Santa Barbara Spot Prawn
People who live on the West Coast are fortunate to be able to get live spot prawns, as they live up and down the coast. A lot of these prawns are caught in the Santa Barbara Channel and San Diego area. They're kept alive in cooled oxygenated tanks. Most of the spot prawns are sold alive, while the others are shipped frozen. Besides restaurants and speciality seafood markets, chances are that you won't find many live spot prawn tanks. Once they die, an enzyme spreads through the body and the meat becomes mushy.
Spot prawns have a very sweet flavor and in Japanese, "amaebi" means sweet shrimp. Most Japanese restaurants serve amaebi raw at the sushi bar.
I was visiting Sushi Dragon in Sun Valley this week. As one of my sushi bar favorites, I ordered "amaebi" sushi. I was lucky enough to get a spot prawn that was a female, so I was also served the "amaebi roe" with a quail egg. There isn't anything better than roe prepared properly with one of the freshest quail eggs I've ever had, they get them from local farmer.
Amaebi Roe (with Quail Egg) and Spot Prawn Sushi Chef Tommy Kosaka at Sushi Dragon is an experienced chef who has the "head to tail" mind set and uses the entire fish or prawn in this case. For his customers, they're able to try a part of the fish that most have never had before. Chef Tommy spends a lot of his free time in and around the ocean, some mornings you can find him at a local beach surfing.
Deep Fried Amaebi HeadsAnd YES, the amaebi heads were served just after being served sushi. I realize that not many chefs have the background or training to serve most parts of fish in a delicious manner, meaning we don't want to have "Fear Factor" when dining out. I have some stories, but will have to be for another time... With the problem of overfishing, we must conserve our food supply for generations to come. You might even find out that you like a certain fish part that is usually discarded.
Stay tuned to UMI for more sushi tips and let's continue to eat sushi one fish at a time. If you visit Sushi Dragon, tell Chef Tommy to Hang Ten!
Chef Tommy Kosaka
Sushi Dragon
8069 Vineland Avenue
Sun Valley, CA 91352
Article and photographs by Jay Terauchi
I LOVE the amaebi and LOVE the crunchy heads. It's always so disappointing when the sushi bar won't serve the heads! Nice post. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteLow carbon footprint..and tasty..and not in danger of being overfished.. CA Game & Fish (Fish & Game?) control the season when you can catch them, just like they do with Uni. I love both of them out of CA ocean!!
ReplyDeleteThanks JacquelineC. Yes, it is disappointing when the sushi bar DOESN'T give you the prawn heads, nice texture to the fresh sushi.
ReplyDeleteI've been served fresh (live) amaebi at another Valley sushi bar and the heads were then served tempura style too. I never knew that spot prawns were local! Good to know. I'll have to ask my sushi guy where their's comes from the next time we order!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Sushi chef ends his Omakase Special with live Amaebi that he proudly displays, then cuts onto sushi and tosses into miso soup or the fries up and serves. Until now, I never understood why the Amabi had to be live instead of fresh like the rest of the sushi. Thanks for the insightful article.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why some shrimp at the sushi bar was cooked and this sweet shrimp (MP) was raw, now I get it. The sushi chefs have a language issue and I have no clue as to what they are saying or they look too young and skepital about their knowledge. Now I know to ask if the spot prawns are from California,even if I'm in the Midwest. Thank you so much for giving me information that I can use at the sushi bar to impress my friends, you'll make me look like a F-n Expert!
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving this great information. I agree with everyone and the sweet shrimp is my absolute favorite. I don't get to have the live ones, wonder why the ones in your picture looks so large. The ones that I am served are very small. Do you know any restaurants in the Cleveland area that would have a live tank? I want to also be served fried heads in soup. Love your blog.
ReplyDeleteWow...I'm going to have to look for these now. I''m a HUGE fan of sweet shrimp. I love getting the heads deep fried and having them come to the table and watching everyone's faces. ; ) Seriously though, they are so wonderful and tasty! Thanks for all the info!!!
ReplyDeleteHey great posting...always something new from you. I've come to take this for granted, so your descriptors once of a great reminder of how lucky we are out here.
ReplyDeleteYes, the key is to have this delicious shrimp in the hands of someone who appreciates its texture and quality...not to mention the classical presentation of the item. I'm glad you had Chef Tommy on this one...he is one of the best.
Makes me hungry...may have to head over to Sushi Dragon this week. :)
The delicate, crispy master touch to a real delicacy. Wonderful to know it is local delicacy that is not yet under over fishing pressure.
ReplyDeleteThe sushi chef last night had no idea about the sweet shrimp and I told him about this blog. You are right about experienced sushi chefs. For anyone living in the Cleveland area, not able to find a live shrimp tank. SOL but I still LOVE your blog.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this information, you don't find this kind of stuff in sushi books, at least the ones in English. I hope you continue to teach us about fish and sushi and I am sure other people should know the real truth. I have been telling people on social media about your great information, please continue.
ReplyDeleteSimon
New York City
Thanks for this informative article!
ReplyDeleteI love Amaebi but until now, didn't know about that enzyme-when-dead thingy nor the fact that they they're Californians ;).
I've only had Amaebi without the head once (the horror!) at some random sushi place -- needless to say, I haven't been back there. All other places that I've been to serves the delicious raw body first (no soy sauce!) and then the scrumptious deep-fried head. Mmmm... Now I'm craving it.
I am a huge fan of anything fried and love it when its served. Now I understand why its called sweet shrimp, it does have a nice sweet flavor. Thank you for another informative tidbit that I can use to impress my friends.
ReplyDeleteI thought I knew about sweet shrimp, but I did not know anything after reading this article. I grew up with shrimp in my country and nver really thought to much about it. I should take more notics about the shrimp next time. Thank you to Chef Jay for introducing me to you.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they had raw shrimp at the sushi bar. I only see the cooked one that is flat, but I live in Colorado. Maybe that is why I do not see live tanks in restaurants here. Now I want to try the amaebi as you say. Good article
ReplyDeleteThank you, great article
ReplyDelete