Since some people have been asking, here's how I prepare **NZ king salmon sashimi** at home cos it's easy, quick, and reasonably accessible.

I'm mostly going to copy and paste what I've written previously. I do not recommend this with any other fish unless you really know what you're doing and you have access to high quality fish that has been properly processed and transported.

Please note that a lot of this is my opinion and based on snippets of information I've gathered over the years. It may not entirely be accurate, but I hope it serves as a reasonable starting point in your home culinary journey! Feel free to correct me if you disagree or if I'm flat out wrong. I'm happy to correct my mistakes and learn from you guys as well :)

For the average home cook (including myself), we won't try and attempt what [Cocoro and other established restaurants do with non-salmon fish for sashimi](https://www.metromag.co.nz/food/food-restaurants/zen-and-the-art-of-sashimi-a-week-in-the-life-of-cocoro).

  
For this tutorial, we will stick to only NZ farmed king salmon.

Although it is a bit more expensive, I prefer to buy salmon fillets as I can see the entirety of what I'm purchasing and I don't need to spend an extra 15 mins processing it cos I'm slow and don't have the same skills as chefs might do.

We must understand that there is no such thing as “sashimi grade”; there is no regulation on the term “sashimi grade”. So for example, I could buy the salmon from the supermarket, look at it and say it's clean and all good, and call it “sashimi grade”. Just go to a fishmonger or supermarket with a high turnover.

I would not touch non-NZ salmon or salmon that looks pale and yuck with a smell from places with low turnover or quality control standards.

NZ king salmon fillet with the best marbling and brightest orange colour where possible from a good busy Pak n Save or New World with high turnover of fish, e.g. Pak n Save Sylvia Park or Botany (my fave). Pak n Save Royal Oak is a definite no go. You can see how pale their salmon is (not sure why and the fishy smell is stronger there). Although the orange colour comes from food dye in the fish food, my thinking is that the strongest and healthiest salmon have higher fitness, and thus are able to eat more and have a darker and more vibrant orange colour to start off with. Could totally be wrong but that's the logic I like to go by.

I do not recommend purchasing the modified atmosphere packaged salmon from Woolworths as we don't know how/when it was processed or packaged.

So once we buy it, take it home and rinse under cold water. I'm trying to get rid of the mucous slime coating of the fish. I then pat it dry with clean paper towels, and then de-skin it. Once the skin is taken off, I debone it.

  
You can choose to trim off the grey muscle found between the orange flesh and the skin. I cut it off because it has a "fishier" taste and I don't like to serve my sashimi like that; I've gone to so much effort to minimise fishiness, so why would I leave it on? Anyway, usually I trim it off after curing when I'm about to slice the fish up for sashimi as it's physically easier as the cured salmon is a bit firmer. I eat that trim myself so no waste, but I just don’t want to serve it to others. The salmon skin can be descaled, washed and dried, and chucked into the air fryer for a salmon skin crisp. 


**Curing Sashimi**

The best sashimi restaurants will cure their fish, they just won't tell you because they don't need to.

I like to use a pre-ground kelp powder to simulate kombujime ([inspired from this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM5x34paeZM)), originally used for making kelp tea/soup cos sometimes it's on clearance at Japan Mart lol. If that’s not available, I simply use shiojime: salt cure and add sugar, or you can use soy sauce and sugar, or miso and sugar. Sometimes I’ll also add bonito flakes or some sort of bushi powder and mix with soy sauce before doing a light cure. Makes a world of a difference and you’ll probably only see that technique at high end restaurants.

  
For salt/sugar, I am looking for a sweeter cure as we'll be dipping the salmon in some sort of soy sauce anyway. Mix 1% of the salmon flesh by weight with salt and 2% sugar. Maybe a pinch of MSG as well. Rub over the salmon fillet. Cover and keep in fridge for a few hours to overnight/a day. The flesh will turn VERY vibrant orange and firm up as the water leaves the flesh, concentrating the salmon flavours. Instead of the salt and sugar, can use soy sauce (like maguro zuke) and sugar or other combos as previously mentioned.

  
I realised I had free will in my own kitchen and honestly there's no need to stick to the traditional methods as it can be cost restrictive and might not even suit your palate! Gotta experiment and allow yourself to make good stuff with a bit of creativity 😌

I do it all the time with the NZ salmon. My knife skills suck, but my flavouring techniques more than make up for it. Would be keen to show people one day if someone wanted to host a dinner party. I'd also let you try my secret sashimi dipping sauce which I won't reveal on here hehehe.

Sorry for the bad formatting in this essay. I suck at Reddit formatting.  


**Photos**

I've included some photos on two pieces of salmon, side by side. One was cured for 1.5 hours, and the other (the control) did not have any cure at all. Both pieces were from the same salmon and was the same side of salmon, cut in half.  
Although the cure time was short, you might be able to see a bit of colour change in the photos. It might be a bit subtle for some people, but the cured salmon is definitely more vibrant orange (probably due to less water content). This should theoretically also mean the flavour should be a bit more concentrated as well.

  
**Sushi Rice**

Sometimes I do a 1:1 mix of glutinous rice and short grain rice.

Sushi rice seasoning is 4:2:1 vinegar:sugar:salt

I like to use less salt and more vinegar and sugar as I go pretty hard on my secret homemade sushi/sashimi soy sauce recipe (this is my lil secret hehehe you'd have to try it in person to understand). Vinegar can be rice vinegar or a mix of vinegars. I like to use a mix of good quality balsamic and apple vinegars mixed with a standard white vinegar for the tang.

Some purists will argue otherwise, but again, there's no one best recipe; it's totally up to your own personal preference and taste. Super high end sushi places in Japan will use amazing quality vinegar that may already have those qualities (flavour, tang, and sweetness) that us peasants will never be able to get our hands on, so we have to be creative and adapt instead.

I also like to add the aforementioned smoked anchovy/sardine bushi powders in the rice for extra flavour but it is not necessary if you want to enjoy the salmon flavour itself.

Get those individual packs of Korean seaweed (obviously brand dependent, but get one that you enjoy eating on its own), then chuck some rice, a slice of the cured salmon sashimi, and some soy sauce and wasabi and maybe a bit of flair, like a dash of sansho pepper (because of the citrusy notes), and you're in foodie heaven

Try it and let me know what you think 👀



No need to edit the photos to increase saturation on the orange. You can try it for yourself. Other photos also seen here:

u/Alarming_Orchid_6236's [1st dinner get together](https://www.reddit.com/r/nzhomecooks/comments/1igx0ul/1st_dinner_get_together/)  
u/iloveuglay's [Sushi/Sashimi](https://www.reddit.com/r/nzhomecooks/comments/1latjr8/sushisashimi/)  


Photo Tutorial: NZ King Salmon Sashimi