For sashimi, local Michelin star Japanese sushi chef dry ages but wraps in green fish paper inside an airless sealed plastic bag submerged in ice water (in a fridge). A tedious process no doubt, and outer meat layers must be cut away/discarded. I’ve had up to 28 days aged tuna and other species by his method. All remarkably tender and delicious.
My son swears by this process. He has aged swordfish and says it is really outstanding.
I was at Jailbreak (board member Justin Bonner’s brewery) a couple of weeks ago, where the fish is aged in the same locker as the beef, and it looked gorgeous Didn’t order it because me group wasn’t into it, but I’d be all over it I’ve had lesser aged fish in sushi restaurants in Japan Loved the flavor profile
place in Dallas called Knife ages foie gras a year or more. I was not willing to try it.
I’ve had dry aged branzino at Detention and Trust in Santa Ana - it’s interesting, complex, actually tasted a bit like beef to me.
Charlie Fu has been talking about dry-aged fish for a bit now in private conversation, that was the first time I had it (March, this year)
The fish must be prepared correctly immediately when caught. IkeJima then bled. Usually the spine is pithed as well. Then immediately in an ice slurry.
I’ve been wanting to try it at Anajak in LA, they’ve had it for a while. but there were too many interesting choices.
I feel like I’m the only one, but I often prefer the fresh or hardly aged fish over dry aged.
Yep. Enzymatic action here is very important to get right, it relies on that process.
I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
I had a chance few months ago to attend a dinner with an Italian chef called Jacopo Ticchi.
He’s the pioneer of dry aging fish in the country, wrote a book on the topic as well and was followed by a chemist or something like that while he was refining his tecnique.
His philosphy doesn’t stop at dry aging tho, I think the idea behind it is to treat fish like meat.
He buys as local as possible, try to buy only big size fish and then try to maximise the ouse out of it, using also part that are deemed “less noble” and interiors as well.
As somebody before me already said yes, you still need to source fresh and process it in a certain way. He doesn’t do long dry aging like you see on beef, IIRC he goes up to 2 weeks for most of the fish.
The results? While I can’t truly compare the flavours (that would require a dish made with regular fresh fish and the same with dry aged) the consistency of the fish cuts was really different and instresting. I can post pictures if somebody is intrested
Barry,
Try it at Anajak. It is very, very, good!!
I finally tried this with an UMAI dry aging bag, and 1 blackgill rockfish filet for 4 days since it was only a filet. I was a little nervous eating 4 day old, unfrozen raw/sashimi but it was great. A little ponzu, wasabi root and microplaned lemon zest. The texture was an improvement but I can’t say more about the flavor. Maybe I’ll try 10 days next time and work my way up.
I did and it is!
I’d like to know the story of how they figured out the right process
Pretty much a textbook IkeJima/Shinki-jime. See the fins flare out and then relax. Followed by getting spined.