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Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr
Thanks for explaining. What is the reasoning for doing this prior to bleeding as opposed to at the at the same time? Is there a best brand of these tools? And where is the best place to buy them?
The tuna I dispatch by wacking over the head tend to have transparent meat, while others will have a solid semi cooked appearance with a metallic sheen. It can make a huge difference in the quality. I would like to try these tools.
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No problem.
The heart muscle keeps pumping away long after the fish is killed, but the stress the fish endures during the handling process will cause undue damage to the flesh. If the fish is dispatched sooner, and the nerves destroyed sooner, there will be more compounds which break down into umami left behind (they are utilized during the thrashing and twitching). The other side is that the less stressed the fish is during the process, the less lactic acid builds up in the meat (how the fish is fought is also a large factor) and lactic acid causes the meat to spoil sooner. With less lactic acid, the meat can ripen longer to its full potential.
As the enzymes in the fish break down the meat, connective tissue softens and proteins break down into aminos. A fresh yellowtail may be rich in oils at certain times of the year, but it will be lacking in umami, and be quite tough to chew. A well ripened yellowtail will be rich in umami, and tender to the bite. How many days to ripen is a matter of preference, I prefer the longer times that people in Tokyo prefer, I know some prefer it less ripe as they do in Kyushu.
I got my tool from Totos at Japanese Anglers Secrets, but if you're in Japan, you can pick them up anywhere. The Lumica is a really nice tool set.
If you need to improvise, the top E string will work.
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Originally Posted by Mahigeer
I bought the item from Lumica. Check out YouTube.
As I understand, after the wire is inserted the fish will move as if it is alive.
Then when the gills are cut, the heart will keep pumping the blood out of the fish.
Thus the meat has less blood in it. On TV, I saw they put the fish in ice water right away, so I donÂ’t get the fresh water issue. Their water maybe saltwater, but I doubt if the ice was salt water.
The language was in Japanese, so I did not understand anything they said.
In Alaska the catch is held in bilge cavity, with salty cold water in it.
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The ice they use there is pretty special, and is the reason our seafood over here has strong odor. They pump the water for it from deep underwater offshore where there is less plankton. The salt in it and the high purity both inhibit bacterial growth.
If we had that here our fish quality would improve substantially.
This is all pretty interesting stuff, but I had a much easier time learning about this than how they make panko bread crumbs.