1. Place the fish fillet (bass or porgy) on a cutting surface and cut usu zukuri style into paper-thin slices. 2. Or, cut any filleted fish straight down hira giri style into ¼-inch-thick slices. 3. A variation of this flat cut is known as the thread shape (ita zukuri), and is suitable for white-meat fish or squid: cut the ¼-inch-thick slices lengthwise into ¼-inch-widestrips. 4. Mound these one atop the other.
SLICING A TUNA FILLET:
1. Begin with a section of tuna fillet, trimmed by you into a rectangular loaf shape. The tuna can be sliced usu zukuri style at an angle into paper-thin slices. 2. Or it can be sliced in the hira giri style, suitable for any fish fillet, in which you cut straight down into slices ¼ inch thick. 3. The cubic cut (kaku giri) is a style of cutting used almost exclusively for tuna because of its firmness. First cut straight down, into slices ½ inch thick. 4. Then cut these slices into ½-inch-widecubes.
