Tamaのブログ

Bought some fish-添削前

Yesterday morning, we went to Harbor Fish Market in the Old Port. We bought a pound of fresh calamari, five mackerels and a salmon head with bones. It costs less than $9. Generally food is expensive compare to Japan, especially sea food. Even though Portland has a large fishing industry, Harbor Fish Market is the only fish monger we know in Portland Maine that sells some junk fish in reasonable price. That evening, we had a guest and had a supper with her. We made a Japanese pot dish named Ishikari-nabe (Ishikari is an area in Hokkaido and famous for salmon coming back from the sea, nabe means pot). The essential ingredients of the pot are salmon, konbu(Sea-weed) and vegetables. The flavor is usually miso. We used a salmon head and bones, konbu, nappa cabbage, tofu, scallion Maitake mushroom, baby portabella mushroom, Korean rice cake, and white miso. We served it in a bawl with fresh thin cut scallion and freaks of red pepper. It nice to have a nabe at a cold night. We froze the calamari and the mackerels. Now I’m thinking how we can improve our dietary life with those fish. One idea is a making half dried mackerel. When we leave the fish in natural temperature, the protein begin to decompose into a shorter amino acid sequence and enhance its flavor like MSG. the key is right microbial activity for this process. I looked at some web pages talking about the technique. The basic is open the fish, remove the guts, and soak the fish into the 7% salt water solution overnight, then dry the fish under the sun for several hours or in the room overnight.The calamari seems quite fresh. I think it might safe to eat without heat. However, considering the extremely expensive medical treatment in the US, we should refrain eating raw fish. Next time, I may try making pickled calamari ( salt with its guts) before freezing.