The gelée has just enough gelatin to thicken the dashi into a sauce that will stay put. When you take a bite, the heat of your mouth instantly melts the dashi turning it into a pool of flavor with a vibrant flourish of yuzu and smoky umami from the dashi. Despite looking complicated, the preparation is fairly simple. The keys to being successful are the quality of your dashi and the fish. Dashi, is the generic word for “stock” in Japanese, but unless it’s preceded by a qualifier (like chicken, shiitake, etc), it usually refers to a stock made with a combination of kombu (kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito). While there are several ways to make dashi, I prefer using “dashi packs” which have the ingredients ground up and sealed into little tea bags. It strikes a good balance between convenience and quality. See this post for more info on the different types of dashi. As for the fish, it doesn’t have to be tuna, you could substitute red sea bream (tai), halibut (hirame), white trevally (shima-aji), or other lean fish that’s been handled and prepared to be eaten raw. One thing that I want to make clear is that just because a fish is fresh, does not mean it’s safe to eat raw. In many cases (like salmon) the fish naturally contains parasites that need to be killed by freezing it at -31 degrees F for a day (most home freezers won’t go below -10 F). In other cases, if the fish is not properly handled (e.g. it’s cut on a cutting board used for non-sashimi-grade seafood) it can be cross-contaminated. Unfortunately there’s no clear-cut way to know for sure your fish is safe to eat raw. Terms like “sushi-grade” or “sashimi-grade” are not regulated by the FDA and so just because it carries the label doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe. Personally, I would never eat “sashimi-grade” fish from a supermarket(even an upscale one) raw, unless they have clear processes in place for sourcing and handling fish meant to be eaten raw (like at most Japanese supermarkets). The bottom line is to know your fish monger well enough that you trust that they know what they are doing.
📖 Recipe
