Thursday, August.06.09

salmon nigiri

Extraordinary Salmon Nigiri

“It’s Thursday!  Thursdays are good.  It’s my one and only day off of the week and I’ve come to dedicate Thursdays for all my new posts.  I want this blog to be the best that it can be, making every post clear and easy to follow.  That was the initial purpose of the start up of this blog.  I’ve always believed its quality over quantity, especially when it comes down to Sushi.  One post a week will give me enough time to prepare a great post for you viewers.  I also thought Thursdays would be a good day for you viewers to watch so you’ll have a day or two to prep before the weekend.  That about wraps it up.  Alright, back to why you’re here.  THE NEW THURSDAY SUSHI POST! Enjoy!“  -thesushichef

Today is dedicated to salmon.  One of my favorites because.. well its good and don’t forget cheap!  You can buy a fillet of sushi grade Salmon at your local Japanese market for about ten dollars.  Not too shabby considering ten dollars will get you roughly about four to five pieces of salmon nigiri at your local Japanese restaurant.  One fillet will output about 20 nigiri slices, give or take.  In the video at the bottom, half of the fillet I cut outputted about 11 nigiri slices.  Think of the benefits from making sushi at home.  You can save money, you can share with friends and family, you can eat fresh, since you will be picking out the fish, and most of you’ll have a  good ol’ time just doing it yourself or with company.

Sushi Video : How to Prepare and Cut a Salmon Fillet into Salmon Nigiri


When you go to your local Japanese market, look in the back aisle where the fish should be.  Picking out the freshest salmon could be hard if you don’t know what to look for.  Here are some tips.  Look for the brightest and most vibrant color of orange you can find on salmon.  The brighter the better.  Next, look for the lines.  Visible lines is better than non-visible lines.  Non-visible lines means not fresh.  Usually you can find dark, dull, and old salmon with hard to see lines.  Third, if the lines in the salmon are separated do not buy it!  The fish is either old, took a beating (handled without care), or it was exposed to excess water.  Fresh or not fresh, salmon with broken lines cannot be used for salmon nigiri!  BTW really fresh salmon has the color of orange-red but most likely you will not find this at your average market.  If you do, then you’ve struck gold.

Next step, usually but not always the case, Japanese markets will leave the bones in the salmon.  Don’t worry.  This is a simple fix.  The only bones are located in the middle of the fillet.  A pair of tweezers will do the trick to pull them right out.  Use your fingers to feel for the bones if they are not visible.  Tap gently in a vertical motion because the bones are aligned in a straight line.

Moving forward, get the sharpest knife you can find in your kitchen and then sharpen it some more!  The sharper the knife, the easier it will be cutting the salmon.  I have a simple trick you can use to see how sharp your knife is.  You can grab a pieces of paper and try to cut it diagonally.  If the paper cuts smoothly with no tugs then your knife is sharp.  You can also use the your fingernail as another device to see how sharp your knife is.  Place the blade of your knife on top of the your thumbnail.  Pull back VERY gently.  If the blade is hard to move then your knife is sharp.  If it slides easily then your knife is pretty dull.  Tap the blade and pull back gently along the entire knife to pin point which part is sharp and which part isn’t.  Go back and sharpen those dull areas.

Alright.  It’s time to cut.  Apply your sharpened knife close to where the bones use to be.  Use the bone holes to guide you.  Slice down through the orange meat.  Once you see brown meat, at the bottom close to the skin, simultaneously continue slicing and turn your blade perpendicular to be parallel to the cutting board.  You do not want the brown meat if you are a stickler on presentation.  Although, the brown part contains most of the omega 3 which has many health benefits from anti-cancer to brain health.  Look it up!  Omega 3!  If you decide to leave the brown part on then its no biggy.  Once you have cut the salmon off the skin.  Do the same on the other side.  You should end up with two salmon fillet halves and the salmon skin with a thin piece of meat in the middle, where the bones use to be.  You can use this piece of meat as long as you check thoroughly that there are no bones in  it.  This part is sometimes thrown out because of some bones that may be undetected and left in and served.  We all know what happens at the end of that story so lets not even try to begin.  With your two halves of the salmon fillet, you can now trim any parts that don’t look pleasant.  Especially the bottom if you don’t want the brown part of the meat on your nigiri.

If you’ve made it this far,  congratulations.  But it all comes down to the next step.  It is time to slice the salmon into nigiri pieces.  You should always start on the bigger side of the half fillet first because towards the end you can always tilt your blade diagonally to accomedate the size of the nigiri pieces.  I’m right handed so I will be instructing accordingly.  Have the biggest side of the half fillet to your left and the smaller side to your right.  Place your left thumb at the left corner of the half fillet and use your right hand to cut down.  The thumb is used to keep the fish in position so it will be easier to cut.  If your thumb was not there the fish would stretch or even break and overall make it harder to cut.  Determining the size of the nigiri pieces you want is up to  you but sushi chefs sometimes determine the size of salmon by the size of their knife.  They measure accordingly by the height and thickness of the knife to be similar dimensions to the salmon.  You can do it like the sushi chefs or any way you prefer.

Once you are done, place all the fish onto a plate and place it into the refridgerator until ready to use.  The fish should be fine up to 48 hours refridgerated.  Any fish passing the shelf life of 48 hours is recommended to be thrown away.

Further on. How to make Salmon Nigiri.

  • Grab a small palm full of sushi rice
  • Squeeze and rotate the rice into an oblong shape
  • Make sure not to squeeze too hard.  The outside should be a bit hard but the inside should be soft.
  • Use your fingers and palm to shape the rice into a small rectangle shape. (for more detail follow the video below)
  • Grab a piece of salmon and place it into your left palm
  • Place the rectangular rice in the middle of the fish
  • Press down gently in the middle of the rice
  • Flip the fish and rice over onto the left palm
  • Use your right thumb and middle finger to shape and press the sides together while using your left thumb to press the the front down gently
  • Flip the piece 180 degrees with your right thumb and middle finger and apply the same previous step
  • Do this until the salmon is stuck to the rice and the shape of it looks like a smooth curve.
  • Make a few pieces of these and serve with ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

Enjoy!