Hirame
鮃 hirame · olive flounder · cardeau (proches : turbot, barbue)

Buying / identifying

• Karei: dark side up, head right. Hirame: dark side up, head left.
• Flounder – barbue (brill) – turbot.
• Don't forget to ask for the engawa (fin-edge muscle).

Prep

1. Remove the fins with scissors, tail to head.
2. Remove the skin with the yanagiba, starting from the middle of the body.

Liver — kimo

1. Remove the membrane and thick blood veins from the liver.
2. Remove the other bloody parts with the small pin-bone tweezers.
3. Wash under running water, abundantly, for a while.
4. Light salt, 8 min.
5. Blanch 5 s, then ice water.
6. Pass through a fine sieve.

Filleting

1. Underside (shitami) first: white side up.
2. Cut through the skin, not deeply, on both sides.
3. Slide the deba along the spine.
4. Gradually, head to tail, slide the knife inside.
5. Upper side (uwami): cut the skin on both sides.
6. First fillet head to tail, second fillet tail to head.

Curing — kombu-jime

1. Lightly wet the kombu.
2. Brush it with sake.
3. Put the sliced fish inside, 25 min. Wrap tightly by rolling; cling film and a rubber band.

Cutting for sashimi — usuzukuri

1. Underside (shitami) belly piece, skin side up.
2. Make a very straight spine line.
3. Knife at 45°.
4. Stretch each slice with the knife tip and fingers.
5. Rotate the plate as you go.
6. Thinner is better.

Serving

• Ponzu is the sauce for white fish — see Ponzu for the ratio.
• Hirame kombu-jime nigiri — not recorded.

Related: Ponzu · Nigiri · Tsuma · Rice