Sashimi

Sashimi often is the first course in a formal Japanese meal, but it can also be the main course, presented with rice and soup in served separately. Many Japanese people believe that sashimi, traditionally considered the finest dish in Japanese cuisine, should be eaten before other strong flavours affect the sense of taste. Culinary, sashimi represents the Japanese cultural appreciation of subtlety. The finer sensation can vary from salmon to squid and everything in between. The sliced seafood that composes the main ingredient is typically draped over a garnish.. Wasabi paste is sometimes mixed directly into soy sauce as a dipping sauce. Purists denounce the practice of mixing wasabi into soy sauce, saying that this dilutes the sharp hot flavour of wasabi. Another more correct way to flavour soy sauce with wasabi is to place the wasabi mound into the soy sauce dish and then pour it in. This allows the wasabi to infuse the soy sauce more subtly. A reputed motivation for serving wasabi with sashimi (and pickled ginger), besides its flavour, is killing harmful bacteria that could be present in raw seafood.

Some sashimi ingredients, such as octopus, are sometimes served cooked given its chewy nature. Most seafood, such as salmon, tuna and squid are served raw. You can also have your sashimi lightly seared outside, leaving it raw inside.