Skipjack Tuna is called Katsuo in Japan. If you know Sashimi or Sushi food of Japan, you may first recall Tuna as the stuff for the Sushi or Sashimi. It’s correct. Tuna is the most popular Sushi or Sashimi’s stuff.

But some people like Skipjack Tuna (Katsuo in Japanese)  better than Tuna especially as Sashimi.  Skipjack Tuna or Katsuo is taken in early Summer to Fall  around Japanese sea, and the fresh Sashimi is always the top favourite of Japanese Sashimi lovers. 

Compared to Tuna, Katsuo’s price is lower, and avarage people can enjoy the taste everyday.  Katsuo Sashimiis often eaten with shaved garlic or ginger in the soy sace ( see photo; yellow thing is shaved ginger ). It’s said ginger wipe out the smell of raw meat of Katsuo, and both ginger and garlic are good for anti-poison prevention effect.  But more than that clever conversation, the taste of Katsuo sashimi will be much better with ginger or garlic.

For the first trial, as a note, if you can eat Tuna meat, probably there will be no problem for you to eat Katsuo because the taste of Katsuo is lighter than Tuna taste and taste feeling is simple.  But if I dare to pick up a little difference, Katsuo has red-black parts ( see photo ) in the meat, which are  bloody meat parts. Some don’t like this part because of the fishy taste. For erasing this taste, ginger is the best to eat with.

Also when eating Katsuo, there are simply 2 ways of sashimi styles.  Usually we eat simple sashimi just like tuna, and as a Katsuo sashimi’s special way, Katsuo-Tataki Sashimi is very popular ( see photo).  Tataki is not a simple sashimi, but sashimi surface or the skin of sashimi is burnt with fire and the inside meat is still raw. With Taiaki sashimi, we can enjoy lightly grilled taste of fish and fresh taste of sashimi together.

I like both, but once I tried tataki Sashimi of Katsuo, Tataki became my big favorite since then.