Don:
>Any fish served raw at a sushi bar can be purchased and eaten raw at home.
>Then you can skip the rice and soy sauce, which are un-Paleo.

I would expand that to include any wild fish period. The idea that only
specific "sashimi fish" are edible raw is more tradition than anything
else. Of course the traditional sashimi fish are among the tastiest raw.
But try some fresh swordfish some day and see if that "shouldn't" be eaten
raw.

Further, the taste of raw fish is more variable than cooked. If there is
anything to the instincto idea that a raw food which is attractive to
smell/taste is metabolically needed, then a raw food which is unattractive
may be UNneeded. Perhaps the way to avoid feeling ill after eating raw
seafood is to make certain it tastes good, and to stop eating when it stops
tasting good.

>Today I ordered a tub of salmon roe, which they will have for me tomorrow.
>Other than taking out some chopsticks and eating them one-by-one, I'm not
>sure just how I will eat it, other than raw, of course. Do others have some
>suggestions? I can't put them in little potato boats, again un-Paleo.

Know that roes are usually salted and/or pastuerized--but they are such
nutritional powerhouses that you are likely still ahead. When we can obtain
fresh roes (asking the fishmonger or being pleasantly surprised when
purchasing a whole fish) we dry the whole roe sack until crumbly. The
flavor can mimic the deep-fried crusties left over from a deep-fried fish
fry. Sinful. ;)

Below is a recent post on the raw-food list--archives at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/raw-food.html

-----------

Anyway, THE QUICK AND DIRTY OF RAW FISH:

Three methods of presentation:

1] Japanese:
------------
fresh fresh fresh cut into thin slices or bitesize chunks; relatively
bland; served absurdly high-priced at sushi bars as "sashimi" but not all
items are raw (ask pointedly if it has been cooked, frozen, salted,
marinated, etc.);  any ocean-going fish can be used, but most commonly
found raw at sushi bars is salmon, tuna, mackerel, red snapper, yellowtail;
it is _much_ cheaper to buy a fillet from a fishmonger and slice your own
sashimi, but a sushi bar is the easiest (and you will probably think it is
the "safest") approach for a beginner--bring your credit card ;) the idea
that fish must be an hour from the boat or it will kill you is wrong--your
taste will generally prevent you from "bad" fish

2] Eskimo:
----------
any ocean fish can be aged until "high" but instinctos favor the fatty
ones: mackerel, salmon (avoid farmed--get wild), sardines (hard to find in
US markets) but red snapper, halibut, yellowtail (southern CA only), are
sometimes tasty fresh or aged; check archives for details of aging

3] Shellfish:
-------------
Any fresh shellfish can be eaten instincto but most commonly oysters, clams
and mussels. Mussels have a bad rep for bacteria and toxin retention so
most folks in the USA might stick to oysters and clams. The easiest way to
sample shellfish is to pay too much money at an oyster bar. If you have a
taste for them you will learn to shuck your own in time ;) Watch out for
oysters after they "spawn" which taste totally insipid, though folks who
slather the sauces/lemon on them barely notice. If you have a taste for an
oyster it will be a salty/sweet/rich delight; if not it will taste
acrid/too salty--if it is tasteless you've got a spawned oyster, fairly
common in the summer.

When searching the archives, try...

sashimi
mackerel
salmon
sardines
Food Pantry
wire mesh
aged RAF
frisbee (for author)

Cheers,
Kirt

Kirt Nieft / Melisa Secola
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