It makes food prep of delicate items like sushi and sashimi a pleasure rather than a struggle.” “The Shun knives lineup, which we carry, is extraordinary for its precision craftsmanship and razor-sharp edges-they’re truly a work of art. “Some of the best knives on the market are made by Shun,” says cooking expert and instructor Dan Price, owner of Kitch ( ), a unique, quality cookware, utensils, and gadget store in Olde Mistick Village in southeastern Connecticut. If you do get into making your own raw fish dishes, you’ll eventually want to invest in a high-quality, super-sharp knife or two.

The sticky rice, important as opposed to regular rice, is a bit time consuming to get right, so I just stop at a local Japanese restaurant on the way home and buy a quart of their already-cooked sticky rice. Making your own sushi rolls isn’t too complicated but takes some practice-a quick trip to any grocery store should provide you with dried seaweed sheets, soy sauce and wasabi. Rolls are accurately called “maki sushi,” and rolls with rice on the outside (rather than nori on the outside) are “yukiwa-maki.” If you are eating just plain, raw fish without the rice-as we were intending with the bluefish-it’s then called “sashimi.” A roll in its finished form is log-shaped it’s then sliced into about six bite-size pieces with a super-sharp, wet knife. Sushi rolls-basically a paper-thin sheet of dry nori (seaweed) covered with a layer of sticky rice, with fish and other accompaniments (like cucumber or avocado) in it-are very popular with American diners. That combination, however, is actually “nigiri sushi.” We’re a bit more precise when we say “sushi” if ordering the small, hand-pressed bricks of rice with thin slices of raw fish laid over it. Here’s how those terms differ:Īmericans erroneously refer to any combination of raw or smoked fish served at a sushi bar-with or without the various ingredients of seaweed, rice and other trimmings-as “sushi.” Technically, sushi refers to only the sweet, vinegar-treated sticky rice. For seafood lovers, few things are better than fresh bluefish sushi, or in this case, sashimi. We carefully played and released dozens of fish that day, but kept a few for a special treat that evening. This type of outfit handles any size bluefish and is a perfect match for making long heaves to breaking fish with any of the Game On EXO Casting Jigs. Although large “slammer” blues remain comparatively scarce in our nearshore areas, these one- to two-year-old fish, commonly called “harbor blues” and “tailor blues” have been plentiful, as have those in the next year-class up.Ī great tackle combo for ultimate sport and strength is a Temple Reef ( ) Vortex V1 light-action spinning rod attached to a quality 3000-series reel like Shimano’s Stradic loaded with 12- to 15-pound braid. Moments later, we were both hooting as our spools spun in harmony.ĭave and I had been stalking the reefs off Branford, Connecticut, seeking schools of small bluefish that have been marauding through Long Island Sound in recent summers. We didn’t waste time feeling sorry for the scattering prey as we snatched our rods from the rocket launchers and started casting. Terns and gulls wheeled, screamed, and dove as they picked off the hapless baitfish. Pods of rain-bait exploded through the surface while small bluefish slashed at them from beneath, some catapulting themselves a foot or more into the air. We soon arrived at the action, and I cut the motor just up-tide of the rip line and breaking fish. I called over the center console to my fishing partner Dave Bard, gave him an enthusiastic, “We found them!” thumbs-up and throttled a few more horses to the RPMs. As we closed the running distance to less than a mile, I was able to discern a cloud of birds working along a shallow reef off the shoreline.

Blue fish sushi