![]() ![]() ”Even I cannot tell the difference between fresh and frozen in a blind test,” he said.Įven Masa Takayama, whose sushi temple Masa, in the Time Warner Center, charges a minimum of $300 to worship, said he used frozen tuna when fresh is unavailable. ”But I would hope that’s not the case at Nobu.”īut Shin Tsujimura, the sushi chef at Nobu, closer to Wall Street, said he froze his own tuna. Sabine Marangosian, who works in Midtown Manhattan, said she ate sushi ”at least once a week.” I guess I would understand that some sushi is frozen,” she said. A 20-pound chunk of premium bluefin tuna is rock hard and cold enough to burn a blister on your finger.īut all it takes is a band saw, 10 minutes and a bowl of warm water to produce deep red, dewy slices of the finest sushi money can buy, the same toro served at Manhattan sushi shrines. ”We start freezing it almost before it’s dead.” At 76 degrees below zero, you can feel your hair follicles freeze. ![]() ”This product is better than fresh,” he said. ”People want toro every day.”Īt the Elizabeth, N.J., warehouse of True World Foods, a manager, Ken Kawauchi, recently readied a room-size freezer to receive eight more tons of premium tuna frozen with sophisticated technology that chefs say preserves the texture and flavor of the fish. ![]() ”American customers don’t want to hear that something is out of season,” Yasuda said with a shrug. Naomichi Yasuda, the owner of Sushi Yasuda, the acclaimed sushi restaurant in New York City, said he imported fresh tuna but froze it himself, selling it for $10 a piece. And some cuts, like the prized fatty toro, are not always available fresh. Frozen fish usually costs about half as much wholesale as fresh. Tuna, a deep-sea fish with exceptionally clean flesh, is the only exception to the rule.īut tuna is often frozen, too, not necessarily to make it safe, but because global consumption of sushi continues to rise. ”I would desperately hope that all the sushi we eat is frozen,” said George Hoskin, a director of the agency’s Office of Seafood. Most would be even more surprised to learn that if the sushi has not been frozen, it is illegal to serve it in the United States.įood and Drug Administration regulations stipulate that fish to be eaten raw – whether as sushi, sashimi, seviche, or tartare must be frozen first, to kill parasites. And rare is the sushi restaurant that tells customers upfront that they may be eating fish that has been in deep freeze for up to two years. Its priests are chefs with seemingly mystical abilities to summon fresh fish from all corners of the globe.īut because of health concerns and growing demand, 50 to 60 percent of sushi in the United States is frozen at some point in its journey from the ocean, according to wholesalers. To many food lovers, sushi has become a near religion, and a cornerstone of the faith is that the fish is extraordinarily fresh. Not all seafood will need to be frozen: Shellfish, farm-raised fish, and some varieties of tuna are exempt from the ruling. The regulation states that in August, raw fish must be stored in a freezer for at least 15 hours to one week, depending on the restaurant’s freezer and storage. Now, all New York City restaurants are legally required to do so.īack in February, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene considered ruling that all raw fish needed to be kept frozen until it was served. One way to ensure the safety of raw fish is to freeze the product before serving it to customers. Though raw fish tastes good in sushi and ceviche, there is always a risk of foodborne illness because the fish might contain parasites. New York City restaurants are now required to freeze their raw fish before serving it to customers.
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