Hochner Family Blog

Today I got a Tai (sea bream), about 40 cm long and Sashimi grade (fresh enough to be eaten raw). I'll make our complete dinner for three with it.  This means the appetizer, a salad, the main dish and a side dish -- everything with this one Tai (well, except for the desert). The Tai is a special fish in Japan and we use it for special occasions such as celebration, festival, ceremony, etc. Now is the beginning of the season for the Tai.

We got a Tai  bred in a farm. Before such breeding, it was a very rare fish, but now it is easy to find it in just about any supermarkets.
To start, I forgot the fact that the Tai has a lot of thick scales.  I didn't have a scale remover so I struggled with my knife. Pretty unpleasant work because when removed like this, the scales fly all over the place.
It was tough but I made it, and it was now clean.  The  fins of the Tai are very sharp and one has to pay special attention not to get hurt while cleaning the scales.

Let's work on our Tai. First, we open the belly. Once this is done, we have to cut off the head.
Place the knife behind the pectoral fin and cut the meat toward the bottom.
Turn over to the other side and do the same.
Cut the back bone and take off the head together with the intestine.
Open the thin skin with a knife, and clean off the blood under running water.

Next, let's cut the body parts into fillets.  We usually start to work on the right side of the body.  Because the fish is placed with its right side down (this means that the head is on the left and the tail on the right) this side of the body may get more damaged and therefore, it is usually the other side (the left one) that is presented at the table.
Start by cutting the surface of the skin a little bit from the anus (located around the middle of the length of the fish) toward the tail to draw (mark) a cutting line.
Then slide the knife in along that line and cut the meat deeper and deeper in several strokes all the way up to the back bone.
Cut the back of the body, from the tail toward the head.  Again, start by first drawing a cutting line, then cut slowly deeper and deeper into the meat.
One of the point to take care about is not to leave too much meat on the bone.
Once the front and the back of the body are cut all the way in to the back bone, separate the tail part and cut the middle part.
Half of the body meat is now cut.
Flip the body over, and start to cut the other side from the head toward the tail.
Cut the belly side.
Slide the knife over the back bone and remove the meat.
Here the fillets are ready.

The Tai is now ready to be cooked. I’ll post a few recipes next.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:38 PM