Sashimi

For many years the Japanese have perfected the ‘sashimi’ treatment of fish, normally for raw consumption. In general, the fish are required to be killed rapidly, to reduce the level of stress they may experience, and chilled immediately to maintain optimum freshness. The preferred method to achieve this is for the fish to be spiked in the brain (a process known as ‘iki-jime’), bled, then placed in an ice slurry. After being removed from the ice slurry, the fish are stored in a plastic bag and iced over for transportation (plastic protection prevents the fish from ‘leeching’).