This weekend, we're cramming here at the School of Fish. With all the hype about dangerously high levels of mercury in tuna, we certainly want to expand our personal choices at the sushi bar!
Kani is crab. Thankfully, many sushi bars are steering away from that imitation krabby krab meat stick that's made from something fishy, and going with real crab. When real crab is used for sushi, it is served in two ways. If the meat is lumpy and shredded, the chef will usually put this in the little sushi "cups," where the rice ball is wrapped with a large piece of nori, creating a sort of collar that sticks up over the rice (this is how many of the roes are served), and the crab is placed inside. If the crabmeat hold together in one large piece, like crab leg meat, it is often placed atop the rice and belted on with a narrow strip of nori.
If the chef has tarabakani, it's King crab, and is best inthewinter time. If you see "krab" meat in the case in a package and they look suspiciously brick-like, don't order kani (or a California roll, for that matter). Unless you into the fake stuff.
Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
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