Sushi
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
This wonderful and healthy foodstuff has been eaten for absolutely forever in Japan, where it is the secret of their long life, containing virtually no fat.
Sushi is basically raw fish with rice (particularly sweet and sticky rice is usually used for making sushi), presented in a number of different ways, often wrapped in seaweed and with a little wasabi (a fiery green mustard-like compound made from horseradish).
Whilst the most common fishes to be found in Western sushi restaurants are salmon and tuna, there is a huge range of fish (or seafood) to be used, ranging from mackerel to scallops to eel, and a number of things which are cooked (because they have to be), such as octopus and prawns. The most adventurous sushi-eaters try blowfish - infamous for having parts of the body which are deadly poisonous even in tiny amounts. These parts have to be carefully cut away, and a license is therefore needed to prepare it.
To prepare sushi roll, 'make' (pronounced mah-kay), sashimi (raw fish) is cut up into small neat strips and rolled with a small amount of wasabi in rice which is surrounded by a layer of seaweed to hold it together (all done with the aid of a helpful bamboo mat), and then cut into bite-sized pieces, which usually come in sets of four or six, depending on the size of the roll before being cut up.
Sushi can also be rolled by hand, usually producing larger, cone-shaped rolls which tend to have a larger number of constituent fishes and vegetables, and sometimes come in slightly thicker seaweed to keep the less structurally sound creation together.
Alternatively a small slab of sashimi can be placed on a slab of rice, and the two bound together with a strip of seaweed, again sandwiching a small quantity of wasabi.
Sushi is generally eaten with Japanese chopsticks (the ones that taper to a point, rather than having flat ends), or with the fingers and is first dipped in a small bowl of soy sauce, to which has been added a little more wasabi as desired (though it is sometimes suggested that you should only add wasabi to soy sauce for dipping sashimi, since sushi already has it in).
Sushi is well accompanied by sake (rice wine), which should be served hot (which makes the alcohol go to the head faster), making a nice complement to the fish itself which is usually served chilled, as well as a bowl of miso soup.
Recently a craze for conveyor-belt sushi restaurants has grown up - such as Moshi Moshi in Liverpool Street Station, London, and various branches of Yo! Sushi (complete with robotic waiters carrying around drink) - where delicious-looking morsels are prepared in front of you by chefs and paraded past your eyes on circular conveyor-belts! It's a good way to experience sushi for the first time (with no commitment to eat more than one plateful), though not the cheapest.
Sushi is basically raw fish with rice (particularly sweet and sticky rice is usually used for making sushi), presented in a number of different ways, often wrapped in seaweed and with a little wasabi (a fiery green mustard-like compound made from horseradish).
Whilst the most common fishes to be found in Western sushi restaurants are salmon and tuna, there is a huge range of fish (or seafood) to be used, ranging from mackerel to scallops to eel, and a number of things which are cooked (because they have to be), such as octopus and prawns. The most adventurous sushi-eaters try blowfish - infamous for having parts of the body which are deadly poisonous even in tiny amounts. These parts have to be carefully cut away, and a license is therefore needed to prepare it.
To prepare sushi roll, 'make' (pronounced mah-kay), sashimi (raw fish) is cut up into small neat strips and rolled with a small amount of wasabi in rice which is surrounded by a layer of seaweed to hold it together (all done with the aid of a helpful bamboo mat), and then cut into bite-sized pieces, which usually come in sets of four or six, depending on the size of the roll before being cut up.
Sushi can also be rolled by hand, usually producing larger, cone-shaped rolls which tend to have a larger number of constituent fishes and vegetables, and sometimes come in slightly thicker seaweed to keep the less structurally sound creation together.
Alternatively a small slab of sashimi can be placed on a slab of rice, and the two bound together with a strip of seaweed, again sandwiching a small quantity of wasabi.
Sushi is generally eaten with Japanese chopsticks (the ones that taper to a point, rather than having flat ends), or with the fingers and is first dipped in a small bowl of soy sauce, to which has been added a little more wasabi as desired (though it is sometimes suggested that you should only add wasabi to soy sauce for dipping sashimi, since sushi already has it in).
Sushi is well accompanied by sake (rice wine), which should be served hot (which makes the alcohol go to the head faster), making a nice complement to the fish itself which is usually served chilled, as well as a bowl of miso soup.
Recently a craze for conveyor-belt sushi restaurants has grown up - such as Moshi Moshi in Liverpool Street Station, London, and various branches of Yo! Sushi (complete with robotic waiters carrying around drink) - where delicious-looking morsels are prepared in front of you by chefs and paraded past your eyes on circular conveyor-belts! It's a good way to experience sushi for the first time (with no commitment to eat more than one plateful), though not the cheapest.
