Sheepshead Sushi

For years, I was ambivalent about sushi. I liked it, but I didn’t seek it out or spend much time trying different types. Usually, if I ate fish it was fried, grilled or baked. Then my kids grew into teenagers and discovered sushi. They loved it. Anytime we asked their opinion on where they wanted to eat, the local sushi place was first on the list.

If you love sushi at a restaurant, consider making it at home from a fresh saltwater catch. All images by Michael Pendley

Now, sushi is one of my favorite ways to enjoy certain fish. And I started to wonder about eating fish we catch along the coast.

There are definitely risks involved in eating sushi, so we’ll start with a warning. You should only make sushi from saltwater fish. Offshore, deep water fish like tuna are the safest. Even then, some are known to carry parasites. The risk of parasites is higher with inshore species, but there are things you can do to mitigate it. The FDA recommends freezing any fish that will be consumed raw for at least seven days at at least -4 degrees Fahrenheit (deep freezer) to kill any parasites that might be living inside the fish.

I take some additional steps. For starters, I only use young fish because the older a fish gets, the heavier their parasite load. The closer to the minimum size limit, the better. Picking a young fish minimizes both the risk of freeloaders and the level of heavy metals the fish might contain.

Young fish, near the minimum size limit, are less likely to have parasites or high heavy metal content.

Next, if I plan to eat the fish for sushi, I bleed and gut it immediately as soon as I catch it, then put it directly on ice. This minimizes the chance of bacteria growing on the flesh. The fish goes directly from the ice to the deep freezer. I thaw the fish in the refrigerator, then rinse it well under cold water before preparing on a very clean surface. After prep, the fish goes back to the refrigerator until it’s ready to serve. Never allow the fish to warm — and remember, there’s always a risk when consuming raw seafood of any type.

So with that said, one of my favorite (and the only inshore) fish I use for sushi is sheepshead. Their firm, flaky flesh is sweet, tasting faintly of shellfish like crab or lobster. Because they feed mostly on crustaceans and not other fish, they are less likely than most other inshore species to carry parasites (but still more likely than offshore fish).

Once you have your fish thawed, sanitize your knife and cutting board before filleting. Sheepshead have a thick, tough skin, so use a high quality, very sharp filet knife like the Toadfish 7” fixed blade. When cleaning the fish, inspect the fillets for any small worms or cysts. Hold them up to a light and look closely. If they are clean, you should be good to go. If there’s any doubt, simply pan sear or grill the fillets until just cooked through, then refrigerate until chilled and make your sushi with that.

Fillet the meat from the bone and give it a quick rinse under cold water. Cut into serving sized pieces. Sheepshead is delicious by itself, so I keep the presentation simple. This is more Nigiri style; rice, fish and a small strip of seaweed to bind the two. Good Japanese rice, cooked in the rice cooker, is the way to go.

Fillet the cold fish, then move the meat back to the refrigerator until you are ready to prep and serve the sushi.

Dipping sauces are ponzu and soy, with wasabi and pickled ginger for additional flavor. Everything except for the fish can be found online, at Asian markets or even in large supermarkets.

I like to serve soy and ponzu (a soy and citrus combination) sauces for dipping, along with wasabi and pickled ginger.

Allow the rice to cook according to package instructions, then cool a bit and form into sushi sized logs. You can cook the rice up to a day in advance and refrigerate overnight until you are ready to prep the sushi. I shoot for about 2 inches long by ¾ of a inch thick on the formed rice. You can add a bit of rice wine vinegar to the rice to help it stick together, if needed.

Form the rice into a small log, lay on the fish, and wrap with seaweed to lightly bind the two together.

Lay a strip of dried seaweed on your flat prep surface, top it with the rice, then lay on a bite sized piece of fish. Wrap the seaweed around and tuck it under to hold it in place. Serve cold, with dipping sauce.