Last Aug Daniel made a blog post about Iwana sashimi in Japan
http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=1707

This 5:30 video shows how to make stream side Char sashimi sushi. First you catch the fish. Many of you will recognize the fisherman in the video, the same guy who has several tenkara tutorial videos on the internet. I think his name is, 下田 香津 , Shimoda Kōdzu. Or maybe I'm letting google translate make me look foolish again.

Only the first 1:30 is catching the fish. Interesting technique how he drifts the kebari under overhang tree limbs. The rest is dressing the fish and making the sushi roll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jfIWeeorac

For those unfamiliar with his tutorial videos, here are links to two of them:
テンカラキャスティング Tenkara casting, 7:57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqRXY0DZI3s&feature=relmfu

実践テンカラ紀行2 Tenkara practice Jouney2, 9:42, where he again makes casting a long line on the stream look effortless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulPkxnWntTY&feature=related


D

_________________
テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。

Cool. I wonder if it would be safe to eat some wild brook trout raw or not? Does anybody know?

_________________
Loften
テンカラの子 Tenkara No Ko

Freshwater sashimi is best so far with Stripped Bass from the lake. I know it's supposed to be unhealthy with parasites. But my curiosity got the best of me. Only nephew #1 has been brave enough to try it. I found that a very thin slice is best for flavor. I still have yet to try some Sunfish eggs also. They are supposed to be quite good from what I've heard and read.
From what I just read the fish can be frozen to deal with any Parasites. http://fishcooking.about.com/od/rawfish ... i_fish.htm
I'll have to work more with Sushi and Sashimi. My wife and me often make sushi at home. We've gotten pretty good at it.

_________________
テンカラのイモリ
Tenkara Mushroom

I don't think I would ever try making any myself. I once read a recommendation to only eat sashimi only made from fast swimming ocean fish or risk becoming host to a parasite.

While I do now eat sushi and sometimes sashimi. I lived in Hawaii for 4 years in the 70s and never once ate sashimi while I lived there. Partly this was because at the time I was a young 23 year old guy from a small town in the hills. Pieces of raw fish were bait, food for fish, not food for people. But the other reason I avoided such things till years later was when I first moved to Hawaii, probably within the first 4 weeks I lived there. A news story reported about a bunch of people with parasitic worms living in their throats. They were mostly tourists who had eaten improperly prepared sashimi at a restaurant that mostly catered to tourists. It was a floating restaurant on the water front in Honolulu.

While you can do this I probably wouldn't advise it. Most sushi restaurants serve salt water fish, not fresh water and most of those were flash frozen before finding its way to the restaurant. Not fresh right out of the water. If you must try it, educate yourself about how to do it safely.

D

_________________
テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。

We made sushi at our house a few times but only with sushi grade tuna and salmon from a fish monger. I do know that there are some waters around here in So Cal that have fish with parasites in them so unless I know that the fish is parasite free and I was at high altitude, I wouldn't eat it raw.

_________________
Rick

テンカラ。小さなストリームのシンプルさ。
My Tenkara Rods:
13' Ayu, 12' Yamame, 11' with a conversion handle, and an Ito.

My Wife's Tenkara Rods:
12' Ebisu and 13.5' Amago, 12' Iwana with a conversion handle, and an Ito.

I looked into it once, as a matter of fact even discussed it on this forum before, and the general concensus was NO! dont eat fresh water fish without cooking it. Im still not convinced as to wether that is just common thought precautionary or if its an actual fact, but most places say never eat fresh water fish raw. I love sushi and have been very tempted to try it with the brookies here. maybe someday I will just take the risk and do it.

I remember daniel said something to the effect that the fish they generally use for fresh water sushi, is raised under extremely tight controls.

PS I love the way that guy skinned that fish! git r done!

_________________
RODS: Ito&
Iwana I/II 12ft & 9ft
Amago

A bit off topic, but if you'd like to read a great book about the biology of giant blue fin tuna, the world wide reach of the Japanese for tuna for sashimi and the lives of New England tuna fishermen read this book.

"Giant Bluefin" by Douglas Whynot.

I read this book maybe ten years ago and found it very readable and quite fascinating. The fishermen struggle to survive in a tough business, dependent on fish migration and regulations, they undergo extensive training in how to handle the tuna after they are caught, by harpoon, how to grade the tuna, etc. Proper handling makes the difference between earning a thousand dollars for one tuna or tens of thousands of dollars for one fish. Making or breaking profit for the year. Catch a bluefin today off the New England coast and if it's of high quality its flash frozen and sold tomorrow morning in the Tokyo fish market. The description of the biology and the migration of tuna was also amazing as they also struggle to survive. Bluefin are incredible swimming and eating machines.

http://www.amazon.com/Giant-Bluefin-Douglas-Whynott/dp/0865474974/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345431070&sr=1-1&keywords=bluefin+tuna

Reading Whynot's other book about the migratory beekeepers remains on my to-do list.

_________________
テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。

I've eaten a fair amount of freshwater fish sashimi in Japan. But, I don't think I would casually do it here.
First, they know their fish very well. Second, most of the fish I have eaten as sashimi come from super clear water and mostly raised in fish farms with good feed.
The main fear of freshwater fish sashimi here is that, just like water, they could be below animals that carried parasites upstream from them and they would be contaminated. That is quite a bit rarer in Japan I believe.
I have for a long time drank water from some streams, but I was also unknowingly carrying giardia for a bit. So, there are some risks in that. I'd probably eat sashimi from very high streams if I would drink the water with no qualms. But, as it is I don't know many places like that.
I would not suggest it here.

_________________
__________________________________________
Tenkara USA, founder
打仁得流, テンカラ大使
About me and Tenkara USA

Inspired by the trip reports of the Akita Mt. Club posted online, well, perhaps "made hungry by...". I thought I had talked myself into it a couple years ago. As a precaution I even asked a friend to read the entries to make sure there wasn't some trick to ensuring safety. But, after reviewing the risks and even though I was taking fish just miles from their source at high altitude in wilderness, I chickened out. I just don't think it's worth it.

As for water, however, I pretty much quit worrying about it at high altitude anymore once I figured out that it was a pretty minor risk. I've had a friend who got giardia, but that was at lower elevations.

http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/
This link has many things I thought would be nice to add to this old conversation. Reading about Japanese house holds typically make simple hand rolls. Laying ingredients out in the middle of the table and each person constructs their own roll. Sounds like a nice fun meal.
I have been playing around for some time with making Sushi at home. It's actually simple or complex depending on how far you want to go with ingredients and gear. Just like fishing.

_________________
テンカラのイモリ
Tenkara Mushroom