DongGang is pretty darn famous for its locally caught Bluefin tuna. It’s hard to get it wrong when you go there during the season!
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I’ve seen rickety old boats pull up with like 20-30 or more tuna mostly Bluefin I think.
They throw it in a bed of ice in a blue truck, cover it, then off to the market, for quick forwarding to other places in Taiwan.
It was frozen on ice while boats are out a week or two, until it reached the dock. Don’t know if this counts as frozen enough to kill parasites, but surely helps.
-20 is for parasites such as Anisakis simplex. Tapeworms could be killed in much higher temperatures. This is why I have a blast freezer that goes to -50!
The best way is to make sure you purchase from a reputable supplier, and make sure it’s sushi grade.
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It’s the magic of food in Taiwan, everything tastes worse here. Even McDonald’s staples like a Big Mac or chicken nuggets are somehow worse
Usually raw ingredients are good, but I don’t eat insects/seafood so can’t go into detail there
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Not enough, might kill some parasites but it’s gotta be frozen solid to a very low temperature, like -40 or lower.
Probably leave it in a freezer for a few weeks, then put it in dry ice?
You need to kill the eggs.
Don’t mention the sea trout sold as salmon.
Spores. But yeah, you’re right. Although I’m not sure how or where the sushi stalls at Donggang freeze their fish, because I don’t see any freezers. But then again, I don’t know what they look like so I don’t know what I’m looking for.
They have also been doing it for a very long time, so I think they know what they are doing,.
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Unless they say it’s sushi grade, assume they are not.
By the way I asked Costco if you can eat their salmon raw and they said no, unless it’s specifically sold as sushi.
If not you need to treat it yourself, which like I said involve freezing them solid, to a very cold temp. Maybe extended freeze will kill all the eggs.
Also don’t ever eat river fish raw, too many parasites and fresh water tends to be kinder to them. Never eat fish like tilipia raw, always cook it and cook it well.
The raw ingredients you get here (for me, they’re fish) are also a bit lower grade than what I got back in States as well. I don’t know if the materials are handled correctly or appropriately curated.
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I don’t shop for groceries. I usually just eat sushi at sushi restaurants or the sushi stands at Donggang, so I let the professionals like @Akisan2 do all the work.
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It comes in frozen and is defrosted. Most fish is imported frozen or frozen on board of a ship. Ships can be on sea for several months and need to freeze the catch. Chilled fish is mostly local catch or expensive imports for fancy restaurants. Salmon is a mixed bag depending on the buyer, either chilled or frozen.
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Well if you end up with tapeworm at least you can sue the restaurants. If you bought or caught fish yourself and you wound up with tapeworm, you have no one to blame but yourself.
I heard of really big fishing boats, more like ships being out at sea for a long time, and they have an entire factory to catch, process, and freeze/box the fish all on the ship, and by the time they dock they just unload boxes. We’ve become much better at sterilizing the ocean.
They just throw any waste/offal overboard to feed other fishes.
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And this is also where you can differentiate which shop has better fish. If these fishermen were skilled, they could apply “ikejime.”
Per Wikipedia:
Ikejime (活け締め) or ikijime (活き締め) is a method of killing fish which maintains the quality of its meat.
This method is RARELY used in Taiwan, and it should be used because it makes fish 100x times better even if the fish were to be frozen in the future.
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Sounds like some kind of ceremonial sacrificial killing. Well if it makes my sushi taste better, then I’m all for it.
It’s actually very simple as a process. You need a knife and a thin metal line. You have to cut the end of the fish (toward the tail) to expose one vein, which is the nerve. You have to push the metal line through the nerve and push it so the nerve will be expelled from the gills. This allows instant brain death and prevents any muscle movement.
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I had a memorably horrible experience there. Filthy space, customers throwing their garbage on the floor, utterly unimpressive sashimi. It made me think that Donggang is hugely overrated and that Taiwanese (at least then and there) had no idea how to handle sashimi. Never again!
EDIT: Plus just about everything that @Akisan2 wrote above. Handling sashimi grade fish is tricky and I think far too many locals involved in this trade are not doing things properly.
Guy
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I’ve never had a bad experience there. I can usually just pick a random spot, and it will be the best sashimi I’ve ever had.
Next time you happen to be in Donggang you should give it another chance, but try stall 212. I haven’t tried it myself, but it’s the most popular one. If you still have a horrible experience there, then you can probably give up.
And to think I thought you were cool…
(The seafood part; we’re on the same page about insects mostly. Tried it and not the biggest fan. Feels like popping a pimple in your mouth 
doesn’t taste bad tho, if you can ignore the shell getting stuck in your teeth)
it’s really awesome to hear from a subject matter professional here man, super appreciate ur contributions! I’d love a Akisan Sushi Blog thread 
I’ve read a decent bit about it but obviously the day to day isn’t the same as the text and it’s interesting to hear about the different practices that produces the sushi.
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