Went to The Joint the other day, and learned a LOT about fish. Owner Liwei Liao grew up fishing, and he has followed his passion. He believes that fish, like so many other proteins (think dry-aged beef), improves with careful aging.
Hung in temperature-controlled cases, the fish gradually lose their blood and other liquids, which firms the flesh and concentrates the flavor. Aged fish loses its fishy odor and becomes easier to cook. It also makes awesome sashimi (see above).
This is fresh blue fin tuna.
This is blue fin tuna after a week of aging.
And this is 21 days.
Ready to go out the door….
The Joint ages many different kinds of fish: I saw buri, ora salmon, striped bass, shima aji, snapper and John Dory. And I learned so much! Biggest revelation: there is such a thing as certified sashimi-grade salmon which is safe to eat even if it hasn’t been frozen. This is new to me: after reading this article by the late, great Jon Rowley, I stopped eating raw salmon.
And speaking of Jon Rowley… In 1993 I asked the man who knew more about fish than anyone else in America to take me to a supermarket and show me which piece of fish to buy. I met him at 10 in the morning. By 6 that evening we had been to seven supermarkets and examined hundreds of fish. I was exhausted. Jon, however, wanted to keep going. This is one of my all-time favorite articles.
Why are you now less concerned about tapeworms? Or rather, how can raw salmon be prepared so that tapeworms are not a concern? And in the LAT article, JR purchased two same species fish - one “good” and one “bad” - to prepare and compare. Were you present for the comparison? And how on Earth did you keep a car full of fish fresh, in LA, from 10am to 6 pm?
Thank you. Now I know where the dry-aged sushi that Sushi Note (about three blocks east of the Joint) serves comes from.