Buying Your First Sushi Fish

As someone who’s new to making sushi, your first thought is probably “how do I buy fish that I can eat raw without getting food poisoning.” I’ve saved you the trouble of having to figure it out. Just follow my recommendations below, and you’ll have some fresh, delicious salmon and tuna that you can start sushi-ing right away!

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, order your first sushi fish from MPS Groceries.

They have the smallest free shipping minimums and their portions are convenient for starting out. Even if you can’t meet their free shipping minimums, their shipping is the cheapest out of everything I’ve used. Start with buying this salmon and this tuna. Both of these come in a perfectly-sized block to immediately start making sushi.

If you’re too far away from Chicago to use MPSGroceries, use Riviera Seafood Club.

Buy this salmon and this tuna. They both come superfrozen, so you don’t have to use them right away. To defrost, either thaw in the fridge overnight, or in a bowl of water at room temperature in 4 hours. Once you’ve defrosted the fish, it’s better not to re-freeze it because re-freezing messes up the texture of the fish. Use the fish as sushi within 2 days.

How much fish to buy?
In my experience, 2 lbs of fish is enough for 4 hungry adults to get incredibly full from a sushi dinner. If you’re planning on serving dessert, then maybe reduce that amount.

Once you’ve purchased your fish, it’s time to learn how to make sushi rice.