Making Sushi

[stagis]

For what it's worth, homemade sushi, without getting too fancydancy about it, is easy. The Web has any number of resources with instructions and recipes. The gear and ingredients are cheap. The technique is easy. How's that for a sales pitch?

I've got MS and my hands don't respond the way I'd like and I can still roll 'em acceptably well - and this from a guy who is dough-challenged. I can make any bread, but when it comes to fancy forms, go find somebody else - pie dough is a bourgeois concept, if you get my drift.

You need a bamboo roller, a way-sharp knife, some nori sheets and short-grain rice. Total investment - mmmmm...maybe $5 except for the knife - and I've cut it with average-sharp knives, but it's less frustrating with a good one. And my 'good' sushi knives were only about $40 or so and they're stainless. I couldn't justify carbon-steel knives - sorry.

I love my rice cooker, but I make sushi rice in a pot - for me, it's a little more responsive. You can buy seasoned rice vinegar cheaply or make your own with sugar and salt...it really is easy. F'r instance, I made it, as a challenge, on a Scout backpack outing :)

[Kikujiro]

Stagis,

Thanks for the encouragement I will give it a go at some point. I suppose what I meant was that with sushi partly what I'm paying for is someone to go and buy lots of extremely high-quality fish, probably with an expertise I don't have, in quantities I can't match and at I time I don't usually like having my eyes open, and then let me eat little bits of their various purchases sliced with a skill I am missing.

But it's something I'll do at some point. I've always intended to hit Billingsgate one morning.

[Bond Girl]

I tried it once to some disasterous results....well, okay I was reading the Nobu cookbook.....But, don't you have to slice the fish the right way?

[Jinmyo]

I think that what's being spoken of here is making maki-zushi rather than nigiri. Certainly, rolling things in rice and nori is very easy.

[stagis]

I *just* found a fishmonger with sushi-quality fish, if you're gonna do the raw fish thing. That was the hard part. You guys with good hands should be able to figure out how to cut it. Otherwise, (and I apologize for not using the proper terms) cooked shrimp, for instance. Easy and pretty. butterfly, cook and secure with a nori-strip belt. Barbecued eel - relatively easy, though mine doesn't have the same flavor as is found in a restaurant.

I'm the only person I know who'll eat raw fish, so home preparation of sashimi is effectively ruled out. While it's sacrilege, I've done it with smoked salmon (almost unacceptable), that fake seafood (not bad, actually), some truly original concoctions (rare steak and scallion - excellent, actually, and made my friends feel adventurous - 'Japanese' food!).

The most fun with it is watching one of my wife's friends ignore my warning and smear a BIG dollop of wasabi on a cucumber roll.....

Her: "I LIKE horseradish"

Me: "I'm leaving - this is going to be bad"

My wife: "Why didn't you stop her? Now she hates us."

Me: "Good - she talks too much"

And so forth.....

[The_Happy_Phantom]

Ok, so the SO and i were out to dinner for sushi one night (Takara in Madison, WI to be exact), and they included a really nifty little dish - crab (real) surrounded by what i can only guess was thinly sliced rolled cucumber - ended up being a nice cylinder of 'cuke with the crab in the middle, cut on the bias.

So of course, i'm now expected to duplicate this for dinner tomorrow :P. Having now gone through 4 'cukes, i can't for the life of me figure out how they did the outside. It wasn't one single piece hollowed out. i've tried slicing it almost paper-thin, and it still cracks when i try to form it. Anyone got any ideas before i go nuts? :)

[Suzanne F]

Which kind of cucumbers are you using? Peeled or not?

[Jinmyo]

Mandoline?

[col klink]

Try using an English cucumber which has a softer skin. Then you should be able to cut a thin out of most of the cuke and end up with a big sheet to roll the crab in.

[Suzanne F]

Oh, Clink, of COURSE! One long lengthwise paperthin slice on the mandoline. (and I used to make something like that, too! )

[Sandra Levine]

Then salt the slices slightly and allow them to sit in a colander for 10-2- minutes. Pat each slice dry before rolling.

[Fat Guy]

Size up the width of the cutting surface of your vegetable peeler (aka swivel-bladed parer). Peel a cucumber and cut a cylinder to that width. Then peel around and around in one smooth motion until you reach the seeds. You should have a maki-sized, very long strip that allows you to do what you want.

At actual sushi places, they just use a knife and pare the entire cucumber like this -- yes, they do a spiral the length of the whole thing. It can be done. I've seen it done many times. I could never do it, but apparently it's sushi-chef 101 stuff.

[col klink]

At actual sushi places, they just use a knife and pare the entire cucumber like this -- yes, they do a spiral the length of the whole thing. It can be done. I've seen it done many times. I could never do it, but apparently it's sushi-chef 101 stuff.

Yeah, that's fun to watch. Mine was filled with maguro and served with a great ponzu sauce. Damn that was good. But I doubt you'd be able to find sashimi grade tuna in Madison without having to talk to suppliers. Phantom, next time you go back, ask where they get their fish and then you can really start making sushi at home. I do, it's a blast.

ediot: I done re-grammered my post.

Edited March 13, 2003 by col klink (log)

[Jinmyo]

It's not hard to do but it's not easy to do well.

In any case, here is an article on Kuro5hin org that contains many linked digital photographs of a step by step process someone here might find useful.

Disclaimer:

There are many comments and methods with which of course I disagree entirely.

[Jinmyo]

When I make maki I often do forty or so rolls of various kinds.

I take the ends I trim off and put them into a bowl and often have enough for two servings or so. I often have a bit of this with a poached egg and a spoon or so of roe.

Does anyone else do something like this?

Where do your maki scraps go? Hm?

[tommy]

i'm considering making sushi (rolls mostly) for a get together tonite. one of the books i have says that you can make rolls ahead of time, and keep them at room temp (the fridge will make them 'hard' it says). it suggests the vinegar will help keep the fish fresh.

is this true? i figured if i wrapped the whole rolls in plastic wrap and threw them in the fridge for 6 hours, they'd be OK. is that not the best way to go???

thanks.

edit: feel free to move this to the appropriate forum if this isn't it.

Edited December 31, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

If you make them too far ahead there are two problems (besides possible spoilage), if you refrigerate them, the rice will get hard. If you don't, the nori will get soft.

[Jason Perlow]

As rachel says the problem is primarily the nori getting soft... You might want to consider doing just sushi peices on rice as they are easier to make, you can prep them faster so you dont have to do it 6 hours in advance.

[col klink]

Wrap them in cellophane and throw them into the fridge. Half an hour to 45 minutes before you want to serve them, put 'em on the counter to warm up and the rice won't be so hard. I'm doing the same thing for tonight.

[tommy]

Wrap them in cellophane and throw them into the fridge. Half an hour to 45 minutes before you want to serve them, put 'em on the counter to warm up and the rice won't be so hard. I'm doing the same thing for tonight.

you da man.

do you think this is a compromise? or are the results pretty damned good. i can, if needed, do them a la minute. i'd just prefer to not.

(rachel and jason are da man too, but they're da man without the answer i wanted to hear. )

Edited December 31, 2003 by tommy (log)

[torakris]

If possible I would try to make it at the last minute. This is one reason supermarket sushi will never taste the same as restaurant sushi, the coldeness hardens the rice , softens the nori and the whole thing just loses it freshness.

You can make the rice ahead of time (and leave it at room temp) also slice up the ingredients so they are all ready to go and refrigerate them.

I like to make mine standing right next to my gas range so I can toast the nori just before using for extra crispness and flavor.

You could also try serving it temaki style, where everyone rolls their own. This is the most common way to do it in Japanese homes, just set all of the ingredients out and let everyone go at it.

The only kind of roll I make ahead of time is a Korean style roll that contains no fish, just flavored beef, spinach, egg, takuan, carrots, shiitake, etc.

Oh and sometimes the Jpaanese style futomake with no fish, but I like the Korean style one better.

[tommy]

torakis, you're the second person i've heard today saying that they put the nori over flame (the first was nobu. well, he said it in his book). is this really doable? seems that it would get all messed up.

confused,

tommy

[alanamoana]

it is definitely doable (over the flame, that is). my mom (although she's chinese) used to brush the nori with a teriyaki style sauce and then toast it. like the stuff that you can buy already flavored.

if you're quick, it isn't a problem, you can watch the nori shrink a tiny bit.

also, tommy, you can do inside-out rolls so even though the nori is soft, it is inside the roll and isn't as noticeable as when it is soft on the outside of the roll. you can sprinkle the rice with toasted sesame seeds to keep them from being too sticky.

[torakris]

torakis, you're the second person i've heard today saying that they put the nori over flame (the first was nobu. well, he said it in his book). is this really doable? seems that it would get all messed up.

confused,

tommy

I taught Nobu everything he knows......

Try it, you will be surprised by the crispness and the change in flavor. You only need 3 to 5 second per side, I hold it with my hands but you can be tongs.

It can not be done over an electric range! Yes, I actually tried this once about 15 years ago...... Must be a gas flame.

for a great snack with a bowl of rice, very lightly brush a sheet of nori with sesame oil and then run it over the flame, quickly sprinkle it with sesame seeds, incredible!

[Dejah]

I am having a dinner party tomorrow for 10 and I am making a couple appetizers, plus

a soup and about 5 main dishes...

My prep. time is going to be tight, so I am wondering if I can make the sushi tonight, refridgerate and serve tomorrow around 7 pm...or should I just push the time and make it up tomorrow afternoon?