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Freezer Geezer

Raw Tuna with Citrus Dressing

The Food Standards Agency has decided to act on the

recommendations of their European overlords and

implement Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, which states

that ‘all fish to be consumed raw or almost raw are to be

subjected to freezing to kill parasites’. On the face of it,

this is rather annoying, mainly because we managed

perfectly well without any such legislation before. Raw

fish and, by extension, raw meat such as steak tartare have

long been a healthy and harmless part of our diet.

Secretly, however, and exceptionally, I am rather

grateful for this ‘nanny knows best’ ruling. At home, I quite

often eat slices of raw mackerel with wasabi and soy sauce.

In my restaurants I have served raw tuna, scallops, salmon,

mackerel, sea bass and goodness knows what else for

decades. I have, of course, always been very careful. I have

always used fish of the most pristine freshness and been

extremely zealous in my habits of hygiene. Such habits

have stood the test of time but they have been

inconvenient. I never used to make any raw fish an à la

carte item as I could never guarantee the supply.

Furthermore, any tuna that I did not sell on the first day

I felt obliged to serve cooked, never – or at least not for

twenty years – my preferred option.

Now I am obliged to freeze my fish. Some restaurants

defy the law and I say good luck to them but I, for once,

have knuckled under. I do so because my Japanese

wholesaler now sells me frozen blocks of yellowfin tuna

that I have found remarkably resistant to any ill effect from

the freezer and which I can defrost in an hour. There are

some fish – cod or sea bass, for example – that I would

not like to freeze, but rich, oily tuna seems completely

unimpaired by the process. If anything, it seems firmer

and ‘cleaner’ and actually benefits from the experience.

I should emphasise that we do not keep our tuna in

the freezer for long, and I would discourage anyone from

thinking a piece of fish can be dragged out of the freezer,

defrosted and eaten raw unless it is of impeccable

pedigree. It does mean, however, that a fine piece of

tuna, salmon or mackerel can be frozen – well wrapped

in clingfilm and put in a freezer bag, ideally – and taken

out a few days later. Suddenly, regulation No 853/2004

seems to be a boon rather than a hindrance.

85

March