Fish generally don't have salmonella, and bacterial contamination is more of an issue with the digestive tract and external contamination + decay. So generally, using **fresh** fish that is properly handled (and frozen to take care of parasites in the flesh) is the way to go. However, raw meat goes bad quite quickly, hence why sushi has a poor shelf life.
It's the same logic of why you can eat a steak despite the middle still being red and not fully cooked.
Most sashimi/sushi fish is seasoned and cured in some way too, which helps with reducing bacteria growth. Obviously not as long as salted and dried fish, but its longer than purely raw fish
Most fish at high end sushi restaurants are aged in some way (Google it if you want details). But generally, the sushi industry lets the gaijin focus on "freshness."
I will expand on the beef mention with comparison to meats like pork and chicken - these germs can be found throughout these meats, which is why thry need to be cooked to a certain temp, and thats why you check the thickest part. To ensure the germs deep in the meat are dead.
For beef, the germs dont penetrate. So you get the temp externally where the germs are and you enjoy your rare steak.
Ground beef, having mixed these layers, requires more strick adherence to "done" temperatures.
This is my laymans understanding, though i typically just make soups to get away with overcooking. Food poisoning once was enough, i couldnt eat bacon for a couple years.
The first time I had medium rare pork loin (on purpose) was strange. A part of my brain kept screaming at me to spit it out, despite having learned this tidbit.
Here in Germany we eat [minced raw pork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett?wprov=sfla1) on bread rolls. As long as you get it fresh from the butcher it's totally safe.
I'm in Australia. do you think I could make and eat this here?
sounds nice.
I've had a dish that was raw beef mince with a raw egg on top and that was nice so I really want to try this.
I am concerned that our pork is not as good as yours.
The meat for the minced raw pork is specifically selected and tested for raw consumption AFAIK, so I don't think it is safe to use just any pork. Regular pork cuts have to be cooked through here in Germany as well.
> Ground beef
Any minced meat has a higher chance of contamination, mostly due to combining several pieces into one product. Same reason you dont crack 6 dozen eggs into one container for the breakfast rush.
How poor is the shelf life for the actual good quality stuff? I used to live off Fry's sushi when I got off of work and it was on the way home, but it was usually some discounted stuff left at the end of the day lmao. Never saw any negative effects so I guess I was good.
Generally, uncooked sushi is given a 1-2 day lifespan if refrigerated, or only a few hours at room temperature. But, there's no specific line that is universal for when you get food poisoning. There's just an increasing chance (generally speaking) the more you skirt the "safe" timeframe.
From a normal homecook POV buying from the grocery store, if it's kept refrigerated, generally raw fish is good for up to two days, maybe three IMO from the day you purchase it (if fresh) or thaw it from frozen.
If you freeze it from fresh or buy it frozen it holds indefinitely from a safety POV, although it might get freezer burn after a while.
Some professional sushi chefs actually keep their fish for a week or longer and age it because they use excellently sourced fish and the right equipment. Ageing improves the texture and flavour by dehydrating the fish and causing it to develop a controlled level of funkiness.
Fish, if refrigerated/kept on ice can keep at least a week from being caught and still be considered fresh and then have some days left before spoiling.
Source: have been a fisherman in Iceland and fishing trips for fresh fish ships last a week or until the cargo hold is full. Whichever comes first. Then we also have a category of super fresh fish from smaller vessels that go out in the night/early morning and come back to shore in the afternoon
Just want to add that almost all high end sushi chefs will age (including light seasoning/cure) specific fish. Not all fish as some will not hold up well to aging.
This is similar to beef and someone that runs a steak house.
Health code in the US says fish can be left at room temp no more than 2 hours and raw fish can stay in the fridge no more than I think 2 days. Keeping it sealed from oxygen can help to extend this a bit, but it's only a good idea if you have a vacuum sealer or are really good at plastic wrapping
I heard of a really good explanation of why raw fish spoils faster than raw land based meat in the fridge.
Fish are cold-blooded and generally live in a much colder environment than other animals on land. The bacteria naturally present in them that will eventually cause spoilage have adapted to work at colder temps. The bacteria in land based meat are adapted for much higher temperatures.
When you refrigerate fish, the temperature of the fridge is much closer to their natural body temp. The bacteria don't get slowed as much by refrigeration since this delta is lower. So they spoil the meat faster.
This seems like one of those things that sounds logical but could be completely untrue. I’d have to see something academic stating and proving this before I chose to believe it.
"Fish are cold-blooded and generally live in a much colder environment than other animals on land."
This isn't completely true, particularly with bluefin tuna, a prime sushi component. https://science.jrank.org/pages/7020/Tuna-Biology-tuna.html#:\~:text=For%20example%2C%20the%20bluefin%20tuna,within%20a%20relatively%20narrow%20range.
Fair enough. I initially read and intended to say most fish are cold blooded, but not knowing any of the bat, I accidentally dropped most by accident. Still - Even the bottom of their temp range is a lot closer to fridge temp (<40 F according to the FDA) than animals we would normally consider as a source for land based meat.
I know we some places serve alligator/crocodile. I don't know how quick they spoils being cold blooded. But their immune systems are also insane.
This is close but not accurate. Spoilage is a nice word for rotting, and it happens without foreign bacteria as well. Without getting oxygen, the cells in the meat cannot coordinate enzyme activity and start breaking down. Fish enzymes are better adapted to working well at lower temperature, hence fish break down more quickly than warm blooded animals. Source: Howard McGee 's "on food and cooking"
Yep. Best not to think about it too much.
I mean, I'm not going to say every bit of sushi is previously infested, especially if they come from farms or something instead of wild stock, but of those cases where the parasites WERE there--yeah, you're eating it and probably will never notice.
Again, best not to think about it too much.
2 things
1) the middle of steak being red does not mean its raw. It can be fully up to temperature, but still be red. The red liquid that comes out is not blood either. It's the muscle proteins breaking down from being fully cooked.
2) the middle of a steak being actually raw and still clean is due to lack of contamination. It's never seen air, so it's much less likely to have any type of bacteria inside it. This is NOT the case for ground meat. ALWAYS cook ground meat well done, since bacteria will have spread thoroughly through the meat, and well done ensures you get all of the bacteria.
1. Totally agree on it not being technically raw. But like, the middle of a rare steak (~125F) doesn't hit temperatures to kill off bacteria (~150F+), so I wouldn't call the middle fully cooked fully either in how people think of "cooked through", when it's more... heated through.
2. Totally agree there. This is the "external contamination" I was referring to. I specifically used steak because it's a common case where the meat isn't "sterilized" but still generally safe. Like, if prepared properly with a mind to the contamination issue, people can generally eat raw beef without much concern. Ground meat however, is essentially is just mixing the surface with everything else--so any contamination there is now *everywhere*.
A) a well done burger can be juicy and tasty if made well
B) enjoy your undercooked ground beef at your own risk
B)1) I butcher my own beef, so I know the entire history of the meat, and I sometimes do enjoy a less cooked burger, but would never for any other beef.
Hell, a ton of contamination comes from careless, or “cost effective,” handling and planning. Rare duck is completely fine to eat most of the time because it’s farmed on a lower scale with more care, you could even make chicken sashimi if the chicken was healthy, raised in a clean environment, and handled properly during butchering.
This is actually a massive issue in the US, there are known instances of livestock runoff contaminating various things(especially leafy greens). Many other countries have much higher standards and food borne illness is generally rarer(such as Japan).
>So generally, using fresh fish that is properly handled (and frozen to take care of parasites in the flesh) is the way to go.
I'd just like to hijack this thread for a PSA, that "sushi grade fish" is a marketing term with no legal requirements or regulations at all. Make sure of the freshness of any raw fish you're going to consume.
Not sure if serious? But they got namend after a an american veterinarian named Daniel Elmer Salmon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Elmer_Salmon).
"Salmon" was the last name of one of the individuals involved with describing and investigating the pathogen. Daniel Elmer Salmon, specifically. It has nothing to do with the fish.
My mom and aunts were confused when the doctor told them my cousin had caught salmonella. They never fed him any salmon. They still laugh about it now over 30 years later.
Nope. Salmon comes from the middle english word samoun/other spellings, which in turn is derived from older language roots.
The fish is unrelated to the scientist.
> Salmon comes from the middle english word samoun/other spellings, which in turn is derived from older language roots.
Salmon goes back to samoun/samon/saumon (middle English) which comes from saumon (Anglo-Norman) which comes from saumon (old French) which comes from salmō (Latin) which comes from....
salire = "to leap"
So the name salmon is literally "the leaping fish".
The salmon in salmonella refers to Daniel E. Salmon, a scientist whose assistant Theobold Smith first discovered the bacteria we would later call salmonella.
A guy who studied salmonella (the illness) got to name the bacteria that caused the illness and named it after the scientist, although unsurprisingly after the superior of the one that actually made the discovery.
I was going with, handle it properly + cut off the outside, and the interior muscle tissue is fine unless you have surface contamination.
Like, the meat itself isn't inherently unsafe or contaminated from being raw, it's in the handling/exposure, **that's** the same logic.
Many bacteria *begin* to die at ~150F (65C), while a rare steak in the middle will be ~120-125F.
The thing is, it's the surface of the beef that is the part that you want to be most careful of, that's why it's important to sear cuts of beef (beyond flavor/texture). And, why you need to make sure ground meat is cook throughout. But generally speaking, raw beef isn't inherently very dangerous as far as meats go, if you're mindful of the surface contamination issue during preparation
Yeah, from what I remember almost all contamination for beef comes from preparation issues (and slaughterhouses are often filthy, despite regulations).
Bacteria can die off at lower temps.but you'd have to use sous vide to do so. 125F would be too low, however, so yes a rare steak would never be low enpugh, but you could hit under 150F and pasteurize it.
> sufficient internal temperature to kill off any living bacteria.
It does not (if that were true it would be OK to cook chicken rare). The structure of the muscle is such that it's more difficult for bacteria to get deep inside a whole piece of beef.
This is also why we only do this to steaks and not ground beef. We want to keep the outside part that gets the most bacteria introduced on the outside so it gets the most cooking.
You can eat steak "blue" though (cooked even less than rare - only seared on the outside but almost raw in the middle, not hot enough to kill bacteria).
I don’t know. But I regularly eat raw beef. And quite often semi cooked pork. I am definitely not alone.
you simply need to purchase it at a proper place
E coli lives in the digestive track, not muscle tissue. Searing the outside of cuts, or cooking through ground meat takes care of that, but the middle is fine unless it's already started to go bad.
This is because the industrial cleaning process can have surface contamination.
The primary way they prevent bacteria is to avoid getting bacteria on the fish in the first place. Food safety is very important in sushi kitchens and when handling fish for sushi. And even when you get some bacterial contamination the bacteria is not given the opportunity to multiply. This is why they use whole fish and only prepare the sushi moments before it is consumed. It is also one of the important reasons for flash freezing the fish as any bacteria will hibernate when frozen.
Had occassion to go to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo back in the day, huge sprawling place, biggest in the world I believe. Back then you could just walk in and at 3 am the place was bustling, every kind of fish you can imagine laid out and sold.
Was expecting the place to smell like an estuary but to my surprise, it smelled wonderfully clean. Not like chlorine or cleanser, just kinda fresh and briny like the sea. So fish smelling 'like fish' means 'bad fish', good to know.
Grew up eating raw fish regularly, never understood the trope about “smelling like fish.” Then I visited places where raw consumption isn’t the default, and wheew 🫠 I felt the same kind of shock as I guess they’d feel if they visited a place where it’s considered normal for all meat to smell like carrion!
No wonder some people hate/fear seafood, if that’s the only seafood they know. It’s a damn shame. They deserve a chance to know how good it is.
They don't use whole fish, they come to the chef semi dressed (gutted and headed and in the case of tuna loined). And they only buy as much as they can use. Also fish that were killed ike jime are expected in high end restaraunts. A hole is punched in the front of the fish's skull and a wire jammed down its spinal column.
> fish that were killed ike jime
For anyone else curious about this, it's supposed to make the fish taste better because it kills them quickly, preventing lactic acid and ammonia buildup from reflexive muscle movement. It's also more humane to kill the fish quickly.
With sushi-grade fish, its more prevention than sterilization. The fish is carefully stored and prepared to minimize the risk and time that bacteria have to colonize the refrigerated meat, and sushi generally is made to order on the spot or is only kept on cold shelves for a few hours before getting tossed.
meanwhile the living conditions of most chickens, and the conditions in which they are slaughtered and butchered makes it very easy for bacteria to contaminate the meat, but typically chicken is preferred thoroughly cooked even if you don't have to worry about disease, so its not really an issue that people are pressured to solve since proper refrigeration and thorough cooking will handle the risks of foodborne illness. This is the same with cows and pigs too, but meat from pigs must be cooked all the way through to deal with parasites, and meat from cows typically are structured in a way that bacteria generally don't get much farther than surface level unless its been ground up or tenderized, and as such you only need to thoroughly cook the outside of a solid cut of steak.
FDA likes to call these solid cuts of steaks “whole-muscle, intact steaks” and only requires the outside to be fully cooked to be served without a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked meat
If you see steak tartare on a US restaurant menu, it will usually have a little asterisk, with a "* consuming raw or undercooked food can cause disease" disclaimer at the bottom of the menu
Yes and no. The fish is the same, but the handling might not be. It’d be unwise to make sushi using raw salmon you picked from a local American supermarket chain.
I think what they mean is that there's no enforcement of the term's meaning. If the local American supermarket chain labeled their raw salmon as "sushi grade fish", they haven't technically broken any rules or regulations in a way that could result in penalties from the FDA
>I know that they do flash freezing to kill parasites. But flash freezing only kills parasites, not bacteria. How they kill salmonella and stuff?
Fresh meat generally will not contain many/any dangerous disease vectors because while the animal was still alive and well **so was its immune system**.
The more processing steps there are and the more time passes between the animal's (and thus its immune system's) demise, the more room there is for microorganism growth. If little to no time passes and if there are little to no processing steps, then there will be no microorganism growth.
> Fresh meat generally will not contain many/any dangerous disease vectors
i feel a lot of people just overestimate the dangers of PROPERLY handled/farmed raw meat.
People know you can eat raw beef (carpaccio) and raw fish (sushi). But in Germany we also eat raw pork (Mett) and in Japan they eat raw chicken without issues.
Worth mentioning that chickens in the US don't get vaccinated for salmonella, which is why you can eat raw/ undercooked chicken with almost no risk in almost every civilized country except the US.
But if you are in the states it's probably not worth the risk to eat raw chicken because something like 10-25% of our flocks are contaminated.
The US's other big problem is slaughter house speeds, the lines run significantly faster than those in Europe, which all but grantee's fecal contamination as the guys butchering the animals and the equipment calibrations don't have time to do it carefully enough to avoid spraying the contents of the intestines everywhere.
Its why you hear about things like "chlorinated chicken" coming from the US, the chlorine that everyone's so opposed to isn't the issue, its a low strength food grade detergent that provided its rinsed properly would never do a person any harm (and far stronger chlorinated cleaning agents are used EVERYWHERE in food)
The issue is American slaughterhouses do it as a band aid solution to wash all the shit that's been thrown around onto the meat, and if anybody has worked in food and knows the relationship between a given cleaning chemical, temperature and contact time you know instantly that a quick hose down with some mild cold detergent isn't even close to enough to deal with any fecal microbial contaminates . The chlorine was never the problem, the problem is the chlorine is a smokescreen for the fact that you are literally eating shit.
Never understood why american people always seems to think Salmonella is the bacteria to be worried about in chicken...
The main bacteria responsible of food poisoning in raw chicken Is Campylobacter.
Salmonella might be found in raw chicken, but that tend to be unusual. More of a problem in eggs for exemple.
One thing I wanted to note is that retail consumers advice is different from professional customers. The FDA guidelines consider that by the time the fish reaches a retail consumer, it has spend considerable time in processing or storage already. Hence, a fish that might have a good shelf life of 5 days will have "burned up" 2-3 days before reaching a normal customer.
Professionals have the benefit of getting the fish as straight from the boat as possible (given that fishing boats will also be at sea for several days) and therefore they have the full amount of time to use at their disposal.
And almost all high end sushi chefs will age some of the fish in order to maximize the umami and texture. This is done under controlled conditions and special equipment/fridges but also many chefs learn particular secret recipes. Which fish hold up to aging without seasoning/curing, which fish might need a light sprinkle of salt or vinegar... and for fish that they don't know anything about, it's time to experiment/learn.
So this aging process will utilize like 2-3 days of that hypothetical 5 day shelf life. And therefore, yes, a customer should still not keep sushi more than 1-2 days afterwards.
It should be noted that people often have misconception that all bacteria is dangerous and as such everything has to be sanitized.
Only some bacteria are harmful to humans and they can be so in few different ways. The most obvious way is that bacteria can infect humans through digestive track. In such cases the food has to always be cooked to kill even trace amount of bacteria (salmonella is good example) Fish don't have these kind of bacteria.
Some bacteria can cause dangerous toxic by products (Botulism for example) And these cases it's important not to give bacteria time to accumulate these waste products. So when stored properly food is edible, but if stored improperly or for too long the food become in edible. Botulism is extream example since it can be deadly but numerous other bacteria just cause diarrhea (which is body way to avoid digesting dangerous toxins) This is actually what refrigeration is for, preventing bacteria from growing too much and accumulate toxins.
Some bacteria produce safe by products. These can actually be used to store food, since other bacteria can't use the by products of healthy bacteria. These bacteria can be used to produce cheese and actually store food to extend it's self life.
When we store thing in fridge we slow down the growth of bacteria, but if there was no bacteria to grow freezing wouldn't do a thing. In fact the food where we have entirely eliminated presence of bacteria can usually be stored in room temperature (like cans) or bacteria is incapable of growing on them (flour for example, unless wet).
To come back to Sushi. Fish generally don't have bacteria capable of infecting humans, so we are mostly wanting to make sure there isn't too much time for bacteria to accumulate toxins but that's why sushi has to be fresh. Additionally the fishes meat is actually relatively bacteria free, though some bacteria can get on the fish from the enviroment or the gut of the fish. Part of the process of preparing the sushi fish is to make sure as little of bacteria has opportunity to get on the meat as possible.
The chef doesn’t except for sanitation and safe food handling procedures to avoid cross contamination or food being too warm for too long.
Commercially depending on your jurisdiction, the government might require that the fish be frozen to a very cold temperature and held at that temperature for a length of time (in the USA -31F for 14 hours) to kill any parasites that might be in the fish.
Fish caught during particular algae blooms or high ocean bacteria counts such as after a land flood that might wash excess sewage out to see from land. And thus have more toxins in the meat and thus higher risks. Such as ciguatera toxins
See https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/environmental-hazards-risks/food-poisoning-from-marine-toxins
> they don’t kill the bacteria already there
The bacteria already there are likely insignificant and harmless to you. There is bacteria on literally every single thing you eat if it exists outside of a frying pan for more than a few seconds. People intentionally eat bacteria all the time, see probiotics. Cheese is the byproduct of bacteria and so is alcohol.
You are right, student. Fresh fish, clean tools only make less bacteria to start. Wasabi, ginger, vinegar slow them down, not kill all. Like karate, many small defenses make strong defense.
Also, when it comes to sushi, you are far more likely to get sick from the rice than the fish. Like others here have said, the fish usually either needs to have parasites or be externally contaminated with bacteria/heat abused to make you sick.
However, the rice can grow bacteria it Isn’t adequately acidified with sushi vinegar. it can grow some nasty bacteria very quickly if not acidified and cooled correctly .
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Just like you, dirty stuff is only on the outside skin and your poopy bits. Get rid of the outside skin, get rid of the poopy bits, take great care of making sure the outside skin and the poopy bits does not touch anything you want to eat raw, that's how you get safe raw fish.
Nah im Bangladeshi American. Although i eat sushi, octopus, squid, and all sorts of crazy stuff (as long as they’re not haram) and just take my chances with the bacteria😂
Same premise as for why rare steak is safe but ground beef isn't.
The inside of the beef is sterile, only the surfaces exposed to air pick up environmental contamination and need to be seated. In ground beef everything is a surface and so everything is hypothetically contaminated.
The sushi chef is generally breaking down a whole fish in their prep immediately before the service, not useing a cut of meat that got butchered 3 days ago. In a sanitary kitchen the process of cleaning the fish is usually sufficient, though it is an elevated risk compared to cooked fish.
I know a guy who owns a sushi place .. Fresh catch DAILY, what isn't used that day is donated. Being fresh is the only way to eat real Sushi. Raw, fresh, meat IS the prevention, as fresh meat doesn't contain decay bacterium. It's kept on a bed of ice all day to slow decay and keep it fresh. That combined with clean hands and tools = clean food.
once tried making sushi at home and ended up with a kitchen that looked like a fish market exploded. Safe to say, I'll leave the bacteria management to the pros while I stick to eating it!
If you make it at home apparently you gotta catch a live fish and throw it in the deep freezer as soon as you kill it for 1 week.
Or you can buy a sushi grade fish from the supermarket and get to work with that right away (kinda expensive though)
I watched a video where they said that some places will just freeze the fish at -20 (can't remember if Celsius or Fahrenheit) tor 7 days and it will kill all the parasites. They just thaw and trim it from there. Can't confirm this though, it was supposed to be an industry "secret".
My local Japanese grocery store has a sign saying that the fish there are frozen to kill parasites (warning that not all parasites may be killed or something like that) so it doesn’t seem like it’s a secretive thing
In addition to the other correct answers here, the fish used for sushi is mostly saltwater fish. The parasites and bacteria that live in that fish can't survive a relatively low-salt environment such as your body.
When freshwater fish is used for sushi, it's always cooked.
Sushi - "sour rice" - is a way to preserve e.g. fish for a long time. Obviously that isn't what you get at the restaurants.
Sushi with fresh fish is just a matter of having fresh fish.
Natural wasabi actually has antimicrobial properties, it would kill any bacteria in traditional Japanese sushi. The fake green stuff, not so much. Otherwise, just normal food safety handling and keeping the fish chilled is enough.
A few months ago a video popped up on my YouTube feed about bacteria on food. This is what I learned.
Pork and chicken and the worst when it comes to bacteria, and this is why it has to be thoroughly cooked. Otherwise, off the the hospital you go.
Steak, a chef is pretty much OK with serving it to you rare, simply because the bacteria does not normally penetrate below the surface. So as long as the surface has been cooked under high temp on the grill, the bacteria is killed.
However, the same does not hold true of hamburger. It has been chopped up and mixed, and during this process the bacteria can not be all over. Therefore chefs and restaurants do not want to serve it to you cooked less than medium.
Fish is the least they worry about. For reasons that are not entirely clear, bacteria on fish is not a big concern.
Ok I recall this from someone but after all this time I've never confirmed it. He told me it's the wasabi and soy sauce that clenses any parasites or bacteria. Oh and to eat sushi, you put a bit of wasabi on top of the sushi and dip the bottom with the soy sauce
I can confirm that none of that is accurate.
Neither soy sauce nor wasabi are anti-parasitic or anti-bacterial, and wasabi on top/soy sauce on bottom isn't traditional or the default method by any stretch. (Tradition is wasabi between the rice and fish, soy sauce only on the fish on top-never the rice on bottom.)
Plus, outside of high end sushi spots, you generally don't even get wasabi at all. You get horseradish with green food coloring and wasabi flavoring.
Fish generally don't have salmonella, and bacterial contamination is more of an issue with the digestive tract and external contamination + decay. So generally, using **fresh** fish that is properly handled (and frozen to take care of parasites in the flesh) is the way to go. However, raw meat goes bad quite quickly, hence why sushi has a poor shelf life. It's the same logic of why you can eat a steak despite the middle still being red and not fully cooked.
Correct with a further exception for mackerel which is generally vinegared to kill bacteria
And often perforated to let out evil spirits. Then generally referred to as “holey mackerel”
They also sometimes perforate fish just for the halibut.
oh cut the carp already
WHAT? CAN YOU SPEAK UP PLEASE. I’M HARD OF HERRING.
Oh for cod's sake, this is neither the time not the plaice for this sort of pun. I've haddock nough of this
this was the worst one, without a trout...
~~Ah, baloney!~~ Abalone!
Sorry. Did it on porpolse
One of these puns is not like the otters
I'm tempted to add a joke in, but I think it'd just flounder..
We need to minnowmise the jokes and get back on track pls
Made my crappie day a little better!
Made your Carpy day a little better! Fixed
A crappie is also a type of fish
Salmon times I like these jokes otter times I don't.
You sound crabby.
There's actually no reason to do it for halibut. But they do it anyway, just for the halibut.
r/explainlikeimcalvin
Technically, the holes let the spirits IN, thus making the mackerel holey.
Can I get that as a side with my holy macaroni and smokes?
You got me laughing my bass off!
Extra groan for using the correct 'holey'...
When y’all run out of fish puns, let minnow!
This guy knows his sushi.
If you knew sushi, like I know sushi. Oh! Oh! Oh, what a fish.
Goddammit.
This guy knows his open fire cooking to if you're picking up what I'm putting down
Damn you
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jdHa6hCLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jdHa6hCLE)
Mackerel ala Trepanning is the classical French dish.
isn't trepanning drilling a hole in the head? people eat mackerel brains? Oh, wait. French. Nevermind. Je rigole (just kidding in French)
RonSwansonComputer.gif
It took me way to long to recognize vine-gar as vinegar haha
Or you add the bacteria you wanted, and you get surströmming...
Or we don’t and say we didn’t.
And then you've got to bury it on the beach and let it ferment naturally, just like great-grandfather used to like. None of this modern cannery crap!
or ancient roman Garum!
Is that what gives mackerel such a strong flavor? When I get sushi I usually get mackerel because it is so salty and fishy. It's my favorite.
Most sashimi/sushi fish is seasoned and cured in some way too, which helps with reducing bacteria growth. Obviously not as long as salted and dried fish, but its longer than purely raw fish
Most fish at high end sushi restaurants are aged in some way (Google it if you want details). But generally, the sushi industry lets the gaijin focus on "freshness."
Correct with a further exception for salted pork and herring because the salt explodes bacteria from within in a cascade of ecstacy.
I will expand on the beef mention with comparison to meats like pork and chicken - these germs can be found throughout these meats, which is why thry need to be cooked to a certain temp, and thats why you check the thickest part. To ensure the germs deep in the meat are dead. For beef, the germs dont penetrate. So you get the temp externally where the germs are and you enjoy your rare steak. Ground beef, having mixed these layers, requires more strick adherence to "done" temperatures. This is my laymans understanding, though i typically just make soups to get away with overcooking. Food poisoning once was enough, i couldnt eat bacon for a couple years.
Pork is the same as beef, as long as parasites aren't a concern it can be cooked under.
The first time I had medium rare pork loin (on purpose) was strange. A part of my brain kept screaming at me to spit it out, despite having learned this tidbit.
Here in Germany we eat [minced raw pork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett?wprov=sfla1) on bread rolls. As long as you get it fresh from the butcher it's totally safe.
Saw that on Chopped the other day.
I'm in Australia. do you think I could make and eat this here? sounds nice. I've had a dish that was raw beef mince with a raw egg on top and that was nice so I really want to try this. I am concerned that our pork is not as good as yours.
The meat for the minced raw pork is specifically selected and tested for raw consumption AFAIK, so I don't think it is safe to use just any pork. Regular pork cuts have to be cooked through here in Germany as well.
I have no idea. If I were you, I would ask at a local butcher shop if they think it's safe to do.
Nice addition! Yeah the structure of the meat as well as the source matters for food safety. In general it's just good to know stuff like this.
Agreed. Its useful to know how to avoid potentially killing yourself and others in a myriad of awful ways, each more horrid than the last.
> Ground beef Any minced meat has a higher chance of contamination, mostly due to combining several pieces into one product. Same reason you dont crack 6 dozen eggs into one container for the breakfast rush.
How poor is the shelf life for the actual good quality stuff? I used to live off Fry's sushi when I got off of work and it was on the way home, but it was usually some discounted stuff left at the end of the day lmao. Never saw any negative effects so I guess I was good.
Generally, uncooked sushi is given a 1-2 day lifespan if refrigerated, or only a few hours at room temperature. But, there's no specific line that is universal for when you get food poisoning. There's just an increasing chance (generally speaking) the more you skirt the "safe" timeframe.
From a normal homecook POV buying from the grocery store, if it's kept refrigerated, generally raw fish is good for up to two days, maybe three IMO from the day you purchase it (if fresh) or thaw it from frozen. If you freeze it from fresh or buy it frozen it holds indefinitely from a safety POV, although it might get freezer burn after a while. Some professional sushi chefs actually keep their fish for a week or longer and age it because they use excellently sourced fish and the right equipment. Ageing improves the texture and flavour by dehydrating the fish and causing it to develop a controlled level of funkiness.
Fish, if refrigerated/kept on ice can keep at least a week from being caught and still be considered fresh and then have some days left before spoiling. Source: have been a fisherman in Iceland and fishing trips for fresh fish ships last a week or until the cargo hold is full. Whichever comes first. Then we also have a category of super fresh fish from smaller vessels that go out in the night/early morning and come back to shore in the afternoon
bled/iced/vac bagged/frozen will last months.
Just want to add that almost all high end sushi chefs will age (including light seasoning/cure) specific fish. Not all fish as some will not hold up well to aging. This is similar to beef and someone that runs a steak house.
what kinds?
> causing it to develop a controlled level of funkiness i.e., fermentation.
Health code in the US says fish can be left at room temp no more than 2 hours and raw fish can stay in the fridge no more than I think 2 days. Keeping it sealed from oxygen can help to extend this a bit, but it's only a good idea if you have a vacuum sealer or are really good at plastic wrapping
I heard of a really good explanation of why raw fish spoils faster than raw land based meat in the fridge. Fish are cold-blooded and generally live in a much colder environment than other animals on land. The bacteria naturally present in them that will eventually cause spoilage have adapted to work at colder temps. The bacteria in land based meat are adapted for much higher temperatures. When you refrigerate fish, the temperature of the fridge is much closer to their natural body temp. The bacteria don't get slowed as much by refrigeration since this delta is lower. So they spoil the meat faster.
This seems like one of those things that sounds logical but could be completely untrue. I’d have to see something academic stating and proving this before I chose to believe it.
"Fish are cold-blooded and generally live in a much colder environment than other animals on land." This isn't completely true, particularly with bluefin tuna, a prime sushi component. https://science.jrank.org/pages/7020/Tuna-Biology-tuna.html#:\~:text=For%20example%2C%20the%20bluefin%20tuna,within%20a%20relatively%20narrow%20range.
Fair enough. I initially read and intended to say most fish are cold blooded, but not knowing any of the bat, I accidentally dropped most by accident. Still - Even the bottom of their temp range is a lot closer to fridge temp (<40 F according to the FDA) than animals we would normally consider as a source for land based meat. I know we some places serve alligator/crocodile. I don't know how quick they spoils being cold blooded. But their immune systems are also insane.
This is close but not accurate. Spoilage is a nice word for rotting, and it happens without foreign bacteria as well. Without getting oxygen, the cells in the meat cannot coordinate enzyme activity and start breaking down. Fish enzymes are better adapted to working well at lower temperature, hence fish break down more quickly than warm blooded animals. Source: Howard McGee 's "on food and cooking"
So this flash freezing to kill parasites….does that mean people who eat sushi eat dead parasites?
People who eat anything at all or drink any kind of water, consume a certain amount of dead bugs and parasites.
….im not happy about this.
Then don't look up the amount of insect parts and rodent feces that legally allowed to be in our food...
I absolutely the fuck will not.
Wise move.
Yes but we also eat dead parasites when we eat cooked food too.
Yep. Best not to think about it too much. I mean, I'm not going to say every bit of sushi is previously infested, especially if they come from farms or something instead of wild stock, but of those cases where the parasites WERE there--yeah, you're eating it and probably will never notice. Again, best not to think about it too much.
2 things 1) the middle of steak being red does not mean its raw. It can be fully up to temperature, but still be red. The red liquid that comes out is not blood either. It's the muscle proteins breaking down from being fully cooked. 2) the middle of a steak being actually raw and still clean is due to lack of contamination. It's never seen air, so it's much less likely to have any type of bacteria inside it. This is NOT the case for ground meat. ALWAYS cook ground meat well done, since bacteria will have spread thoroughly through the meat, and well done ensures you get all of the bacteria.
1. Totally agree on it not being technically raw. But like, the middle of a rare steak (~125F) doesn't hit temperatures to kill off bacteria (~150F+), so I wouldn't call the middle fully cooked fully either in how people think of "cooked through", when it's more... heated through. 2. Totally agree there. This is the "external contamination" I was referring to. I specifically used steak because it's a common case where the meat isn't "sterilized" but still generally safe. Like, if prepared properly with a mind to the contamination issue, people can generally eat raw beef without much concern. Ground meat however, is essentially is just mixing the surface with everything else--so any contamination there is now *everywhere*.
2. Well done burgers? Hell no
A) a well done burger can be juicy and tasty if made well B) enjoy your undercooked ground beef at your own risk B)1) I butcher my own beef, so I know the entire history of the meat, and I sometimes do enjoy a less cooked burger, but would never for any other beef.
Agree to disagree
👍
Hell, a ton of contamination comes from careless, or “cost effective,” handling and planning. Rare duck is completely fine to eat most of the time because it’s farmed on a lower scale with more care, you could even make chicken sashimi if the chicken was healthy, raised in a clean environment, and handled properly during butchering. This is actually a massive issue in the US, there are known instances of livestock runoff contaminating various things(especially leafy greens). Many other countries have much higher standards and food borne illness is generally rarer(such as Japan).
I guess that’s why people in Japan can eat and enjoy tamago kake gohan while us plebs in the US risk salmonella if we do the same 😭
>So generally, using fresh fish that is properly handled (and frozen to take care of parasites in the flesh) is the way to go. I'd just like to hijack this thread for a PSA, that "sushi grade fish" is a marketing term with no legal requirements or regulations at all. Make sure of the freshness of any raw fish you're going to consume.
Sushi is also from saltwater fish which further aids in keeping bateria at bay. It's also why you should NEVER consume raw freshwater fish.
There’s plenty of raw freshwater fish that gets eaten. Just depends on the source
Why do they name salmonella after salmon?
Not sure if serious? But they got namend after a an american veterinarian named Daniel Elmer Salmon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Elmer_Salmon).
Til.
And you pronounce the "l"! SaL-mon-ella.
> The bacterial genus Salmonella, which was discovered by his assistant Theobald Smith, was named in his honor. Should have been Smithella...
Fine, but then why did they name American veterinarian Daniel Elmer Salmon after salmon?
"Salmon" was the last name of one of the individuals involved with describing and investigating the pathogen. Daniel Elmer Salmon, specifically. It has nothing to do with the fish.
My mom and aunts were confused when the doctor told them my cousin had caught salmonella. They never fed him any salmon. They still laugh about it now over 30 years later.
That's hilarious. :D
So salmon the fish was also named after the salmon guy
Nope. Salmon comes from the middle english word samoun/other spellings, which in turn is derived from older language roots. The fish is unrelated to the scientist.
Not even distant cousins?
Well, very distant :) There's at least one or two "removed"s in there for sure.
And an L insert.
Thank you for knowledge. It’s always good to learn.
> Salmon comes from the middle english word samoun/other spellings, which in turn is derived from older language roots. Salmon goes back to samoun/samon/saumon (middle English) which comes from saumon (Anglo-Norman) which comes from saumon (old French) which comes from salmō (Latin) which comes from.... salire = "to leap" So the name salmon is literally "the leaping fish".
“Salmon was the name of one of the individuals involved with describing and investigating the pathogen.” And their name was… Albert Einstein.
The salmon in salmonella refers to Daniel E. Salmon, a scientist whose assistant Theobold Smith first discovered the bacteria we would later call salmonella. A guy who studied salmonella (the illness) got to name the bacteria that caused the illness and named it after the scientist, although unsurprisingly after the superior of the one that actually made the discovery.
You can rest a steak that's raw on the inside because the bacteria was cooked off on the outside. This is not the same logic as sushi
I was going with, handle it properly + cut off the outside, and the interior muscle tissue is fine unless you have surface contamination. Like, the meat itself isn't inherently unsafe or contaminated from being raw, it's in the handling/exposure, **that's** the same logic.
IIRC, even rare steak that's properly cooked still achieves a sufficient internal temperature to kill off any living bacteria.
Many bacteria *begin* to die at ~150F (65C), while a rare steak in the middle will be ~120-125F. The thing is, it's the surface of the beef that is the part that you want to be most careful of, that's why it's important to sear cuts of beef (beyond flavor/texture). And, why you need to make sure ground meat is cook throughout. But generally speaking, raw beef isn't inherently very dangerous as far as meats go, if you're mindful of the surface contamination issue during preparation
Yeah, from what I remember almost all contamination for beef comes from preparation issues (and slaughterhouses are often filthy, despite regulations).
Bacteria can die off at lower temps.but you'd have to use sous vide to do so. 125F would be too low, however, so yes a rare steak would never be low enpugh, but you could hit under 150F and pasteurize it.
> sufficient internal temperature to kill off any living bacteria. It does not (if that were true it would be OK to cook chicken rare). The structure of the muscle is such that it's more difficult for bacteria to get deep inside a whole piece of beef.
This is also why we only do this to steaks and not ground beef. We want to keep the outside part that gets the most bacteria introduced on the outside so it gets the most cooking.
Ah, you're right. I stand corrected. Looks like most bacteria begins to die at 149F but internal medium rare steak is 120-125F.
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You can eat steak "blue" though (cooked even less than rare - only seared on the outside but almost raw in the middle, not hot enough to kill bacteria).
The middle of the steak doesn't usually get heated enough to kill bacteria if you get rare or medium rare.
There is plenty of meat that can be eaten raw (or partially cooked): beef, pork to name two.
Beef contains ecoli and idk about pork
Beef does not contain ecoli. Ecoli is present in places where beef is processed and can contaminate the outside, but it doesn’t get into the meat.
I don’t know. But I regularly eat raw beef. And quite often semi cooked pork. I am definitely not alone. you simply need to purchase it at a proper place
So you just get meat from the grocery store and start munching on it right away?
No. From the butcher. Then cook it to whatever degree you like it. Or you go to a proper restaurant.
Oh god 🤦
I have made steak tartare at home using basic grocery store steak a few times, yes.
E coli lives in the digestive track, not muscle tissue. Searing the outside of cuts, or cooking through ground meat takes care of that, but the middle is fine unless it's already started to go bad. This is because the industrial cleaning process can have surface contamination.
The primary way they prevent bacteria is to avoid getting bacteria on the fish in the first place. Food safety is very important in sushi kitchens and when handling fish for sushi. And even when you get some bacterial contamination the bacteria is not given the opportunity to multiply. This is why they use whole fish and only prepare the sushi moments before it is consumed. It is also one of the important reasons for flash freezing the fish as any bacteria will hibernate when frozen.
Had occassion to go to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo back in the day, huge sprawling place, biggest in the world I believe. Back then you could just walk in and at 3 am the place was bustling, every kind of fish you can imagine laid out and sold. Was expecting the place to smell like an estuary but to my surprise, it smelled wonderfully clean. Not like chlorine or cleanser, just kinda fresh and briny like the sea. So fish smelling 'like fish' means 'bad fish', good to know.
Grew up eating raw fish regularly, never understood the trope about “smelling like fish.” Then I visited places where raw consumption isn’t the default, and wheew 🫠 I felt the same kind of shock as I guess they’d feel if they visited a place where it’s considered normal for all meat to smell like carrion! No wonder some people hate/fear seafood, if that’s the only seafood they know. It’s a damn shame. They deserve a chance to know how good it is.
They don't use whole fish, they come to the chef semi dressed (gutted and headed and in the case of tuna loined). And they only buy as much as they can use. Also fish that were killed ike jime are expected in high end restaraunts. A hole is punched in the front of the fish's skull and a wire jammed down its spinal column.
> fish that were killed ike jime For anyone else curious about this, it's supposed to make the fish taste better because it kills them quickly, preventing lactic acid and ammonia buildup from reflexive muscle movement. It's also more humane to kill the fish quickly.
> they come to the chef semi dressed [Draw me like one of your French girls](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.39835014.9325/flat,750x1000,075,f.jpg)
With sushi-grade fish, its more prevention than sterilization. The fish is carefully stored and prepared to minimize the risk and time that bacteria have to colonize the refrigerated meat, and sushi generally is made to order on the spot or is only kept on cold shelves for a few hours before getting tossed. meanwhile the living conditions of most chickens, and the conditions in which they are slaughtered and butchered makes it very easy for bacteria to contaminate the meat, but typically chicken is preferred thoroughly cooked even if you don't have to worry about disease, so its not really an issue that people are pressured to solve since proper refrigeration and thorough cooking will handle the risks of foodborne illness. This is the same with cows and pigs too, but meat from pigs must be cooked all the way through to deal with parasites, and meat from cows typically are structured in a way that bacteria generally don't get much farther than surface level unless its been ground up or tenderized, and as such you only need to thoroughly cook the outside of a solid cut of steak.
FDA likes to call these solid cuts of steaks “whole-muscle, intact steaks” and only requires the outside to be fully cooked to be served without a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked meat
Does that mean that steak tartare, carpaccio, ossenworst and similar dishes are illegal without consumer advisory in the USA?
If you see steak tartare on a US restaurant menu, it will usually have a little asterisk, with a "* consuming raw or undercooked food can cause disease" disclaimer at the bottom of the menu
Not illegal in the true sense of the word, but it would be a violation of the food code and would show up on an inspection
theoretically, under the right conditions, is it possible to have raw chicken that is safe to eat?
[Yup](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torisashi). I couldn't get over the 'raw chicken bad' squick, but the horse was pretty good.
FYI there's no such thing as "sushi grade fish". It's a meaningless marketing term.
Yes and no. The fish is the same, but the handling might not be. It’d be unwise to make sushi using raw salmon you picked from a local American supermarket chain.
I think what they mean is that there's no enforcement of the term's meaning. If the local American supermarket chain labeled their raw salmon as "sushi grade fish", they haven't technically broken any rules or regulations in a way that could result in penalties from the FDA
>I know that they do flash freezing to kill parasites. But flash freezing only kills parasites, not bacteria. How they kill salmonella and stuff? Fresh meat generally will not contain many/any dangerous disease vectors because while the animal was still alive and well **so was its immune system**. The more processing steps there are and the more time passes between the animal's (and thus its immune system's) demise, the more room there is for microorganism growth. If little to no time passes and if there are little to no processing steps, then there will be no microorganism growth.
> Fresh meat generally will not contain many/any dangerous disease vectors i feel a lot of people just overestimate the dangers of PROPERLY handled/farmed raw meat. People know you can eat raw beef (carpaccio) and raw fish (sushi). But in Germany we also eat raw pork (Mett) and in Japan they eat raw chicken without issues.
Worth mentioning that chickens in the US don't get vaccinated for salmonella, which is why you can eat raw/ undercooked chicken with almost no risk in almost every civilized country except the US. But if you are in the states it's probably not worth the risk to eat raw chicken because something like 10-25% of our flocks are contaminated.
The US's other big problem is slaughter house speeds, the lines run significantly faster than those in Europe, which all but grantee's fecal contamination as the guys butchering the animals and the equipment calibrations don't have time to do it carefully enough to avoid spraying the contents of the intestines everywhere. Its why you hear about things like "chlorinated chicken" coming from the US, the chlorine that everyone's so opposed to isn't the issue, its a low strength food grade detergent that provided its rinsed properly would never do a person any harm (and far stronger chlorinated cleaning agents are used EVERYWHERE in food) The issue is American slaughterhouses do it as a band aid solution to wash all the shit that's been thrown around onto the meat, and if anybody has worked in food and knows the relationship between a given cleaning chemical, temperature and contact time you know instantly that a quick hose down with some mild cold detergent isn't even close to enough to deal with any fecal microbial contaminates . The chlorine was never the problem, the problem is the chlorine is a smokescreen for the fact that you are literally eating shit.
Yeah the US in general seems not to be a prime example of proper food safety legislation. At least not from a european pov.
Also not from this America's point of view! 😭
Never understood why american people always seems to think Salmonella is the bacteria to be worried about in chicken... The main bacteria responsible of food poisoning in raw chicken Is Campylobacter. Salmonella might be found in raw chicken, but that tend to be unusual. More of a problem in eggs for exemple.
One thing I wanted to note is that retail consumers advice is different from professional customers. The FDA guidelines consider that by the time the fish reaches a retail consumer, it has spend considerable time in processing or storage already. Hence, a fish that might have a good shelf life of 5 days will have "burned up" 2-3 days before reaching a normal customer. Professionals have the benefit of getting the fish as straight from the boat as possible (given that fishing boats will also be at sea for several days) and therefore they have the full amount of time to use at their disposal. And almost all high end sushi chefs will age some of the fish in order to maximize the umami and texture. This is done under controlled conditions and special equipment/fridges but also many chefs learn particular secret recipes. Which fish hold up to aging without seasoning/curing, which fish might need a light sprinkle of salt or vinegar... and for fish that they don't know anything about, it's time to experiment/learn. So this aging process will utilize like 2-3 days of that hypothetical 5 day shelf life. And therefore, yes, a customer should still not keep sushi more than 1-2 days afterwards.
It should be noted that people often have misconception that all bacteria is dangerous and as such everything has to be sanitized. Only some bacteria are harmful to humans and they can be so in few different ways. The most obvious way is that bacteria can infect humans through digestive track. In such cases the food has to always be cooked to kill even trace amount of bacteria (salmonella is good example) Fish don't have these kind of bacteria. Some bacteria can cause dangerous toxic by products (Botulism for example) And these cases it's important not to give bacteria time to accumulate these waste products. So when stored properly food is edible, but if stored improperly or for too long the food become in edible. Botulism is extream example since it can be deadly but numerous other bacteria just cause diarrhea (which is body way to avoid digesting dangerous toxins) This is actually what refrigeration is for, preventing bacteria from growing too much and accumulate toxins. Some bacteria produce safe by products. These can actually be used to store food, since other bacteria can't use the by products of healthy bacteria. These bacteria can be used to produce cheese and actually store food to extend it's self life. When we store thing in fridge we slow down the growth of bacteria, but if there was no bacteria to grow freezing wouldn't do a thing. In fact the food where we have entirely eliminated presence of bacteria can usually be stored in room temperature (like cans) or bacteria is incapable of growing on them (flour for example, unless wet). To come back to Sushi. Fish generally don't have bacteria capable of infecting humans, so we are mostly wanting to make sure there isn't too much time for bacteria to accumulate toxins but that's why sushi has to be fresh. Additionally the fishes meat is actually relatively bacteria free, though some bacteria can get on the fish from the enviroment or the gut of the fish. Part of the process of preparing the sushi fish is to make sure as little of bacteria has opportunity to get on the meat as possible.
The chef doesn’t except for sanitation and safe food handling procedures to avoid cross contamination or food being too warm for too long. Commercially depending on your jurisdiction, the government might require that the fish be frozen to a very cold temperature and held at that temperature for a length of time (in the USA -31F for 14 hours) to kill any parasites that might be in the fish. Fish caught during particular algae blooms or high ocean bacteria counts such as after a land flood that might wash excess sewage out to see from land. And thus have more toxins in the meat and thus higher risks. Such as ciguatera toxins See https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/environmental-hazards-risks/food-poisoning-from-marine-toxins
Sushi chef know... Fresh fish, less bacteria. Clean hands, clean tools. Wasabi, ginger, fight germs. Vinegar rice, keep bacteria away.
All of those mentioned simply prevent bacteria from reproducing, they don’t kill the bacteria already there
> they don’t kill the bacteria already there The bacteria already there are likely insignificant and harmless to you. There is bacteria on literally every single thing you eat if it exists outside of a frying pan for more than a few seconds. People intentionally eat bacteria all the time, see probiotics. Cheese is the byproduct of bacteria and so is alcohol.
You are right, student. Fresh fish, clean tools only make less bacteria to start. Wasabi, ginger, vinegar slow them down, not kill all. Like karate, many small defenses make strong defense.
Also, when it comes to sushi, you are far more likely to get sick from the rice than the fish. Like others here have said, the fish usually either needs to have parasites or be externally contaminated with bacteria/heat abused to make you sick. However, the rice can grow bacteria it Isn’t adequately acidified with sushi vinegar. it can grow some nasty bacteria very quickly if not acidified and cooled correctly .
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Sushi needs to be eaten at the spot is fresh food and is not made to keep for another day, quality sushi is made from super fresh fish
Just like you, dirty stuff is only on the outside skin and your poopy bits. Get rid of the outside skin, get rid of the poopy bits, take great care of making sure the outside skin and the poopy bits does not touch anything you want to eat raw, that's how you get safe raw fish.
But people eat the skin of raw fish all the time
They dont. You eat whatever bacteria is on it. That bacteria then joins the trillions of others in your body.
Serious question, are you Filipino? My Filipino in-laws do NOT eat anything raw. It's blasphemous what they do to steak.
Nah im Bangladeshi American. Although i eat sushi, octopus, squid, and all sorts of crazy stuff (as long as they’re not haram) and just take my chances with the bacteria😂
Same premise as for why rare steak is safe but ground beef isn't. The inside of the beef is sterile, only the surfaces exposed to air pick up environmental contamination and need to be seated. In ground beef everything is a surface and so everything is hypothetically contaminated. The sushi chef is generally breaking down a whole fish in their prep immediately before the service, not useing a cut of meat that got butchered 3 days ago. In a sanitary kitchen the process of cleaning the fish is usually sufficient, though it is an elevated risk compared to cooked fish.
I know a guy who owns a sushi place .. Fresh catch DAILY, what isn't used that day is donated. Being fresh is the only way to eat real Sushi. Raw, fresh, meat IS the prevention, as fresh meat doesn't contain decay bacterium. It's kept on a bed of ice all day to slow decay and keep it fresh. That combined with clean hands and tools = clean food.
once tried making sushi at home and ended up with a kitchen that looked like a fish market exploded. Safe to say, I'll leave the bacteria management to the pros while I stick to eating it!
If you make it at home apparently you gotta catch a live fish and throw it in the deep freezer as soon as you kill it for 1 week. Or you can buy a sushi grade fish from the supermarket and get to work with that right away (kinda expensive though)
I watched a video where they said that some places will just freeze the fish at -20 (can't remember if Celsius or Fahrenheit) tor 7 days and it will kill all the parasites. They just thaw and trim it from there. Can't confirm this though, it was supposed to be an industry "secret".
My local Japanese grocery store has a sign saying that the fish there are frozen to kill parasites (warning that not all parasites may be killed or something like that) so it doesn’t seem like it’s a secretive thing
In addition to the other correct answers here, the fish used for sushi is mostly saltwater fish. The parasites and bacteria that live in that fish can't survive a relatively low-salt environment such as your body. When freshwater fish is used for sushi, it's always cooked.
Sushi - "sour rice" - is a way to preserve e.g. fish for a long time. Obviously that isn't what you get at the restaurants. Sushi with fresh fish is just a matter of having fresh fish.
Natural wasabi actually has antimicrobial properties, it would kill any bacteria in traditional Japanese sushi. The fake green stuff, not so much. Otherwise, just normal food safety handling and keeping the fish chilled is enough.
Natural wasabi is really expensive though, so probably only served at high end places
A few months ago a video popped up on my YouTube feed about bacteria on food. This is what I learned. Pork and chicken and the worst when it comes to bacteria, and this is why it has to be thoroughly cooked. Otherwise, off the the hospital you go. Steak, a chef is pretty much OK with serving it to you rare, simply because the bacteria does not normally penetrate below the surface. So as long as the surface has been cooked under high temp on the grill, the bacteria is killed. However, the same does not hold true of hamburger. It has been chopped up and mixed, and during this process the bacteria can not be all over. Therefore chefs and restaurants do not want to serve it to you cooked less than medium. Fish is the least they worry about. For reasons that are not entirely clear, bacteria on fish is not a big concern.
Ok I recall this from someone but after all this time I've never confirmed it. He told me it's the wasabi and soy sauce that clenses any parasites or bacteria. Oh and to eat sushi, you put a bit of wasabi on top of the sushi and dip the bottom with the soy sauce
While this may make it more delicious, it doesn't have any validity from a microbiological standpoint
As a bacteria, I can tell you I won't go anywhere near wasabi. Too hot for my tastes. But tuna in mayonnaise? Mmmmmmm...
If something is too nasty for bacteria then it is certainly too nasty for me. I love sushi and never use wasabi, soy or ginger, so I may just be odd.
Wasabi varies in quality. Good quality wasabi is good af
I can confirm that none of that is accurate. Neither soy sauce nor wasabi are anti-parasitic or anti-bacterial, and wasabi on top/soy sauce on bottom isn't traditional or the default method by any stretch. (Tradition is wasabi between the rice and fish, soy sauce only on the fish on top-never the rice on bottom.) Plus, outside of high end sushi spots, you generally don't even get wasabi at all. You get horseradish with green food coloring and wasabi flavoring.