10 Wonderful and Weird Sushi Facts Around The World

Common parenting challenge - fussy eaters who say no

Does this fun chart surprise you? As much as you see kids loving fish and seafood,unfortunately there is a number of them who will not go anywhere close to fish. That's why now it's the right time to GET YOUR FAMILY HOOKED ON FISH.

You can also try one (or more) of the 6 Ways to encourage your child to eat fish.
We know all about seafood ;) Come and visit Cappo Seafood Parkside

Spooky Witch Fingers / Halloween Prawns / Mackerel Mummies

Did you know that witch's fingers are made of crumbed fish fingers? Decorate them with a bit of tomato and you have an impressive (and much healthier than chocolate) start of your Halloween fun. The kids will love it.

The creative team of Fish is the Dish, recommends:
Halloween Prawns with Spicy Squash Soup
Spooky Witch Fingers
Mackerel Mummies

For more 'seafood for kids' ideas, check Cappo's Pinboard.

Salmon of Knowledge - Have You Had Yours?

Via Wikipedia

The Salmon of Knowledge (Irish: bradán feasa) is a creature figuring in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. This salmon was sometimes called Fintan (or Finntan) in ancient times. (It is sometimes confused with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon.) Stories differ on whether Fintan was a common fish or one of the Immortals, that could be eaten and yet continue to live.

The Salmon figures prominently in The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, which recounts the early adventures of Fionn mac Cumhaill. According to the story, an ordinary salmon ate nine hazelnuts that fell into the Well of Wisdom (aka Tobar Segais) from nine hazel trees that surrounded the well. By this act, the salmon gained all the world's knowledge. Moreover, the first person to eat of its flesh would, in turn, gain this knowledge.

The poet Finn Eces spent seven years fishing for this salmon. One day Finn Eces caught Fintan and gave the fish to Fionn, his servant and son of Cumhaill, with instructions not to eat it. Fionn cooked the salmon, turning it over and over, but when Fionn touched the fish with his thumb to see if it was cooked, he burnt his finger on a drop of hot cooking fish fat. Fionn sucked on his burned finger to ease the pain. Little did Fionn know that all of Fintan's wisdom had been concentrated into that one drop of fish fat. When he brought the cooked meal to Finn Eces, his master saw that the boy's eyes shone with a previously unseen wisdom. Finn Eces asked Fionn if he had eaten any of the salmon. Answering no, the boy explained what had happened. Finn Eces realized that Fionn had received the wisdom of the salmon, so gave him the rest of the fish to eat. Fionn ate the salmon and in so doing gained all the knowledge of the world. Throughout the rest of his life, Fionn could draw upon this knowledge merely by biting his thumb. The deep knowledge and wisdom gained from Fintan, the Salmon of Knowledge, allowed Fionn to become the leader of the Fianna, the famed heroes of Irish myth.

In Welsh mythology, the story of how the poet Taliesin received his wisdom follows a similar pattern.

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Get freshest salmon at CAPPO SEAFOOD Parkside & Pasadena

They Draw & Cook - SELECTED FISH RECIPES

They Draw & Cook is a charming website featuring a broad collection of illustrated recipes. So, here you go... some fish recipes that will surely inspire you:

Blini with Caviar by Sergey Pleshkov

Smoked Mackerel Pate by Adam Pekalski

Smoked Salmon Sandwich by Felipe Ramos Marchioni de Barros

Sashimi by Sacha Bezrutchka

Sushi & Sashimi

Before we start some serious sushi talk, look at these funny party costumes for babies :)

Via Craft Magazine

I think we'd better do what we are so good at...

LET'S SHARE OUR LOVE FOR FRESH SEAFOOD!

This time, we found some interesting facts about Sushi and Sashimi, very nicely written by Sally Oulton (All credits Seamedia.com.au):

First of all, many of you may wonder what the difference is between sushi and sashimi. Sushi is raw fish with rice. Sashimi is just sliced raw fish. Sushi is made with strips of fish served with vinegar-flavoured rice. It is either wrapped in sheets of nori (seaweed) with the rice, or the rice is pressed in a mould in your hand with the raw fish placed on top.

Sashimi is thinly sliced fish. It is traditionally served on its own as a Japanese entrée along with a glass of sake. Sashimi is a great way to enjoy the fish. The true essence of the fish comes through and with just a dab of soy sauce it enhances the flavour and is delicious. Salmon and tuna take well to being served this way. Both sushi and sashimi are made with other seafood as well, including eel, octopus, squid, clams, abalone, scallops, prawns, crab, salmon roe and sea urchin roe.

So what types of fish can you use? All types of fish can be prepared for sushi and sashimi. However the stronger-tasting oily fish are best. Tuna would be the most popular as it makes excellent sushi and sashimi. Salmon, wahoo, mackerel and coral trout are also delicious and together combined they make a colourful presentation.

Fish that you can try as sushi and sashimi include: sea bass, wahoo, garfish, coral trout, red

snapper, kingfish, mackerel, albacore, salmon, tuna and bonito to name a few. The tuna belly is the highest grade of tuna and fetches exorbitant prices at the Japanese fish markets.

SUSHI

Things you need to make sushi include a bamboo mat, nori sheets, sushi vinegar, wasabi, pickled ginger and sushi rice. It is getting the rice right that makes good sushi. The reason to use sushi rice (or short-grain rice) is that it has the right balance of starches to allow the rice to stick together and keep it intact. Simply follow the instructions on the package of sushi rice. It will explain how to cook it and then how much vinegar and sugar to sprinkle over it while it is warm.

Then you will need to assemble.

• Place the nori sheet shiny side down on your bamboo sushi mat.
• Position nori sheet about 2.5 cm from edge of mat closest to you, and leave some space on each side of nori sheet.
• Wet your hands and spread vinegared rice evenly over the nori sheet, leaving 3cm on far side uncovered.
• Take a dab of wasabi on your finger and wipe across the rice. See photo.
• Place strips of your fish over the wasabi. You can add any other fillings that you desire here too, such as strips of cucumber or avocado.
• Starting from the end with the fish lift the sushi mat and roll into a cylinder. Dampen the end of the nori and apply gentle pressure to join.
• Use your fingers to make sure roll is properly closed.
• Roll the entire roll once more, exerting gentle pressure.
• Wet knife and slice roll in half and cut twice to give six equal-sized pieces. Repeat with remaining nori and rice.

I enjoy my sushi with tuna, a little wasabi, some sliced avocado and toasted sesame seeds sprinkled throughout. Dip it into a little soy sauce, wasabi and put a little piece of picked ginger on top. If youʼre not sure about raw fish, try it with some cooked fish and experiment with other vegetables. And how about smoked salmon with some cream cheese?

SASHIMI

Remember it doesnʼt have to be perfect. You can make it any shape you want. The way you see it in restaurants is mainly for presentation. At home, who cares? Generally speaking, fish that can be cut into steaks are well suited for sashimi as they are easily cut into the rectangles people see as sashimi. When it comes to cutting your fish, there are several basic techniques you need to know.

When you fillet your fish look closely and remove any bones. If you have an oily fish such as tuna or mackerel, hold the knife at a 90- degree angle to the fish, and cleanly slice through. This is called the straight cut. If you have a less oily fish such as sea bass or snapper, turn your knife on a slight angle and slice it as smoked salmon is sliced. This is called the slant cut. Always cut the fish across the grain of the fish and cut your fish into thin slices – about 3mm thick.

Alternately, cut it into how thick you would like to eat it. Cutting across the grain ensures the resulting slice is tender and has an attractive crosscut grain pattern. Draw the blade across the fish in one long stroke to complete the slice. If you do not complete the slice in one stroke, lift the knife out of the cut and carefully repeat the slicing motion in the same direction. Avoid using a sawing motion as this could damage the fish. If you were one to indulge in this type of cuisine regularly I would invest in a sashimi knife that is long, thin and sharp as a razor. If you canʼt find a sashimi knife, try a boning or filleting knife. Before slicing, sharpen your knife on a whetstone or steel to ensure that you can slice your fish easily.

Arrange slices on a platter with grated white radish, some pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi. Wasabi is a hot green Japanese horseradish that gives you that lovely fiery rush through the nose and sometimes makes your eyes water if you have too much. So only try a little to begin with. Wasabi can be purchased as a tube of paste or in a powder form that you mix with a little

water.

I like to enjoy my sushi and sashimi with a little warm sake. So sit back relax and as they say in

Japanese ʻMeshi agare!ʼ

(All Sushi & Sashimi recipe credits Seamedia)

See you soon at our

Cappo Seafood Factory Direct Store,

now open from 8.30am (Mon - Fri).

Do you think seafood can be expensive?

The world's most expensive foods. What's your budget for ingredients / dinner - $50? Maybe $100? How about a cool $1000? That's the cheapest option you'll find here...  (source: FoodNineMSN website).
If you love seafood, you could try one of these:

Caviar and Gold Flaked Pizza

 Almas Caviar

Samundari Khazana Curry

This Seafood curry, named “Samundari Khazana” meaning Treasure of the Sea, contains ingredients like a whole lobster, devon crab, caviar, sea snails, cherry tomatoes and even edible gold – apart from rich spices (read more here).


 The world's most expensive foods also feature Matsutake mushrooms or Yubari melons.

   More seafood records? We found these...

 Japan tuna is world's most expensive edible fish

Source: BBC - 5 January 2012

A bluefin tuna has been sold for three quarters of a million dollars in Tokyo - a price almost double last year's record sale. The bluefin tuna, prized for making the finest sushi, fetched 56.49m yen ($736,000, £472,125) at Tsukiji fish market's first auction of the year.

And while talking about seafood records, there's one from UK.

Most Expensive Seafood Hamper -world record set by The Fish Society

(source: World Records Academy) HINDHEAD, Surrey, UK -- Containing 17 kinds of seafood sourced from the four corners of the world, The Fish Society’s ‘Caviar & Crustacean Blowout and Atomic’ seafood hampers that can feed up to 30 at a cost of £2,500 - setting the world record for the Most Expensive Seafood Hamper.

The Most Expensive Seafood Hamper is carefully balanced between ready-peeled items and fish still in its shell (less efficient but an essential element in the excitement). 9.3kgs of edible weight (15kgs gross), so even the most gluttonous guests will be sated.

The Most Expensive Seafood Hamper contains 17 kinds of seafood including 16 inch long giant Siberian crab legs, extra large crab claws from Chile, freshly cooked native UK lobster, four kinds of prawns including monstrous prawns from Madagascar weighing in at half a pound each, assorted more humble but nevertheless crucial shellfish, and as the magnificent centerpiece, 750g of Sevruga caviar. Caviar & Crustacean Blowout and Atomic’ includes double helpings of caviar and crab leg (11 kg edible weight).

Now, let's have some seafood ;)

Gone fishing

Every little kid should try fishing, look at this video, so cute :)