"sasimi" news and stories

I play this game often when dining out with my foodish friends. After grossly indulging in whatever gluttonous gourmet feast was placed before us, deeply buzzed on wine and cocktails, sitting back in our chairs to wait out the digestion, we ask one another, "If you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want your last meal on earth to be?"

Strangely enough, even when the group of dining companions is a group of professional chefs, people in the food industry, or hard core "foodies," the answers are usually very similar. There is no answer of a fancy sit down dinner with multiple courses of preciously presented dishes. Almost always, people answer with favorite comfort foods, foods that remind them of home, family, and the experiences they've had in this life.

A few weeks ago, Caley from ChewonThatBlog asked us at Slashfood what we would want for our "Last Supper." We don't seem to have much variety on our team, with a fairly even split on only a few things: Mediterranean (since pizza is Mediterranean, right?), seafood, and Japanese food. Our individual answers are below, but we'd love to hear what our Slashfoodie readers would want as their last meals on earth, too!

While maguro is the standard tuna at the bar, if you're a sushi shark, then you know to ask for toro - the premium cut of tuna belly that doesn't even get a price on the sushi menu. Toro is A.Q. every day. In LA, I've seen two pieces of toro for $24.

Because it's from the belly, toro is fatty. Unlike maguro which, like a ruby, is shiny, deep, dark red, and almost semi-translucent, toro is more like a pink opal, lighter in color, sometimes almost white, and creamy opaque looking. When you dip it in your shoyu sara (Upside down, right?!? You have learned, Grasshoppa.), toro leaves behind a shimmering swirl of oil on the surface, and when it hits your tongue, it melts. Like butter. Like fatty, tuna butter.

There are two grades of toro. Chu-toro is slightly to the rear of the tuna and is less fatty, therefore less expensive (on the diagram, bottom half of the fish, orange section, second from right). Just anterior to chu-toro is o-toro, ultra premium, uber fatty tuna belly (bottom half of the fish, lightpeach section, third from the right). If it's o-toro is specified on the menu, order it. It'll be worth it. I promise.

Then again, you might not be able to eat regular old maguro ever again.