This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
At Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub in Oceanside last week, two plates of mackerel sushi displayed varieties of the silvery fish.
One featured Aji, or Spanish mackerel, a soft fish with a sweet, mild flavor garnished with scallion, ginger, and soy-citrus sauce. Next to it was Pacific mackerel, lightly cured, tart and savory, with a soy-based glaze and sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Both were swimming in the Pacific a day earlier.
The ultra-fresh seafood is a hallmark of Wrench and Rodent, a sustainable sushi bar led by chef Davin Waite. And they’re the standard for San Diego fisherman Shane Volberding, who pulled in the haul of assorted mackerel, yellowtail and other fish on Tuesday, and then drove up the coast to deliver them to local restaurants Wednesday.
“We're very, very lucky to have this abundance of fish and people who harvest it responsibly, and the (marine) science in San Diego,” Waite said.
Around noon, Volberding arrived at Wrench and Rodent with a van full of coolers, packed with ice and fish. He scooped nets of fish into shallow trays, sorting the different species and selecting them for Waite’s order. “So I take the mackerels out, pick out the nice big ones for them,” he said.
The mackerel is fresh-caught and instantly killed using a Japanese process called ikejime, that preserves the quality of the fish. Volberding sells it for $8 per pound, and a two-piece sushi order runs between $6 to $13, Waite said.
They carried the trays into the restaurant where Waite and his brother, chef de cuisine Loren Waite, prepped rockfish and other seafood for the evening’s meal.
Volberding also had six yellowtail, a silvery fish with bright gold fins and tail that’s one of the most popular picks for sushi diners. But Waite already had one in his dry ager, a temperature and humidity-controlled cabinet often used for beef, but which he uses to refine the texture and flavor of fatty fish.
The enzymatic aging reduces water and concentrates the umami flavor of the fish, he said, but timing is everything in that process. “You really have to know when that animal was harvested,” Waite said.
Besides unique preparations, such as dry-aged fish or crispy fried tuna heads, Wrench and Rodent offers a wide range of locally-sourced seafood: snails, sea cucumber, spot prawns and urchins. It’s key to Waite’s philosophy of eating seasonally available seafood, and using all parts of the animal.
After unloading the fish, Waite sliced fillets from the Aji and cut fine notches across the grain, to texturize the flesh into the buttery texture that sushi eaters expect.
What is the painstaking fish-carving process called? “Suffering,” Loren Waite interjected.
Next was the Pacific mackerel, lightly pickled. “A lot of people think mackerel is fishy, but it’s not the fish itself, but the process that’s used to preserve it,” Davin Waite said. “So you salt and vinegar it.”
After that, Volberding headed to Shoots Fish & Beer in Carlsbad, which specializes in poke and seafood tacos. There, Volberding sold three yellowtails to chef de cuisine Steven Williamson, at about $13 per pound, or about $220 per fish.
“Locally caught fish played a huge role on our menu because it just kind of depends on what we can get our hands on,” Williamson said.
Getting 50 pounds of yellowtail determined his menu items for the day; tostadas de ceviche and aguachile, a spicy, marinated seafood dish. Both sold for about $18.
Williamson quickly cleaned and processed the fish, and then diced a portion of it, tossed it with lime juice and spices, and scooped it onto a crispy, flat corn tortilla. Next he arranged slices of yellowtail on a plate, doused it with green chile sauce and then garnished the dish with avocado, onions and cilantro.
The relationship between local fishermen and the restaurant is an essential part of Shoots’ cuisine, and mutually beneficial. “We love to support a local business and buy from them rather than buying from the huge companies, so they support us,” Williamson said.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
