【Reading】ふしどり

【English Name】Loin sectioning

Fushidori is a preparation technique in the butchering of large fish that cuts the fish body into block units called fushi. It is positioned as one of the indispensable steps in making sushi and sashimi.

In kitchens handling large fish such as tuna and bonito, the fish is first divided into left and right halves along the backbone, and then each half is divided into the back side (sebushi) and the belly side (harabushi). Through such steps, four fushi are obtained, and by further performing saku-tori (cutting into rectangular blocks), they are finished into a form suited to sashimi and sushi neta.

In the manufacturing process of katsuobushi (dried bonito) as well, fushidori is a stage that greatly affects quality, requiring the skill to trim the bonito into appropriately sized fushi. Some sushi restaurants handle whole purchased fish from the fushidori stage in-house, and it is valued as work that genuinely tests a chef's knife skill.