Author: nick

Octopus is always served boiled, as the flesh is hard to chew when raw. Only the tentacles of the tako are eaten.

The flesh of akagai, or ark shell, is pinky orange.

The pale beigey yellow flesh of scallop is exquisite.

Abalone is known as awabi in Japanese. It is a sea snail, and when fresh, has a great texture. When it’s a little old but still edible, you will find that it will become rubbery, so make sure it’s as fresh as possible!

Anago is conger eel. It is normally served grilled rather than raw, shimmering with a glaze of a tasty sweetened sauce.

Horse mackerel, or aji, is normally topped with green onion and grated ginger, or crushed garlic, to make a delightfully flavoured explosion in your mouth.

Kohada is a type of herring, and when you eat it as sushi, it is generally marinated in vinegar.

Hirame, or flounder, is whitish pink, prized for its buttery taste. Yummy!

Maguro is the reddest part of the tuna, which is near the spine. Generally, lighter and shinier meat is the best quality. It is easy to tell when maguro is old, as the meat gets darker red and leathery.

Chutoro is the part of the tuna that isn’t as fatty as otoro, but not as lean as the reddest part of the tuna. It’s halfway, but is also part of the tuna belly.