The Teacher Becomes The Student (Part II)

(PICTURE: Me cutting mackerel.)

Everything Masumi cooks is delicious. I've been slowly but surely trying to learn her simpler dishes. One of her simplest dishes -- in theory -- is mackerel sashimi.

I asked Masumi to teach me how to make sashimi and of course she agreed. Masumi bought two mackerels and showed me step by step how to cut it.

Step one: Cut off the head by slicing diagonally down from the fins.
Step two: Slice the fish open down the middle and remove the guts.
Step three: Wash out the insides.
Step four: Slice the fish open from just above the spine.
Step five: Flip the fish and repeat step four.
Step six: Peel the skin off the fish.
Step seven: Slice off the small bones that are still in the fish.
Step eight: Slice the fish into little strips.

As I'm typing this I'm starting to realize there are a lot of steps to making sashimi! At the time it was surprisingly easy to make the dish. The hardest part was being careful not to cut myself with the knife which was extremely sharp.

Let me just recap for everyone: I've been in Japan for two months and a half and I'm now basically a sushi chef.