Expert reveals the secrets about surimi sticks
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: the secrets about surimi sticks.
Surimi, what is it? Strange pink sticks in the supermarket's refrigerated section, the pink threads in the so-called crab salad, or round slices in the cheapest sushi, but then you still have no idea. What is in it? Where does it come from? And how does it get its flavor? A surimi expert reveals all the secrets.
If you think that surimi the clever invention is from food technology, then you are right, and also a little not. Surimi actually has a long history; in the twelfth century, it was a method to make fish last longer. Those orange-pink sticks are the invention of a Japanese fish processing company. They introduced a type of fish flakes in the seventies, and in the eighties, those famous wobbly sticks that you can now peel from the plastic were created.
Crab: zero
The big secret: there is not a gram of crab in it, while it does taste like crab and has a structure similar to crab. How is that possible? Surimi expert Matthieu (he does not want to reveal his last name to remain anonymous within the surimi scene) is responsible for that perfect fake flavor. With among other things MSG and yeast extract, a bit of sugar, salt, and thickening agents, the white fish gets a flavor that resembles crab. Because the crab sticks are made from finely chopped white fish, which is rinsed in fresh water and then pressed together into a flavorless paste, the surimi base.
Steamed surimi
The mysterious Matthieu reveals that the surimi sticks found in European supermarkets are a bit orange and mainly get a crab flavor, while the surimi sticks in Asia are more pink and taste like lobster. Adapted to the local food culture, because surimi could theoretically taste like anything. In Japan, various types of surimi are available, says Matthieu: steamed, boiled, fried, you name it. It is not a substitute for lobster or crab there, but just another preparation of fish. Surprising.
