Sushi

In Japanese cuisine, sushi (Japanese: 寿司, also すし, 壽司, 鮨 or 鮓) is a food made of vinegared rice combined with various toppings or fillings.

In Japan the word sushi refers to a broad range of foods prepared with sumeshi (酢飯) or sushi meshi (寿司飯), vinegared rice. Sushi toppings or fillings can include seafood, meat, vegetables, mushrooms or egg, Sushi toppings may be raw, cooked, or marinated. In the Western world, sushi is often misunderstood to mean clumps of rice topped with raw fish, or even simply raw seafood, which is properly called sashimi.

There are various types of sushi. Sushi served rolled in nori (seaweed), is called maki (rolls). Sushi made with toppings laid onto hand-formed clumps of rice is called nigiri; sushi made with toppings stuffed into a small pouch of tofu is called inari; and sushi made with toppings served scattered over a bowl of sushi rice are called chirashi-zushi (散らし鮨), or "scattered sushi."

File:Sushi4.jpg

Nigiri and Maki Sushi

Types of sushi

The common ingredient in all the different kinds of sushi is sushi rice. Variety arises in the choice of the fillings and toppings, the other condiments, and in the manner they are put together. For example, sometimes "cow dung" is used in combination with the vinegared rice and other toppings to form a distinctive type of sushi. The same ingredients may be assembled in various different ways (the following are some types of sushi):

Nigiri-zushi (hand-formed sushi). 握り寿司. Arguably the most typical form of sushi at restaurants, it consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice which is pressed between the palms of the hands, with a speck of wasabi and a thin slice of a topping (neta) draped over it, possibly tied up with a thin band of nori. Assembling nigirizushi is surprisingly difficult to do well. It is sometimes called Edomaezushi, which reflects its origins in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in the 18th century. It is often served two to an order.
- Gunkan-maki (warship roll). 軍艦巻き. An oval, hand-formed clump of sushi rice (similar to that of nigiri-zushi) has a strip of nori wrapped around its perimeter to form a vessel that is filled with some ingredient that requires the confinement of the nori, for example, roe, natto, or less conventionally, macaroni salad.

Makizushi (rolled sushi). 巻き寿司. A cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat, called a makisu. Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, a sheet of dried seaweed that encloses the rice and fillings. In an American invention, the roll is wrapped so that the rice is on the outside, which presumably makes the maki more acceptable to people unfamiliar with nori. California roll, another American invention, is always prepared this way. In another variation, the nori is substituted with a paper thin fried egg wrapper. Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitute an order. The Korean gimbap is makizushi.
- Futomaki (large rolls). 太巻き. A large cylindrical piece, with the nori on the outside. Typical futomaki are two or three centimeters thick and four or five centimeters wide. They are often made with two or three fillings, chosen for their complementary taste and color. During the Setsubun festival, it is traditional in Kansai to eat the uncut futomaki in its cylindrical form.
- Hosomaki (thin rolls). 細巻き. A small cylindrical piece, with the nori on the outside. Typical hosomaki are about two centimeters thick and two centimeters wide. They are generally made with only one filling, but that doesn't preclude California rolls from having multiple fillings.
  - Kappamaki, filled with cucumber, is named after the Japanese legendary water imp, the kappa.
- Temaki (hand rolls). 手巻き. A large cone-shaped piece, with the nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end. A typical temaki is about ten centimeters long, and is eaten with the fingers since it is too awkward to pick up with chopsticks.
- Uramaki (inside-out rolls). 裏巻き. A medium-sized cylindrical piece, with two or more fillings. Uramaki differ from other maki because the rice is on the outside and the nori within. The filling is in the center surrounded by a liner of nori, then a layer of rice, and an outer coating of some other ingredient such as roe or toasted sesame seeds.

Oshizushi (pressed sushi). 押し寿司. A block-shaped piece formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chef lines the bottom of the oshibako with the topping, covers it with sushi rice, and presses the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Sushi selection (Inarizushi at right) from a Kansai Super store.

Inari-zushi (stuffed sushi). 稲荷寿司. A pouch of fried tofu filled usually with just sushi rice. It is named after the Shinto god Inari, whose messenger, the fox, is believed to have a fondness for fried tofu. The pouch is normally fashioned from deep-fried tofu (油揚げ or abura age). Regional variations include pouches made of a thin omelet (帛紗寿司 or fukusazushi) or dried gourd shavings (干瓢 or kanpyo).

Chirashizushi (scattered sushi). 散らし寿司. A bowl of sushi rice with the other ingredients mixed in. Also referred to as barazushi. ばら寿司.
- Edomae chirashizushi (Edo-style scattered sushi) 江戸前散らし鮨. Uncooked ingredients artfully arranged on top of the rice in the bowl.
- Gomokuzushi (Kansai-style sushi). 五目寿司. Cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of the rice in the bowl.

Narezushi (なれ鮨) is an older form of sushi. Skinned and gutted fish are stuffed with salt then placed in a wooden barrel, doused with salt again, and weighed down with a heavy tsukemonoishi (pickling stone). They are salted for ten days to a month, then placed in water for 15 minutes to an hour. They are then placed in another barrel sandwiched and layered with cooled steamed rice and fish. Then this mixture is again partially sealed with otosibuta and a pickling stone. As days pass, water seeps out, which must be removed. Six months later, this "funazushi" can be eaten, and it remains edible for another six months or more.

Uramaki
Nigirizushi

Nigirizushi
Futomaki

Futomaki
Stylized makizushi

Ingredients

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Various nigiri sushi in an ice sculpture

All sushi has a base of a specially prepared rice, complemented with other ingredients.

Sushi rice

Sushi is made with white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing made of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, kombu, and sake. It is cooled to body temperature before being used. In some fusion cuisine restaurants, short grain brown rice and wild rice are also used.

Sushi rice (sushi-meshi) is prepared with short-grain Japonica rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain strains such as Indica. The essential quality is its stickiness. Rice that is too sticky has a mushy texture; if it is not sticky enough, it feels dry. Freshly harvested rice (shinmai) typically has too much water, and requires extra time to drain after washing.

There are regional variations in sushi rice, and of course individual chefs have their individual methods. Most of the variations are in the rice vinegar dressing: the Tokyo version of the dressing commonly uses more salt; in Osaka, the dressing has more sugar.

Sushi rice generally must be used shortly after it is made. The Wiki Cookbook has a simple recipe.

Nori

The seaweed wrappers used in maki and temaki are called nori (海苔). This is an algae traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan. Originally, the algae was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into sheets, and dried in the sun in a process similar to making paper. Nori is toasted before being used in food.

Today, the commercial product is farmed, produced, toasted, packaged, and sold in standard-size sheets, about 18 cm by 21 cm in size. Higher quality nori is thick, smooth, shiny, black, and has no holes.

Nori by itself is edible as a snack. Many children love flavored nori, which is coated with teriyaki sauce. However, those tend to be cheaper, lesser quality nori that is not used for sushi.

Korean nori is distinct for being coated with sesame seed oil and salt crystals.

Omelette

When making fukusazushi, paper-thin omelette may replace a sheet of nori as the wrapping. The omelette is traditionally made in a rectangular omelette pan (makiyakinabe), and used to form the pouch for the rice and fillings.

The Wiki Cookbook has a sample recipe.

Toppings and fillings

Fish

For culinary, sanitary and aesthetic reasons, fish eaten raw must be fresher and of higher quality than fish which is cooked. A professional sushi chef is trained to recognize good fish, which smells clean, has a vivid color, and is free from harmful parasites. Only ocean fish are used raw in sushi; freshwater fish, which are more likely to harbor parasites, are cooked.

Commonly-used fish are tuna, yellowtail, snapper, conger, mackerel and salmon. The most valued sushi ingredient is toro, the fatty cut of tuna. This comes in varieties ōtoro (often from the bluefin species of tuna) and chutoro, meaning middle toro, implying it is halfway in fattiness between toro and regular red tuna (akami).

Seafood

Other seafoods are eel, squid, octopus, shrimp, fish roe, sea urchin (uni), and various kinds of shellfish. Oysters, however, are not put in sushi; the taste is not thought to go well with the rice.

Vegetables

Pickled daikon radish (takuan) in shinko maki, various pickled vegetables (tsukemono), fermented soybeans (natto) in nattō maki, avocado in California rolls, cucumber in kappa maki, asparagus, yam, tofu, pickled ume (umeboshi), gourd (kampyō), burdock (gobo), and sweet corn mixed with mayonnaise.

Red meat

Beef, ham, and horse meat, often lightly cooked. In Hawaii, fried Spam is a popular local variation.

Other fillings

Eggs (in the form of a slightly sweet, layered omelet called tamagoyaki), raw quail eggs riding as a gunkan-maki topping.

Condiments

Shōyu. しょうゆ, or 醤油, 正油. Soy sauce.
Wasabi. The grated root of the wasabi plant. The best tool to use for grating wasabi is normally considered to be a sharkskin grater or oroshi. At cheap establishments like kaiten sushi restaurants, bento box grade sushi, and at most restaurants outside of Japan, imitation wasabi made of horseradish with green coloring and wasabi-oil flavoring is used instead. Real wasabi is believed to kill germs on raw fish.
Gari. Sweet, pickled ginger.

References

Shimbo, Hiroko (2000). The Japanese Kitchen. The Harvard Commons Press. ISBN 1-55832-176-4.

Presentation

In Japan, and increasingly abroad, conveyor belt sushi/sushi train (回転寿司 - kaiten zushi) restaurants are a popular, cheap way of eating sushi. At these restaurants, the sushi is served on color-coded plates, each color denoting the cost of that piece of sushi. The plates are placed on a conveyor belt or boats floating in a moat. The belt or boat passes the sushi by the customers who can pick and choose what they want. After finishing, the bill is tallied by counting how many plates of each color have been taken.

More traditionally, sushi is served on minimalist Japanese-style, geometric, wood or lacquer plates which are mono- or duo-tone in color, in keeping with the aesthetic qualities of this cuisine. Many small sushi restaurants actually use no plates -- the sushi is eaten directly off of the wooden counter, usually with one's hands, despite the historical tradition of eating nigiri with chopsticks.

Modern fusion presentation, particularly in the United States, has given sushi a European sensibility, taking Japanese minimalism and garnishing it with Western gestures such as the colorful arrangement of edible ingredients, the use of differently flavored sauces, and the mixing of foreign flavors, highly suggestive of French cuisine, deviating somewhat from the more traditional, austere style of Japanese sushi.

Utensils for preparing sushi

Fukin: Kitchen cloth.
Hangiri: Rice barrel.
Hocho: Kitchen knives.
Makisu: Bamboo rolling mat.
Ryoribashi: Cooking chopsticks.
Shamoji: Wooden rice paddle.
Makiyakinabe: Rectangular omelet pan.

Also see the comprehensive list of Japanese cooking utensils.

Guinness World Records

January 1992. A 325 kg (715 lb) blue fin tuna sold for $83,500 (almost $257 / kg or $117 / lb) in Tokyo, Japan. The tuna was reduced to 2,400 servings of sushi for wealthy diners at $75 per serving. The estimated takings from this one fish were approximately $180,000. That was the first record for "Most Expensive Fish".
October 12, 1997: The longest sushi roll. Six hundred members of the Nikopaka Festa Committee made a kappamaki (cucumber roll) that was 1 km (3,279 ft.) long at Yoshii, Japan.

References

Barber, Kimiko;Takemura, Hiroki (2002). Sushi: Taste and Technique. DK Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-8916-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Kawasumi, Ken (2001). The Encyclopedia of Sushi Rolls. Graph-Sha. ISBN 4-88996-076-7.

External links