Summer’s second act. It’s about this time where I’m happily on my way to eating my body weight in raw fish. And why wouldn’t you? Simple preparation, no ‘cooking’ required - the only goal is to enhance and compliment the natural flavour of the fish.

It’s one of those things that feels very luxurious. And I know it’s also intimidating for some to do it at home. Let’s change that shall we?

I love it because it’s so easy to prepare, is really hard to mess up when you understand a few basic principles I’m going to cover here and it never disappoints in flavour and there’s so much opportunity for creativity, not only in using different ingredients but having some fun with plating it too.

Here’s some things to think about when making raw fish dishes at home:

Buying your fish:

Because fish is always the star ingredient in any of these dishes, you want to make sure you’re getting the best you can. And you might be surprised but that doesn’t always mean fresh. Frozen is the way to go here for a few reasons - one, by flash freezing when it’s caught it stays as fresh as possible for you to use it whenever. And frozen is easier to prepare as when you cut it when it’s still partially frozen you get the best slices or cubes and don’t have to worry so much about it breaking apart or getting smushed by your knife. If you do buy it fresh just pop it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before slicing. And of course, know your fish guy/girl! Whether it’s a good grocery store or fish market or even direct from the fishermen, make sure you know the quality is going to be there.

Sharpen that knife!

A sharp knife is your best friend in the kitchen and this is especially true when preparing raw fish. We want to make it as easy as we can on ourselves right? So do yourself a favour and make sure you’re giving yourself the best start possible.

Cutting the fish:

As I said, it’s easiest when you have your fish slightly frozen so it stays nice and firm for cutting. For all of these dishes I will usually cut the fish in thin slices or cubes. For slices try to do it in one swift stroke through the fish (sharp knife friends, sharp knife) and try to avoid sawing as it will rip the fish. For cubes I like to use thicker filets and cut them in half horizontally keeping the pieces together layered on top of each other, then into 1/2 inch strips vertically, then again through both pieces horizontally to get cute little half inch cubes.

Dress to impress:

Again, it’s all about brining out the natural flavours in the fish so you really don’t have to do to much but adding something to dress it up can make it sing - all about combining those flavours right?

Salt - the essential seasoning for everything and here it helps to firm up the texture as well as bring out the flavour of the fish.

Acid - this is what helps the fish to ‘cook’ so naturally any citrus will be great here. You can also go with good vinegar in a pinch or any other ingredient that has acid in it.

What kind of fish?

I tend to go with more delicate flavoured white fish for ceviche or and fattier more dense fish like tuna or salmon can handle stronger flavours like

Plating ideas:

When I’m doing thin slices I love just arranging them on a big platter and then sprinkling the ingredients over top. You can slightly overlap each piece to get a fan like shape or just play around with what feels fun to you. Anything goes! For cubes you can mold the mixture into a measuring cup or small bowl to get a stack that’s always fun. Again just let your creativity go with this and see what you come up with.

Every culture has some version of fish in the raw: Japanese sashimi, Nordic gravlax, Mexican aguachile, French tartare, Italian crudo - the list goes on and on!

Here’s a few of my favourite styles of preparing the raw fish. Pick what sounds best to you and start there.

Ceviche

This is always the first thing I recommend to anyone that wants to try anything raw fish related at home. The acid in the citrus ‘cooks’ the fish and you can add all kinds of flavours - lime is usually the base citrus but you can also try lemon, orange, grapefruit or a mix of a couple. Typically with a ceviche you’ll have some onions (I usually like red onions), bell pepper and for some spice a little jalapeño. I also love to mix in more texture and flavour with creamy avocado and fruit like peach, pineapple or mango. Finish with some fresh cilantro and your good to go! I like the texture of a meaty whitefish for ceviche so I usually choose something like halibut, mahi mahi, or and if you want to, try tuna, or salmon. Seafood like prawns, scallops, squid or octopus work really well too. I shared my Prawn Ceviche recipe HERE if you feel like you need more of a guide

Cured

I’m going to guess you’ve probably had some kind of cured fish at some point - smoked salmon anyone? Basically it’s sugar and salt that change the texture of the fish but still keep it in raw form (when you don’t smoke it that is). This again is an easy preparation, I like to start with 70/30 ratio of salt and sugar for every half pound of fish or 4 tablespoons salt to 1 tablespoon sugar. I spread this over both sides of the fish filet (this one you leave whole then slice when you’re ready to serve) and let cure in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 12hrs. When you’re ready to serve, remove from the fridge and rinse off the salt mixture. The fish will have firmed up a little so you can slice at this point or if you’re having trouble, pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes before slicing. You can add spices and other flavourings into the salt and sugar mixture - coriander, dill, lemon zest or mustard seeds are good ones to start with and then you can finish with some fresh citrus, fresh herbs and good olive oil when serving.

Poke

We’re getting closer to keeping the fish as close to raw as you can get. Poke is traditionally just tossed with flavouring and served right away so there’s no cooking. Please try it like this! Mix the ingredients and serve right away so that all the flavours pronounce themselves. If you’ve had poke at any of the many places that serve it nowadays it’s a totally different experience. Real Hawaiian poke starts with good tuna, sweet onion, chili pepper, macadamia nuts, flaky sea salt and scallions. That’s it. Again here’s the great part - you can add different flavours based on what you like, just start with a base of good fish and sweet onion - the rest you can play around with. One that’s most common is Shoyu which has soy, oyster sauce, ginger, sesame oil, Korean chilis flakes, scallions and sesame seeds. If you want a creamy version try adding a little mayo (I like sriracha instead of chili flakes when I do this one). You could also do a wasabi version, furikake or even kimchi - see how many possibilities there are?

Carpaccio

This is the one that is again all about the flavour of the raw fish, not letting it have time to ‘cook’ just adding a few simple flavours to compliment it. The Italians made it famous with beef but I love it with salmon. Slice it really thin (or chop it finely to make it more tartare style if you plan to serve on some crusty bread), drizzle with good olive oil, a sprinkle of capers and/or red onion, maybe some parmesan cheese, dill and lemon zest. Right before serving, hit it with a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Yum! If you’re still nervous about the raw fish part, you can let it marinate in the lemon juice for a little bit of time - 20-30 minutes would be my max!

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