Sushi
Sushi is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, seafood, vegetables and sometimes tropical fruits. Ingredients and forms of sushi presentation vary widely, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is rice.
History
The original type of sushi, known today as nare-zushi was first made in Southeast Asia, possibly along what is now known as the Mekong River. The term sushi comes from an old dialect and literally means "sour-tasting", a reflection of its historic origin as a fermented food. The oldest form of sushi in Japan, nare-zushi, is still made by wrapping fish in soured fermenting rice, which causes the fish proteins to break down into their constituent amino acids. The fermenting rice and fish have both a sour and an umami taste.
The contemporary version, internationally known as "sushi", was created by Hanaya Yohei (around 18208). It was meant to be a “fast food” that could be eaten by hand.
Basic Ingredients
All sushi has a base of Japanese rice mixed with a special dressing. Then a variety of different toppings and fillings can used to create a million different varieties.
Sushi-meshi is a preparation of white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing consisting of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and occasionally kombu and sake. It has to be cooled to room temperature before being used for a filling in a sushi or else it will get too sticky while being seasoned. Traditionally, the mixing is done with a hangiri, which is a round, flat-bottom wooden tub or barrel, and a wooden paddle (shamoji).
The Rice: Sushi rice is prepared with short-grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain strains such as those from India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The essential quality is its stickiness.
The Water:
Rice Vinegar:
Sugar:
Salt:
Kombu:
Sake:
What Else?:
How to cook the rice: And How to Cool the rice:
Other Ingredients in Sushi:
Nori:
The black seaweed wrappers used in makimono are called nori. Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan. Originally, algae was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into thin, edible sheets, and dried in the sun, in a process similar to making rice paper. Today, the commercial product is farmed, processed, toasted, packaged, and sold in sheets.
Nori by itself is an edible snack and is available with salt or flavored with teriyaki sauce. The flavored variety, however, tends to be of lesser quality and is not suitable for sushi.
Wasabi:
Soy sauce:
Gari (sweet, pickled ginger) is eaten in between sushi courses to both cleanse the palate and aid in digestion.
Fillings and Toppings:
For culinary, sanitary, and aesthetic reasons, the quality and freshness of fish to be eaten raw must be superior to that of fish which is to be cooked. Sushi chefs are trained to recognize important attributes, including smell, color, firmness, and freedom from parasites that may go undetected in commercial inspection. Raw fish served in the United States must be frozen to kill parasites.
Commonly used fish:
tuna (maguro, shiro-maguro),
Japanese amberjack, yellowtail (hamachi)
snapper (kurodai)
mackerel (saba)
salmon (sake)
The most valued sushi ingredient is toro, the fatty cut of the fish.
Other seafood:
squid (ika)
eel (anago and unagi)
pike conger (hamo)
octopus (tako)
shrimp (ebi and amaebi)
clam (mirugai, aoyagi and akagai)
fish roe (ikura, masago, kazunokoand tobiko)
sea urchin (uni)
crab (kani),
abalone
scallop
imitation crab stick, is commonly substituted for real crab, most notably in California rolls.
Non-Fish Fillings and Toppings
Pickled daikon radish
pickled vegetables
fermented soybeans
avocado
cucumber
asparagus
yam
sweet corn (possibly mixed with mayonnaise)
Tofu
Cooked eggs
Types of Sushi:
Maki-zushi = Rolled Sushi is a cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat is generally wrapped in nori (seaweed), but is occasionally wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, or cucumber. Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order.
Futo-maki is a "thick, large or fat rolls") is a large cylindrical piece, usually with nori on the outside. They are often made with two, three, or more fillings that are chosen for their complementary tastes and colors.
Hoso-maki "thin rolls") is a small cylindrical piece, with nori on the outside. They generally contain only one filling, often tuna, cucumber, thinly sliced carrots, or, more recently, avocado.
Tekka-maki is a kind of hosomaki filled with raw tuna. It actually originated as a quick snack to eat in gambling dens called tekkaba , much like the sandwich.
Tsunamayo-maki is a kind of hoso-maki filled with canned tuna tossed with mayonnaise.
Te-maki ("hand roll") is a large cone-shaped piece of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end. A typical temaki is about ten centimeters (4 in) long, and is eaten with fingers because it is too awkward to pick it up with chopsticks. For optimal taste and texture, temaki must be eaten quickly after being made because the nori cone soon absorbs moisture from the filling and loses its crispness, making it somewhat difficult to bite through.
Nigiri-zushi "hand-pressed sushi" consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice that the chef presses into a small rectangular box between the palms of the hands, usually with a bit of wasabi, and a topping draped over it. typically fish such as salmon, tuna or other seafood are the topping.
Temari-zushi “ball sushi" is a ball-shaped sushi made by pressing rice and fish into a ball-shaped form by hand using a plastic wrap.
Western-style sushi
The increasing popularity of sushi around the world has resulted in variations typically found in the Western world, but rarely in Japan (a notable exception to this is the use of salmon which was introduced by the Norwegians in the early 1980s). Such creations to suit the Western palate were initially fueled by the invention of the California roll (a nori-maki with crab (later,imitation crab), cucumber, and avocado). A wide variety of popular rolls has evolved since.
Ura-maki = "inside-out roll" is a medium-sized cylindrical piece with two or more fillings, and was innovated as a result of the creation of the California Roll, as a method originally meant to hide the nori.