Hot answers tagged sushi
30
It removes excess starch, so your sushi rice doesn't turn into nasty glutinous slop. The texture of the rice is very important, so you'll need to rince it several times before you steam it...Make sure the water is nice and clear, after the last time you rinse it. Make sure you buy japonica or similar: if you use regular rice, you may not get good results.
I ...
27
"Sushi grade" means that it is safe to prepare and eat raw. In order to do that, it must be frozen to kill any parasites. That means it either has to be:
Frozen at -20° C (-4° F) for 7 days; or
Frozen at -35° C (-31° F - "flash frozen") for 15 hours.
There aren't any official regulations about the fish itself or its quality, and most sushi/sashimi ...
23
This is perfectly normal, however, I find the common claim that "it is to prevent parasites" a bit dubious (I would think that it would have to be uniformly applied to the entire fish to have any measurable effect). The wasabi is really there to add flavor. In really high-end sushi restaurants in Japan, for example, it is relatively uncommon for the guest ...
21
"Plastic chocolate" is a form of chocolate used for modeling and shaping decorative elements such as chocolate roses, ribbons and other elements for cakes and desserts.
Take about 1 lb. of bittersweet chocolate and melt over a double boiler. When chocolate is melted, stir in 2/3 cup of light corn syrup. Mix until evenly blended and then set aside to cool. ...
18
All of the following are generally cooked items:
Shrimp, ebi, available raw in sashimi, but almost always lightly poached. The poaching brings out sweet and subtle flavors otherwise masked by a metallic tang. It also prevents the highly perishable shrimp from losing texture to spoilage.
Octopus, tako, available raw in sashimi when sliced very thinly, but ...
17
There are a few tools you should have that are out of the ordinary in a typical American kitchen:
Sushi rolling mat - It's really the only way to make maki (rolls). Pro tip: when you use it, put it inside of a large zip-loc bag. This helps prevent the rice sticking to the mat.
Wooden sushi bowl - This is essential in helping the rice turn out properly. The ...
16
I discussed a similar subject in this question: What exactly is "Sushi Grade" fish?
Raw fish isn't safe to eat if it's just been sitting around. However, the raw fish used in sushi/sashimi has been frozen (typically flash-frozen) in order to kill any parasites, making it as safe as any other food.
Most distributors of sashimi also have their own methods ...
15
ok get a very sharp knife (straight blade)
put the blade under water
tap the blade on the counter to rid of excess water
cut roll in half
repeat the process on the two portions
make sure that you're using a long knife, and when you're cutting, don't seesaw, rather it should be one fluid motion
EDIT
or do it as the comment below says :P
13
Like many crafts which originated in Japan, their sushi training more or less creates sushi artisans. If you just want to make a snack, you'll have plenty of ability given a basic review of techniques. You should focus your learning on understanding food-safety, getting the rice right, and making the roll not fall apart. The rest is just levels of mastery ...
13
There is no real definition of 'sushi grade' fish. It's purely a marketing term to imply a higher quality piece of fish.
There are some actions that should be done for tuna (really for all fish, but especially for tuna) when they are caught, such as bleeding them immediately, destroying the neural canal, reducing the temperature of the fish immediately, ...
12
It's been a while since I made sushi but 2 tablespoons does sound a little on the ridiculous side.
Various other recipes use similar amounts (to each other):
AllRecipes: 1 tsp salt (for 1/2 cup vinegar and 4 tbsp sugar)
Alton Brown: 1 tbsp kosher salt (for 2 tbsp vinegar and 2 tbsp sugar)
SushiRecipes: 1 tsp salt (for 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar)
...
9
Sushi does not require fish, sushi is the style of rice preparation (rice, salt, a little rice vinegar, occasionally some kombu). So long as you have the correct preparation of rice, you technically have some form of sushi (you could just throw it in a bowl with some additions on top and have a type of sushi called chirashizushi).
Second, there is no such ...
8
Don't wait too long to eat it. I'm assuming you're talking about rolls, or makimono, rather than nigiri-zushi. Anyway, assuming the nori was reasonably freshly opened and crispy when you started, that's the main risk you have: within minutes of preparing makimono, the moisture of the rice will quickly transfer to the dry laver. The faster you eat it, the ...
8
Rinsing rice
Simple - rinse off the extra starch so it's not too sticky. This isn't magic. You're just getting rid of some starch before you go on to the next step. Some people advocate soaking the rice here as well. It's perfectly possible to make sushi rice without doing that, though, just rinsing. The soaking just helps make it easier to get the layer of ...
8
Most seafood counters will sell you small vacuum sealed portions of frozen fish.
The fish is often frozen on the ship where it is caught and so will be fresher than even if you bought it at the dock.
The freezing will also kill any parasites and is the only prerequisite for the label "sushi grade". See this question: What exactly is "Sushi Grade" ...
7
Wash the shrimp and remove only the head.
Insert a bamboo skewer along the shrimp from head to tail, running along the legs without touching flesh
Drop into boiling, salted water for 3-5 minutes (do not put a lid on); after this period, they'll change color and rise to the top. If they feel firm, they are cooked.
Quickly place them into ice water, which ...
7
Rice that says 'not to rinse' has already been cleaned and enriched with vitamins because of the nutrients removed in milling. Rinsing it will remove the vitamins. Rices that have not been cleaned and enriched need to be rinsed because they are dirty and sometimes have a powder added after milling. Sticky rice definitely needs to be rinsed several times, ...
7
In addition to what Jason says above, which is absolutely correct, nori needs to be toasted to be crispy. Sometimes you buy it ready-toasted, but sometimes it's not toasted and you need to toast it over an open flame yourself. How to toast nori instructions and video.
Additionally, I've found that if you live somewhere high-humidity (like San Francisco, ...
6
I have never made, but I have eaten Arborio sushi, with Italian flavors and here in DC I have had latin-flavored sushi. It was all great. The Arborio sushi seemed like plain Arborio rice to me.
The rice vinegar is sweet and less acid (4% versus 6%), so if you try different vinegars you may want to dilute it a bit first and then compare for sweetness. ...
6
In general, the stickiness of rice can be reduced by removing some of the starch by pre-soaking and/or washing the rice. For sushi rice, chewiness can be increased by reducing the amount of cooking water.
For what do you use oil? I don't believe that is a traditional ingredient in sushi rice.
6
Components:
sweet -> sugar+mirin (rice wine)
salt -> soy
savory -> soy+mirin+eel bones
At home, you probably won't be able to manage eel bones boiled down into stock. Ignoring that, it's all a matter of mixing and reducing.
Sugar+soy+mirin, reduce to 1/3, revel in the joy of caramel and salt and sharpness.
5
I make sushi with friends about once a month, and it's not too difficult. The thing that took us the longest to get right was the rice, and we got that down after a few tries. It'll probably take a while to figure out the amount of vinegar you like in it, and how long to leave the seaweed in it while it's cooking.
For nigiri, I've got a little plexiglass ...
5
Storing cooked rice is generally not a good idea.
With the high starch content in rice, it is simply an excellent growing ground for bacteria. Add to this the fact that uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus Cereus which when germinated to bacteria can lead to food poisoning causing vomiting and diarrhea.
Bacillus Cereus spores can survive cooking, ...
5
I wouldn't trust anything from a grocery-store fish counter to be fit for raw consumption.
http://www.sushifaq.com/sushiotaku/2008/01/31/where-to-buy-sushi-grade-fish/ has a lot of info, and suggests http://www.catalinaop.com/ . I've never bought anything from them, but it looks like they're probably a good source if you want to buy online. If you're in the ...
5
As everyone has said, assuming the nori is dry enough to begin with, the problem is moisture getting into the nori from the rice. But the problem might not be just moisture transferring because you let it sit too long, but rather that the rice itself is too moist. The drying step in making sushi rice is critical, and if you under-dry your rice, you'll have ...
5
I think the issue is that your nori will get soggy if you make the rolls in advance and store them overnight. Nigirizushi may be a better bet for making ahead.
Chirashizushi is an older style of sushi which is essentially a bowl of the sushi rice, with the garnishes either mixed in or on top. It should be well amenable to advance preparation.
4
It looks like your process is the accepted one around the web.
If you put a cool, damp (not wet), clean kitchen towel on your counter and fold the rice on top of it in front of a fan may help to cool it more quickly. Otherwise, cooling it to room temperature just seems to take a bit of time.
4
As mentioned in this question about raw chicken - some people and cultures do indeed eat raw chicken.
Notwithstanding that, to answer your question more directly, the main problem with eating raw meat, fish, or anything else, are bacteria, parasites and other pathogens.
A healthy animal, however, butchered appropriately, should have no specific issues. As ...
4
Further to Papin's excellent comment, you might also need to adjust for sweetness - so, e.g., if you decided to use white wine vinegar, as well as diluting it I'd add some sugar to taste.
With respect to your first question, there's a big difference between long-grain and short-grain rice. So Arborio is OK as a substitute if you want; however, Basmati ...
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