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5 from 14 votes
Shime saba is a cured mackerel fillet that is great for sashimi as well as sushi topping. It is very simple to make and so tasty. All you need is mackerel, salt and rice wine vinegar. If you can get a very fresh mackerel, you must try this. No cooking, just marinating!
Shime Saba (Cured Mackerel)
Prep Time
3 hrs 15 mins
Total Time
3 hrs 15 mins
 
Shime saba is a cured mackerel fillet that is great for sashimi as well as sushi topping. It is very simple to make and so tasty. All you need is mackerel, salt and rice wine vinegar. If you can get a very fresh mackerel, you must try this. No cooking, just marinating! The total time includes marinating time. The actual time you need to work is only about 15 minutes, most of which is dedicated to removing bones.
Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • Very fresh mackerel - cleaned and filleted with skin on (note 1)
  • Salt - enough to cover both sides of fillet generously (note 2)
  • Rice Wine Vinegar - enough to cover the fillet in a container/tray (note 3)
Garnish for Sashimi
  • Shredded daikon (white radish)
  • Shiso (parella) leaves
Instructions
  1. Coat each fillet with generous amount of salt so that the entire surface of both skin side and flesh side are covered.
  2. Place the fillets on a plate/tray ensuring that one side of the plate/tray is raised, so that the moisture extracted from the fillets will b collected on one side and does not soak the fillets (note 4). Leave it for 1 hour in the fridge.
  3. Fill a bowl with water. Rinse the fillet gently in the bowl and pat dry with paper towel.
  4. Place the fillets in a tray or a deep flat bottomed plate, add rice wine vinegar so that it almost covers the fillet. Leave for 2 hours in the fridge (note 5).
  5. Place the fillet skin side down. Using a pair of tweezers, remove the small bones where the backbone was. If you run your finger along the centre of the fillet, you should feel the bones. (note 6)
  6. Turn the fillet over and place it skin side up, pointing the tail end to the right (I am a right hander).
  7. Starting from the tip of the head side of the fillet, which is on the left, pinch the corner of the very thin, semi-transparent skin and lift it up to start peeling.
  8. Peel the skin towards the tail and remove the entire skin (note 7). As you peel the skin, hold the fillet on the head side with your left hand so that the fillet will not move.
  9. Slice the fillet 1cm (⅜”) thick if you are serving it as part of temakizushi. If serving as sashimi, slice them 1.5cm (⅝”) thick and make a shallow incision in the middle on the skin. If using it as nigirizushi topping, slice it diagonally so that the width of the mackerel is about 3cm (1⅛”).
Recipe Notes

1. The two fillets I used were about 180g (6.3oz) in total.

2. I used about 19g (0.7oz) of salt to cover the two fillets.

3. This will entirely depend on the size of the container. A container/tray that just fits in two fillets would be most economical. I used about 250ml of vinegar to cover the fillets.

You could also use a zip lock plastic bag but I find that the vinegar will not penetrate evenly unless you can make the vinegar cover all of the fillet in some way.

4. I have a round steaming basket and I can adjust the diameter by opening and closing it. When fully opened, it becomes almost flat. So I use this basket placed on a plate to catch dripping from the fish as the moisture is extracted. Either way works fine.

5. Marinating time for the fillets depends on the size of the fillets, freshness of the fish and your preference of how much you want the fish to be cured.

The shortest time I found on the website is 15 minutes. This is almost like sashimi with a touch of vinegar flavour around the fillets. This is suitable only if the fish is extremely fresh. Some recipes leave it for 3 hours.

Marinating too long will make the entire flesh turn white which does not look appetising in my view.

6. The bones along the backbone are attached diagonal to the body of the fish. When removing the tiny bones, pull them in the direction of the bones so that they will not damage the flesh when pulled out.

7. When peeling the skin around the belly, try to pull the skin towards the belly, instead of towards the tail. Because the meat is very thin, it tends to break and go with the skin if you pull towards the tail. Once the skin in the belly area is peeled, then you can easily peel off the rest.