From Trash Fish to $100 Sushi
Blue Runner sushi is unheard of in the US. For as long as I can remember, Blue Runners were always consider trash fish and hardly had any commercial values.
Most of the ones that are caught inshore are smaller than your hand and not worth the trouble to fillet and the taste is just average when cooked. But I’ve been telling people for years that they’re awesome raw.
Blue Runners should be served in some of the top sushi restaurants in the country. It’s comparable to Aji, Japanese Horse Mackerel, which is a popular item on the menu.
But in my opinion, Blue Runners are better eating, and the larger ones have higher fat content which makes it even better tasting. Compared to Aji, Blue Runner taste bolder and the meat has firmer texture.
It wouldn’t surprise me if sushi chefs from high-end restaurants charged close to $100 for a fancy Blue Runner platter like the one you see below. After all, restaurants already command a premium for Aji, and they’re also consider baitfish.
However, Aji has been marketed aggressively by Japanese wholesalers for years, so chefs have been working with them for a long time and have tamed consumers into eating them. Could Blue Runners be the next Aji? Could it be the next money fish? Why not?
Blue Runners Have Beautiful Meat
This fish has very firm meat. It’s not mushy like some snappers so the fillets are less likely to gap. Just make sure to bleed the fish as soon as it’s caught (Why Bleeding Fish is Important). For sushi purposes, this fish is not the easiest to work with, and you’ll probably have to clean several fish to learn all the steps.
The hardest part is pulling off the skin with tweezers or pliers. You can fillet the skin off with a knife, but the silver lining will be removed. Personally, leaving this thin layer of lining gives it better visual appeal.
Watch Out for the Tail
Similar to Aji mackerel, Blue Runners also have a very hard and sharp armor like scales towards the end of the tail. Just make sure to cut the fillet off about an inch away from the end so you don’t dull up your knife. If you’re working with smaller fish, make adjustments.
Watch the video at the very end to see what I mean.
What to do With the Trims
Whenever you’re preparing fish for sushi, there will always be leftover trims. In restaurants, these are often used in sushi rolls. Most of the time, I mince or cube the trims and mix it with other garnishes and sauce. This time, I used the leftover meat to make Gunkan sushi and tartare sashimi.
Within the last year, I’ve seen more and more fishermen cook Blue Runners and many were surprised by the taste, in a good way. In my experience, only the bigger ones (over 10”) are really worth-well eating. Any smaller and the yield are negligible.
So next time you catch one of these beauts, make sure to befriend it with some wasabi and soy. Check out some of my other post:
Literally fishing down the food web
Ha, as long as it taste good, it’s got value.
Good stuff, glad to read this. It’s frustrating to see how quick people in America say something is trash just because they were always told that it’s trash but never tried it for themselves. I haven’t had raw blue runners, but have been eating them cooked for years. The only concern I have is parasites. We catch ours in the Gulf of Mexico (FL panhandle area) and I know at least several species of fish in these waters are known to have parasites. I can’t remember if it was blue runners or Spanish mackerel, but I know I’ve seen some small worms in the meat of some of the fish I’ve caught off the beach. Any concern about this? Do you freeze them for a day or two before eating raw? Thanks!
Hey David, thanks for checking out the page. We got another fish here called, Jack Crevelle, and almost all of the ones I cut up have worms, so I don’t use those for sushi. But a lot of people do eat them, and theres even a big market for jacks up north for different demographics. I haven’t had any parasite issues with Blue Runners or Mackerels here in central-west FL, all the ones I cut are healthy. I totally agree with you, there are so much good resources we got here in the state and many don’t see it yet. But I think that is starting to change now, I see more and more people trying fish that was once considered trash. Americans use to use Bluefin tuna for animal feed and fertilizer and now its worth tens of thousands of dollars. I only use saltwater fish for sushi and don’t freeze mine. The protein profile changes too much after its frozen. If you use freshwater fish, I don’t recommend, then it has to be frozen for 7 days. If you got more questions, shoot me a PM on facebook. GL!
Thank you SO much for posting this, and your other posts – love this website/blog! I like to try everything, and I spear fish and catch on hook and line lots of different fish off the west coast of Florida (near Clearwater). I will try just about anything, and it is great to learn more methods of prep for fish that others consider trash. Can’t wait to try this out.
Eric, the Blue Runners offshore in the 2+LB class are great. Some of the really bigger ones have texture and color almost like a Yellowfin tuna. It’s great for Poke salad, definitely try that. I lived around St. Pete for over 20 years, a lot of quality fish in the GOM for sushi thats for sure.
Hey, Dan. So funny thing happened yesterday when out fishing with my wife. She caught what I THOUGHT was a blue runner, so needless to say I was excited about coming home and preparing some sashimi out of it. I followed all your tips, including using Ike Jime, bleeding it out, scaling (using a new Japanese scaler which worked like a charm), not washing with fresh water, etc.
As I’m prepping it my wife tells me that the fish was NOT a Blue Runner but in fact a Bluefish. Well, I said “What the heck, let’s try it anyways” even though I could find nothing on Google about Bluefish sushi.
Let me say, it was quite good! A lot like mackerel in texture and mouth-feel, and very mild in flavor.
Wow! The blue runner shashimi was awesome! Will definitely be bringing more home to eat raw! Thank you for posting this!!!!
Dan, I really enjoyed this video, because my wife and I love eating blue runners from Florida. I have learned new way of preparing the fish and I can’t wait to try it next time we are down i. Florida.