 2-3 more passes all the way through using long smooth motions gliding along the rib bones until you hit the spine. Use your other hand to gently pull back the fillet as you cut. If this action isn’t smooth, then you need to sharpen your knife more.
7. With the fish parallel to your body, cut the fillet from the tail to the head while pulling up the fillet from the tail end of the fillet. This step requires an ultra sharp knife because you are cutting the bones, so if your knife isn’t sharp you will tear the meat. Make sure you don’t cut into the spine or else you will have to trim the spine pieces off later.
8. Now scrape any remaining flesh off the bones that will inevitably be left behind.
9. Similar to step 5, cut from the belly below the fin to the end of the tail gliding just below the rib bones this time until you cut around the spine.
10. Cut from the head to the tail just underneath the spine with your rag protecting your fingers in case you slip. Remember you need a super sharp knife to do this, so if it is too hard refresh on your whetstone skills in this guide.
11. If you leave any spine attached then you need to trim that off before the next step.
12. Trim the top end of the fillet so it’s nice and clean. Leave the belly in tact until you are ready to use the piece of fish. The belly membrane protects the meat from bacteria and oxidation, and since the belly is the fattiest part of the fish, it will oxidize first because the fats in the fish are what make it taste bad when exposed to oxygen.
13. Debone using a good pair of fish bone tweezers.
14. Remove the collar to make a dish from the collar. This piece is often discarded but this meat is some of the best on the fish and can be used to make some extra money from each fish. We are in no position to waste anything these days since we are depleting our fish stocks so rapidly. Taking the extra effort to serve this will show customers you care about sustainability and zero waste.
15. Portion by using the width of your hand so every portion is the same width.
16. Stack the portions flesh to flesh and skin to skin to minimize contamination.
17. Wrap in 11×11 sheets of wax paper like these. Then wrap in plastic wrap and label the fillet date.
18. Click here to see two dishes made from these fillets, or learn how to cut salmon sashimi.
What are your thoughts on our salmon sushi tutorial? Please leave a comment or question below.
