Million dollar puffer fish sashimi in Japan risking their lives to try is it worth it?

Japan has a rich and unique cuisine. Many dishes in this country make many people wary when they know the ingredients and how to prepare them.

One of the country’s most “extreme” specialties is fugu: poisonous puffer fish.

The puffer fish is still considered to be the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, after the golden dart frog.

Their internal organs such as their liver, and sometimes their skin, contain many toxins. Fish poison is concentrated in the skin, intestines, liver, abdominal muscles, seminal vesicles and most in eggs, so females are more toxic than males and especially during the breeding season, that poison is called tetrodotoxin. This is an extremely toxic neurotoxin, more than 1,200 times stronger than cyanide. The toxin of one fish is enough to kill 30 people.

Especially the poison in the puffer fish does not decompose during the cooking process. And there is still no antidote to this terrible poison when it enters the bloodstream.

Puffer fish is a premium dish.

As dangerous as that is, the Japanese are still looking for ways to turn extremely poisonous fish into a high-class dish. Puffer fish only appears on the menus of important receptions. Japanese people are very fond of dishes made from puffer fish, there are 40 types of puffer fish used in cooking in Japan and Japanese people consume up to 10,000 tons of puffer fish every year.

Due to the great need to enjoy puffer meat, many chefs in the land of cherry blossoms are still passionate about conquering the skills of puffer processing. However, because of the difficult and rigorous training and learning process, there are only 12 chefs across Japan who are licensed to process this fish.

Currently, there are only 12 chefs licensed to cook this fish throughout Japan.

To become one of the few chefs famous for puffer fish, chefs are required to attend a training course and practice fish pecking skills from 2 to 3 years. Then, these skilled people have to practice on hundreds of fish, accept to spend hundreds of thousands of yen, pass a difficult exam with only a 60% chance of success, to get a processing license. Safe puffer fish.

For the processing, first, the chef will catch the puffer fish swimming out of the tank, cut off the head from the body, remove the eyes and brain. The chef then peels off the skin, the spots on the head and face, the white part under the belly, and begins to process the intestines, the unique part of the puffer fish. The liver and intestines of fish contain 200 times more toxins than cyanide.

Toxic parts must be kept separate.

In the process of preparing puffer fish, every chef must keep in mind that after dissecting and cleaning the puffer fish, all the poisonous parts of the fish will have to be put in a metal tray with the words “Inedible”. and locked. After that, people will bring this tray to the fish market and destroy them in the oven with wood chips.

Toxic substances in the skin and viscera of puffer fish can easily be contaminated with fish meat if the handler is not careful and even a small negligence can cause diners to lose their lives.

Besides the unique taste, the deadly danger of the dish also stimulates diners to try this million-dollar specialty.

Puffer fish is not cheap. Fugu is on the list of the most expensive dishes in Japan, a serving of sashimi from puffer fish can cost a family about 200 USD (4.6 million VND). This expensive meal is only 8 pieces. You will enjoy this Fugu puffer fish when dining at three Michelin gold-star restaurants.

Many people think that Fugu sashimi tastes like chicken, with a delicate taste and thick texture. Many people also like to eat puffer fish with a small amount of poison left over because they like the stimulating feeling of having ants crawling on their lips. But this is dangerous because the control of toxins in fish is not always desirable.

Fugu is not diverse in processing but is arranged in a very elaborate and meticulous way. The finished dish is usually shaped like a chrysanthemum flower, with Japanese people chrysanthemum is a beautiful flower that symbolizes longevity and noble qualities in Japanese culture.

Fuqu is presented very elaborately and meticulously.

With puffer fish Sashimi, you can choose for yourself a beautiful plate with many colors to decorate because the puffer fish meat is inherently thinly sliced ​​and has a transparent color.

The indispensable condiment in Fugu-sashi is a cup of soy sauce and dashi soup made from dried tuna and seaweed. Fugu-sashi becomes even more attractive if diners are served with the typical small green onion stalks of Japan. This combination makes the dish both rich in flavor and stimulates the senses.

For diners who love puffer fish, the dish from this fish is imbued with the quintessence of Japanese culinary culture from past to present. If you want to enjoy puffer fish, go to the center of Shimonoseki – this is considered the puffer fish capital of Japan.