The Sushi Thread

[punkass]

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so I had all this tuna, and it was fresh and delicious, but I ended up eating too much of it

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This sounds like an awesome meal to me.

[NoahSD]

Not sure if this is appropriate in this forum, but this thread is making me really want some good sushi. I'm in London in the Bloomsbury area. Anyone know of anything good that's less than 50 quid per person?

[RichC.]

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Regarding the rice/soy, I think the main issue is just that the rice so quickly soaks up a large amount of liquid.

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You mean this is a good thing or a bad thing?

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bad thing

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All,

Not sure if this was covered, but, you are not actually supposed to put the rice into the soy. You should be dipping the fish piece in there. Basically, flip it, then dip it and enjoy, repeat. To each his own of course, but, that is what I learned while living in Japan.

[AquaSwing]

First time I had sushi I was with a seasoned pro and his hangout. He did omakase and four of us got a plate with about 80 pieces of nigri. It was the most awful crap ever.

Fast forward a couple months and we're at a conference in Salt Lake City. I was with the other two people who were at that first experience and not the pro. They both got excited about sushi and I displayed my reservations. They sat me down and held my hand through the tame stuff- california roll, salmon and avocado roll, spicy tuna roll. Wow. What a difference. Over the following months they eased me into nigri and eventually I was looking forward to the salmon roe with the quail egg. Yum.

That was 12 years ago!

A couple years ago I befriended an total sushi nut who lived in an apartment building with a sushi place with a crazy chef on the first floor. He ate there almost every day so they bonded rather quickly and that lead to the craziest sushi night I've ever had. Three of us plopped $100 on the sushi bar and for the next four hours all of us, including the chef, proceeded to get completely wasted and ate everything he gave us. many different types of tuna, a long piece of eel that was draped over three pieces of rice, sweet shrimp with the deep fried shrimp head, monkfish liver, etc. As the night wore on we learned of the sushi chef's total disdain for making rolls. Every time an order with just rolls came in he would wave his knife at the patrons and yell some incoherent japanese words in disgust.

The wife and I have been getting take out from a local place every weekend and this $80 pop each week is killing us!

[Chimp]

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This is good to know, thanks. Gonna get me a block of shiro maguro next trip to Mitsuwa / fish market.

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Al,

Next time you are headed to this mythical place where I can buy sashimi-quality fish to prepare at home, please call me. Do they allow a big whitey like me to shop there? I will also need some lessons on preparing sushi at home (although you said you prefer sashimi, which is pretty easy). I've always been slightly frightened by the idea of preparing raw fish at home, but if the quality is high this could be an exciting turn in the cooking life of me.

LFS

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LFS,

Mitsuwa market downtown (3d and Alameda) has phenomenal fish. I bought a box of uni and some chu-toro for my fiance's birthday meal last weekend...it was as good as any I've had at SushiGo55 or Echigo. Really fresh stuff. The key there is that the store has such a high turnover in their fish dept that it's easy to find great quality stuff.

As for preparing sushi at home...make the rice, make the vinegar, slice the fish. It's easy, man! Let me know if you need some recipes for the rice and vinegar....

[Insp. Clue!So?]

This video should address some of the concerns of you sushi newbies:

http://www.jumpingpixels.com/sushibehavior.html

[cbloom]

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I've gone to a few sushi houses since becoming a fan, and one thing I really dislike is the temperature of the dish in the sushi house.

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Chippa, you might be going to bad places. One of the key elements to top nigiri is getting the temperature right. The rice should be room temperature, not warm, and the fish should still be slightly chilled. This is why the sushi chef has to act fast and touch the fish as little as possible. When it's served you should eat it quickly, not let it sit around.

One of my pet peaves is sushi places that will bring all your nigiri orders to the table at the same time. I'd much rather have them brought little by little as the sushi chef makes them.

Also this is why in Japan they think women can't make good sushi - supposedly their hands are too warm.

[offTopic]

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I've gone to a few sushi houses since becoming a fan, and one thing I really dislike is the temperature of the dish in the sushi house.

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Chippa, you might be going to bad places. One of the key elements to top nigiri is getting the temperature right. The rice should be room temperature, not warm, and the fish should still be slightly chilled. This is why the sushi chef has to act fast and touch the fish as little as possible. When it's served you should eat it quickly, not let it sit around.


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I think the rice temperature is a part of a specific style in some cases, though. The Nozawa -> Sasabune -> Echigo protege "chain" all serve warm rice. I've only been to Echigo, but it was very good.

[Insp. Clue!So?]

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One resource people may find helpful is chowhound.com. They've done well by me as far as recommendations both locally (LA) and in most any other major city. Even if you're not looking for local restaurants, you may find interesting content.

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Yeah, chowhound.com is a great resource. I post over there as broncosaurus sometimes.

I think the difference between stuff like Cali rolls and nigiri is pretty much night and day...you're practically eating two different foodstuffs, like chicken McNuggets vs. Chicken Marsala. A california roll is sorta crunchy and maybe a bit tasty, perhaps a good way to be introduced to "sushi". But a nice piece of fatty tuna on some rice can be pure heaven on the tongue.

Caveat: never have sushi on a Monday (due to fresh fish delivery issues)

In LA I like Sushi-Go 55, Sushi Gen, Echigo (great lunch special for $12). Someday I'll spring for Urasawa at $200 a head for Omakase I guess, but I'm not in a hurry.

(Omakase is where the chef picks what HE wants to serve you, judging from the finest cuts he has in front of him at the moment. You can burn through $100 very easily at the higher joints but you'll get a lot of fish and other things perhaps).

For store-bough sushi, it's mostly bland or overly-sugared I've found, but if you go to one of the Mitsawa Japanese supermakets you'll find some very good deals and fresh rolls and nigiri boxes. These are already pretty cheap and they discount the remaining ones in the evenings.

Favorites:

eel
tuna
salmon
shrimp

all nigiri

[M2d]

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I've always been slightly frightened by the idea of preparing raw fish at home, but if the quality is high this could be an exciting turn in the cooking life of me.


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cooking without cooking. LFS will be the Bruce Leroy of the culinary world.