Shimaaji is one of my all time favorite Japanese fish, very smooth in flavor and is best eaten raw. If you must cook, do so on a coal hibachi or grill, dust with a little chili powder and salt. Striped Horsemackerel and Striped Jack is part of the Aji/Horsemackerel-Saurel family. Even though it is in the mackerel family the flavor is more delicate then the majority of its brothers and sisters. There is a good amount of fat and is best eaten in the winter but is still a excellent fish in the summer.
Remove all fins before scaling
Stabbing yourself with the dorsal fins while scaling is not cool
Get all the fins
Ready to scale
Remove the scales in a clean trash bag, easy clean up
Lightly rub the scaler back in fourth till all scales are removed, lightly rinse off
Shimaaji is a medium fatty fish, you can see the layer of fat protecting the innards
Start an incision at the poop shoot towards the nose to remove the innards
With your thumb carefully remove the innards sac with out breaking it all up
Nice and clean
Remove the head by first cutting behind the collar and then all the way to the neck
Once reaching the neck bone, repeat the same cut on the opposite side
Use a Deba or heavy knife to cut through the neck bone
A nice clean orchestrated decapitation
Soak the head, fins, bones and tails in ice water till later
Snip the rib bones with scissors as close to the spine as possible
Make the first incision starting at the belly towards the spine
Carefully cut around the spine and through to the top of the fish, repeat on the opposite side
When dealing with any protein especially raw fish it is very important to always keep a very clean board
When removing the ribs make your first cut UP to separate them from the pin bones
Turn your knife around and remove the ribs, slicing DOWN as close to the bones as possible
Always have a wet towel on hand while butchering
Remove the pin bones and slice in half
After removing the pin bones slice the side n half down the blood line
Pull a corner of the skin away from the flesh, carefully remove the skin with your knife
Slice the fish at a slight angle, keeping your board and knife very clean
Mmmmm… soy, rice vinegar, scallion and shichimi togarashi
Cut the bones up and soak in ice water,that will help pull out any unwanted impurities
cut the bones into pieces for stock
Head
Remove the collars and save for later
Remove the gills and discard
Cut the head in half, save for later
The innards sac covered in fat
Separate the fat and liver
