At a recent family get together in the Colorado mountains, one of our main activities was making sushi, because nothing says raw fish like pure mountain air. Right? Right. The fish was thankfully mail ordered (it’s how sushi restaurants get their fish, so why not you?) and most of the ingredients were schlepped up the mountain. As always a few things were forgotten, I’m pretty sure the shelf stockers at the little grocery in Winterpark thought we were crazy with some of the ingredients we asked for. The really crazy thing was they actually had more authentic sesame oil than what we get in NJ! It cost an arm and a leg but totally worth it. Anyway, I digress.

One of the collectively popular family dishes is tako sunomono and thankfully one of us is amazingly good at making it. So here’s the group effort, I took the video and images (apologies for the video, it was with my hand held camera) and John from Houston (aka my Dad) was the sushi chef…here are his steps for making the perfect Japanese salad.

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Tako sunomono is almost the perfect dish.  It’s easy to make, yet instantly popular, which is not a bad combination at all. The sunomono falls into the “salad/appetizer” niche in Japanese culinary culture and as you’d imagine from such a broad niche, offers huge variations in style and flavor.  The classic version involves a quick prep of sliced cucumber and a generous pinch of wakame, a Japanese sea vegetable (aka seaweed), topped with a light vinaigrette and a few sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

That’s a nice base, but the average American palate cries out for something more complex and so enters tako.  Tako translates as steamed/boiled Pacific Ocean octopus, (tentacles only), and it is a sushi bar staple.  Perfect for sushi newbies, since it is completely cooked, it has a meaty texture and relatively mild flavor.  When people have issues with tako, it’s usually because it spent a little too much time in the hot water and got very, very chewy. It’s the same concept as Italian calamari that has been turned into rubber bands.

The vast majority of Japanese octopus consumed in the US is pre-cooked and frozen to prevent the above tragedy. Freshly prepared tako is clearly superior but the frozen product is pretty darn good.  The trick to serving excellent octopus is in the slicing and tenderizing technique.  Start at the thick end of the tentacle and slice it at an angle.  This elongates each slice making them useful for sushi or sashimi.  These are too valuable to use for sunomono in a sushi bar, (they would use the slices from farther back on the tentacle), but hey it’s your octopus and if you want to cut those in half and use them in sunomono go for it.  In addition to slicing at an angle you want to alter that angle as you cut to make the slice wavy like a potato chip, but with a varied ridge.  Then take each slice and with the heel of your knife tenderize it by repeatedly striking it with the point.

It takes a little time and a bit of practice to master these steps but it makes a world of difference in the finished product.

Quick & Dirty Sunomono Vinegarette:
Equal parts fresh squeezed lemon juice, sake, mirin and seasoned rice wine vinegar, few drops of toasted sesame oil, mix all ingredients well and remix just before serving.

Tako sunomono
(serves 4)
1 cup sliced English or Japanese cucumber, (if unwaxed, peeling is optional)
16 slices of octopus, tenderized (see above)
½ cup sunomono vinaigrette
Sprinkle of furikake (seasoned sesame/seaweed, sold at Asian markets)
Sea salt

Salt the sliced cucumbers well and set aside in a colander while you’re slicing the octopus, about 20 minutes or so.  Squeeze the cucumber slices by hand to remove excess liquid.  Rinse thoroughly twice to remove salt.  Pat the slices dry on paper towels. This salting/rinsing step insures sweet, crisp cucumber. Place ¼ of the slices in each bowl and top with 4 tako slices each.  Drizzle vinaigrette over the slices and finish with a garnish of furikake.