Impress Others With Your Sushi Making Skills
By Serena Pulman

Many important things should be kept in mind before a person should begin to learn to make sushi at home. It is not necessary that you are able to make terrific sushi on your first try, as there is a lot to learn. For example, rice being the main ingredient seems easy to make, but should be mastered perfectly to make good sushi.

First of all, one should learn to make perfect rice, in order to make good sushi. Sushi rice is usually white, short-grained rice, in which vinegar is mixed to add a sour taste to it. Also, the rice should be sticky enough, but not too sticky as that would make a really bad-tasting food. So, it is necessary to learn to make perfect rice before making sushi at home. This way you can at least make vegetarian sushi easily.

You should also remember that to make it with raw fish cannot be made right away. Raw fish is usually checked and frozen, to kill germs, and make it safe for human consumption. Therefore, it is important that you learn how to handle raw fish and to freeze fish to make your eating safe.

Sushi chefs in Japan spend years to master the handling of fish and to professionally make it safe and to recognize important attributes, including smell, color and firmness. So, it is better to make vegetarian sushi at home to start with.

Another common ingredient after rice, is nori. A nori is basically a seaweed which has been dried and made into edible thin sheets. It is used as a wrap to form the base of sushi and must be unflavored and of high quality. A flavored nori, available with salt or flavored with teriyaki sauce, can alter the taste so it should be avoided.

Although traditionally, nori is on the outside but that is not the only way it is served. It can also be used on the inside of the sushi roll, with variations.

Futomaki is the most common type made at home, as it is vegetarian and traditional. It usually has two or three fillings which are complimentary in taste, and uses nori on the outside. It uses a bamboo sushi roll to shape the wrap, which is also a very useful tool for beginners who are learning to make sushi.

Sushi is a form of art, and visual aspects of serving sushi should be kept in mind. Sushi should look appealing and inviting, and make a person’s mouth water. You only need to practice to make good sushi.

Serena Pulman

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How to Make Sushi Part 1 – Extreme Sushi Explosion, Kapow!
By Mark Hewitt

Let’s talk about Japan’s greatest creation, just barely edging out Ghost in the Shell, bento, Otsuka Ai, Iron Chef, comedy routines based on torturing Morning Musume and Pocky. Sushi!

First, we have to clear up one of the most common misunderstandings in multicultural culinary experience. Sushi is a category of traditional Japanese food consisting mainly of rice mixed with seasoned vinegar, seaweed, vegetables and either cooked or raw fish. The fish doesn’t have to be raw, people! In Japan raw fish is more often used, but it’s still perfectly “authentic” using cooked. Actually, till now I’ve held a general rule that I won’t eat raw fish unless I’m somewhere on the coast, but lately I’ve heard from a lot of people saying that this is mainly a paranoid fear story that we get fed, and raw fish off a fishmonger or supermarket shelf is quite safe to eat.

Anyway, on with the sushi thing. I’ll talk about ingredients and preparation today, and construction tomorrow, as I think this is a subject which deserves detailed attention.

First, you need the right rice. This is easier to obtain than you might have been told – a lot of places (I see it mostly in health food shops) sell “sushi rice” which is usually overpriced and not particularly special. I have made great sushi from this, from arborio rice (italian risotto rice), pudding rice and regular big huge economy bag short grain rice. As long as it’s short grain and cooked the right way, it’ll be fine.

“Cooked right” means cooked the way I’m about to tell you, no deviations. This method of rice cooking is 100% bullet-proof and 99% idiot-proof. It’s derived from the guidance of Yasuko-San, who is an actual bona fide Japanese mother. You do not mess with a Japanese mother when it comes to cooking rice. You shut up and cook the darn rice they way they tell you to. Actually I had to adjust the figures a bit because the rice we get over here has a different absorption ratio, but the principle still stands.

(for 2-3 people) Take one and a half cups of short grain rice, wash it till the water runs clean, and put it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. The saucepan must have a tight-fitting lid. Now, put the saucepan on a medium heat, and simmer it for 15 minutes. DO NOT move the lid at any time or Yasuko-san will find you and beat you with her samoji*.

Now, crank the heat up to the top and cook the rice for 1 full minute. You should hear it start to sizzle at the bottom of the pan at the end of the minute. If you’re using electric hobs (as I am cursed with, living in a high-rise), have a hob preheated to high heat and just slide the pan over onto it. Then take it off the heat, with the lid STILL TIGHTLY ON, and let it stand for 10 minutes WITHOUT TOUCHING THE DARN LID.

Rice cooked in this way will have the perfect consistency, will need no draining (because all the water is absorbed), and actually tastes better. For long grain rice, it will be firm and smooth – with a quarter teaspoon of salt added to the boiling water, I’ll eat a plain bowl of white rice cooked this way with gusto. For short grain rice it will be sticky but the grains will keep their shape, perfect for sushi or rice balls. All hail Yasuko-san! Ganbatte! Ganbarimasu!

For the seasoned vinegar, combine a quarter cup of white wine vinegar (best of all rice wine vinegar), 1 and a half tablespoons of sugar and 3/4 teaspoon of salt in a small pan, and heat it just to boiling so it all dissolves. Once the rice has finished its 10 minutes rest, spread it out in a shallow container (I use my vertical-sided saute pan which is perfect) and drizzle the vinegar mixture over it, then dig it in well with a spatula or wooden spoon. Try not to squash the grains too much, you want them firm and well-shaped for perfect sushi.

Now you need to cool the rice before rolling. A real sushi chef would fan it by hand. Actually, scratch that, a real professional sushi chef would have one of his underpaid kitchen monkeys fan it by hand. Fortunately we have the benefits of modern technology, and an almost-total disregard for tradition. Stick it in front of an electric fan for about a minute, then dig it around with a spatula to bring the hot rice from the bottom to the top, and leave it there for another minute. This will leave the rice cool, and slightly drier (but still moist and sticky enough to shape well).

So you’ve got your rice ready, perfectly cooked and seasoned, awaiting your rolling skills. Now all that remains is the final transformation. Find out more tomorrow, as we venture deeper into the world of sushi! Thrills, spills and seaweed! There’s danger at every turn!

* Rice paddle

Mark Hewitt is an English foodie, cook, philosopher, geek, shaman and writer. At the start of 2007 he sold or gave away almost all his possessions and left on a backpacking journey round the world, the purpose being (at least in part) to figure out why he would want to do such a thing. You can follow his journey and find other articles at: http://www.scadindustries.com

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New Generation Sushi – An Offshoot of Sushi For Western Culture
By Serena Pulman

The increasing popularity of sushi in North America has given the birth to the creation of New generation sushi, normally known as gen sushi. It is created to suit the Western palate, and is rarely found in Japan, as it appeals to the western tastes. People who fear to eat the standard raw fish sushi, can experience this type with a variety of vegetables, scallops and tuna. However, a few things are necessary to be kept in mind before you try it.

Gen sushi is a spin off form of the traditional Japanese sushi, for those who fear to eat raw fish. This style of food has forms like the Boston rolls and the California maki rolls. It is a great option for those people who do not wish to try the Japanese fish dishes like sashimi or nigiri.

It should be eaten in a specific way, whether you are trying the gen sushi or feasting on traditional Japanese sushi. Japanese culture has polite methods of eating sushi which are also observed in the western restaurants as well.

As an example, you should be careful not to pass sushi from your chopsticks to another person’s, if you are sharing it with friends and family. It is considered as extremely inconsiderate and unmannerly, as this custom is used in funerals in Japan and is reserved for handling cremated bones.

Also, you should be careful to place your chopsticks on your plate’s edge or on the chopstick holders. Do not place your chopsticks with their base touching the table, and the rest on the plate.

You should also be careful as to the amount of soy sauce you take, as it should be not more than you need, so it does not get wasted.

It is considered bad to waste food in Japanese culture, so you should not leave any sushi or food behind on your plate. Otherwise, it will be considered as an insult to the chef.

You can generally find gen sushi at a specialty sushi store, but many grocery stores and Asian markets do have it in stock as there is a growing demand for it now. You can also try it at a restaurant, as many chain restaurants are now open that are special only for this style of sushi. Also, some American options will also be found at a traditional sushi restaurant, though that variety would be less than at a gen sushi restaurant.

Serena Pulman

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Sushi Plates – A Reasonable Investment For Sushi Lovers
By Serena Pulman

There are so many sushi lovers who love to eat it every day. Even though they love to eat it, they don’t favor to study and make their own sushi at home. They also do not have the intention to go out and eat sushi every day. For such people put in on sushi plates will be nice suggestion to make better the way they have their sushi food at home. This will give the feeling of having sushi in its accepted. way.

There are several selection for the plates available in the market. Hence the selection will also be a difficult thing for you. While selecting sushi plates, you need to consider several feature like the size, number, color, and design of plates. When you are buying the plates for home, it should be of high worth than that of the plates in sushi restaurants.

In restaurants, where the meals are taken out, they use plastic sushi plates. They are in separate colors and grades and highlight the worth of sushi meals in it. Same is the case with sushi bars. But in high group restaurants, they serve sushi meals in wooden or lacquered sushi plates. It makes their sushi to look like a work of art. The chef of the restaurants also prefers to see their food items as a work of art.

There are some table behavior that need to be followed while eating out sushi in some restaurants. It includes, you never take food you are not certain about. That is, you should take only those foods which you are sure will eat. It is considered as a bad manner to leave the taken food in table without out eating. Another thing is that, you should eat every piece of sushi in one gnaw whenever possible.

Even though eating in one gnaw is the general rule, it can be violated at times. For sushi like temaki and inari, for which more than one gnaw is not possible, it is allowed to take in more than one gnaw. But for other sushi like maki, sashimi and nigiri, more than two gnaw is not accepted as a good tradition.

While eating in a restaurant, you should take care of the plates in which you are eating. Even though you are eating in plastic plate, it should be taken care as if in the case of porcelain. Neatly heap your sushi plates when you eat out in kaiken restaurant. It helps the waitress to collect the plates which will help him to count your portion of sushi.

The worth of sushi food can be counted based on the mold of sushi plates they are using, especially in case of kaiken restaurants. You can purchase sushi plates from specialty cutlery stores and Asian markets directly or you can get it by ordering online.

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Myths and Facts About Maki Sushi
By Serena Pulman

The most common type of sushi is the Maki sushi. People enjoy it all around the world. It can be made with a large variety of ingredients, unlike sashimi or nigiri. Maki sushi is therefore suitable and a good sushi option for vegetarians and for those who do not wish to eat raw fish.

People who wish to try raw fish for the first time, can overcome their hesitance by eating maki sushi which deceives a person into eating raw fish as it hides the appearance of fish. This is one of the most loved sushi all over the world.

There are many different variants of this wonderful dish owing to centuries long evolution. As the world turns into a global village the sushi versions multiply. Different gifts of nature are used in producing new types of sushi. There is one thing common in all. That is vinegar rice and the fish is sashimi. Their combination results in traditional sushi and when rolled, produces Maki sushi.

In order to make this fingerfood yourself, you should keep in mind some important points. High quality ingredients should be used in order to make the best sushi. Low quality ingredients do not make great sushi and you may end up wasting your time and energy if you do use low quality products.

You should also be skilled enough to make sushi. Although it looks easy enough to make, but you need to practice for perfection. You may expect that your first few attempts would only get you ume sushi. You should also try to make the best rice, as that is the key ingredient. In addition to that, you should try to present it in a nice way when you serve it.

You should buy a sushi set along with the pots and pans specially designed to make sushi at home. This will help you to make it as well as to present it.

Sushi is a form of art in itself, therefore the visual aspects of art should be remembered while making sushi and to present it in the right way.

Sashimi is a thinly sliced raw fish which is usually served before maki sushi. This dish may be followed by nigiri, which is a platter of rice topped with fish or prawn pieces. The sushi courses are usually broken apart by serving pickled ginger, which helps you enjoy each course with its own distinct flavor.

Serena Pulman

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