Adding on, if I had the skills/time/wherewithal to put together sushi feasts the way you do, it could be a different story and we might eat more unfrozen tuna. We all love sushi, and I have made it before, and it turned out fine--tastes great, but I need practice on some of the assembly and presentation. But it is somewhat labor intensive and time consuming. I usually end up defaulting to poke bowls and tataki-ish seared tuna dishes with the unfrozen tuna.
As a Puget Sound Beach Hack (definitely NOT a master), I don't have enough salmon to feel like I want to can any this year; I'd rather keep stacking fillets in the freezer for now. But next year is an odd year and I may end up with a surplus of "utility salmon," so maybe I will can some up then, after such positive results from home canned tuna.My wife would serve me divorce papers if I canned our tunaraw albacore is probably her favorite thing on the planet. I have to stash a few sealed packs away in the bottom of the freezer so the following year I can say "oops, these are from last year! Guess I have to make fish n chips!"
I get so much canned salmon which I like way more that I just don't have a desire to can any more tuna. Just not something I enjoy that much. Totally get why others want some though, I just see so many (majority actually) in the fleet down here that ONLY can tuna and get puzzled when you say you eat it other ways.
We do weekly poke bowls here at my house which never seem to get old.
Have you thought about asking a guy you know who has a boat on the bountiful Columbia River for a ride?
Sushi feasts happen like 3 times a year maybe. It's very labor intensive, so that's a "trying to impress friends" deal. Wife prefers poke bowls, and that's ez pz.
I have indeed! One consideration is that the Sound is a 5-minute drive vs. a 2.5-hr drive to the Mighty C. I need an 8th day of the week…Fishday.
I think you hit on a key point - the "no water" thing. I am always shocked at the number of people who rinse their fish meat off with tap water before freezing. Like, what are you even washing off? I think this is why so many people say frozen is so inferior to fresh... most the time, I can't tell the difference. If done right, there shouldn't be a massive difference.
NOOOOOO!!!!!!
I think I got that tip from you
One friend I took on his first tuna trip like 4-5yrs ago proudly showed me a pic of his driveway carking sesh where I noticed a garden hose laying next to the bin full of cut loins....
It’s a slight difference in texture. Freezing and thawing inevitably results in some water loss. All the cell walls burst, right?
There's an art to vac pack freezing. In my experience, you want to pack it in a way conducive to even freezing (as flat/thin/even) as possible, then submerge it in an ice slurry. The goal is to get it to as cold as possible without actually freezing any of it. After thorough (2 hours) cooling in the slurry, drop it into a pre cooled cooler with dry ice covering it. Then close that lid and do not touch.
Sounds like more work than canning!
Yeah I just throw the batch of vacuum sealed loins in a pile in the freezer and it comes out great
I trimmed mine before sealing, no rinsing. A year later after thawing the outside of the loins after thawing definitely seems not as "firm" as they originally were. Other than the outer edge the rest is still great shape. Maybe this is the trick, trim later instead of before?Yeah I just throw the batch of vacuum sealed loins in a pile in the freezer and it comes out great
I also don't trim my loins prior to packing. When I thaw, the blood line and outer edges all get trimmed off and I'm left with a nice, fresh loin. I eat them raw a year later and you wouldn't know the difference.
That’s nice to hear. I got home from Westport around already dead tired, helped put the kids to bed, and set up my vac packing station. I trimmed the bloodline off the first loin and was like nope, this is happening on an individual post freeze basis for these other bad boys…Yeah I just throw the batch of vacuum sealed loins in a pile in the freezer and it comes out great
I also don't trim my loins prior to packing. When I thaw, the blood line and outer edges all get trimmed off and I'm left with a nice, fresh loin. I eat them raw a year later and you wouldn't know the difference.
