We Asked A Sushi Chef For The Best Places To Buy Sushi-Grade Fish

Making your own sushi at home can be a rewarding and delicious, if not challenging, endeavor. While there is a lot of technique to making rice the correct way, and finesse required to roll your sushi like a pro, one of the most difficult things about the process shows up before you've even reached the construction stage. For home cooks, sourcing sushi-grade fish can feel like you're swimming upriver, fortunately, there are insiders who can offer tips for how to find the best quality products to work with, like Dr. Jae Choi. He is the chef and founder of Yakitori Jinbei, a casual, Asian-inspired restaurant specializing in Korean cuisine with a Japanese twist, located in Smyrna, Georgia. 

Recently, we spoke with Dr. Choi about all things sushi, including where the interested home cook should first look to find high quality seafood. "Unless you can work with distributors, it will be difficult for the general public to access," he told us. "I would recommend getting to know your local vendors. Ask them when they usually get deliveries of their fresh fish and when they break them down."

Coordinating with local distributors ensures that you're getting the same quality of fish that's served in restaurants, which is a good way to avoid the potential risk of purchasing sub-par seafood. While not able to highlight a particular grocery chain, Dr. Choi did recommend checking into your local farmers market or fish monger to see what's newly arrived. However, no matter where you shop, it's important that you know how to identify sushi-grade seafood.

When shopping for sushi-grade fish, the first thing to be aware of is that there aren't enforcing guidelines for what can be listed and sold under said description. Whether or not something earns the label of "sushi-grade" is entirely up to the person or grocery selling the fish. Even Costco has listed sushi-grade in its inventory. 

Because fish that hasn't been preserved properly is at a risk for parasites, your best bet for purchasing fish labeled as sushi-grade, is to ask your fishmonger a couple of important questions. "You will want to ask the vendor if it was previously frozen or when it was caught," said Dr. Jae Choi. If it wasn't flash frozen or has been hanging around for more than a week, it's best to consider purchasing elsewhere. 

Sushi-fish that's sharing a counter with other types of seafood is another bad sign. It may be exposed to cross-contamination, and could have picked up parasites along the way. If your sushi has its own section, and the preservation process seems to have been followed appropriately, it's still important to check the physical indicators of quality. "You want to look at the eyes and gills of the fish," Dr. Choi told us. "You should not have any foul odor coming from the fish. The gills should be pink/red and the eyes should not be cloudy."