>>38364774Ora King salmon is a specialty breed of king salmon grown by only a single farm in New Zealand. It's incredibly fatty, has very little albumin, and has incredibly even fat distribution as well as a lower fat melting point compared to normal Atlantic or especially sockeye. It's commonly called "the wagyu of the sea" for this reason. Handling it for sashimi means that you gotta keep it cold and exposed to the open air so that it doesn't just stay gloppy forever. It's also pretty common to blowtorch modern nigiri made with ora king salmon since it releases more of the fat without cooking the fish. Fat transfers flavor, so melting a small amount of it makes the whole thing taste better. Not only did she cut the salmon wrong for nigiri since you're supposed to wrap soft fish around the rice, she forgot the wasabi, has no seasonings (yuzu oil or zest is recommended) and her knife skills are clearly not up to par for cutting such a soft and tender fish. Salmon becomes flaky at around 102F and begins to fall apart long ahead of that, she's not working fast enough and she's not working cold enough. The heat from the rice is supposed to heat up the salmon to a point "melt in your mouth" texture, but not cooking, obviously she isn't doing that but the alternative is the blowtorch. And you may say "oh but sushi rice isn't supposed to be hot when they handle it" and you're right, but the fish is also supposed to be cut thin enough that the residual heat can still warm it.
