Sushi

FL_Hiker

Hi,
I’m looking to learn how to make sushi for my husband for Valentine’s Day! He prefers more fish over rice, sashimi but I’m also open to learning California rolls or maki too! Anyone have any easy to follow recipe? Is sashimi really as simple as going to the store, getting some fish, freezing it for 24 hours to kill bacteria and then preparing? Will any cut of salmon from the grocery store do?
Thanks!

Edit I put this in the recipe section, not sure why it jumped into the fitness section.....?

Tacklewasher

Maybe ask to have this moved to Food & Nutrition

FL_Hiker

I put it in recipe and it showed up here lol...

Tacklewasher

Weird.

You can ask for it to be moved. Just click on Flag, select report select other and in the comment section ask if it can be moved.

Or just post the question again in recipes and see if this one gets closed

shaneozouf

Ok. So I'm going to answer the actual question.

Find a good recipe for making sushi rice first. Sushi rice should be served just over room temperature, you'll need rice vinegar for this. For the rolls you'll want a rolling mat, some plastic wrap, and Nori sheets (use gold grade). When working with sushi rice, always make sure your hands are wet. When cutting rolls, use an excessively sharp knife, don't saw, and keep the knife wet with water.

You need to try and find sashimi grade fish, basically any ocean fish that was recently caught or flash frozen upon carving. Just buying fish at a grocery store (frozen or not) can be dangerous, because you don't know if the fish has been thawed and refrozen. Search for flash frozen, day 1, or sashimi grade fish. You can freeze your own fish if you have a flash freezer, a regular freezer will cause the water crystals to freeze too slowly and affect the flavor.

Freezing DOES NOT kill bacteria, it kills parasites. Only cooking food to an internal temperature of 165° F will kill bacteria. All fish have parasites. Salmon is always a risk because it is fish that lives in fresh water, or comes to freshwater to spawn, so salmon that is used for sushi must be flash frozen - up to 80% of salmon may contain ring worms. Fresh caught oceanic fish is usually safe, like tuna.

FL_Hiker

shaneozouf wrote: »

Ok. So I'm going to answer the actual question.

Find a good recipe for making sushi rice first. Sushi rice should be served just over room temperature, you'll need rice vinegar for this. For the rolls you'll want a rolling mat, some plastic wrap, and Nori sheets (use gold grade). When working with sushi rice, always make sure your hands are wet. When cutting rolls, use an excessively sharp knife, don't saw, and keep the knife wet with water.

You need to try and find sashimi grade fish, basically any ocean fish that was recently caught or flash frozen upon carving. Just buying fish at a grocery store (frozen or not) can be dangerous, because you don't know if the fish has been thawed and refrozen. Search for flash frozen, day 1, or sashimi grade fish. You can freeze your own fish if you have a flash freezer, a regular freezer will cause the water crystals to freeze too slowly and affect the flavor.

Freezing DOES NOT kill bacteria, it kills parasites. Only cooking food to an internal temperature of 165° F will kill bacteria. All fish have parasites. Salmon is always a risk because it is fish that lives in fresh water, or comes to freshwater to spawn, so salmon that is used for sushi must be flash frozen - up to 80% of salmon may contain ring worms. Fresh caught oceanic fish is usually safe, like tuna.

Wow thank you for all of the information, extremely helpful! Where does one usually find sashimi grade fish? Do Asian markets usually carry it?

swirlybee

In addition to what @shaneozouf said, I would recommend that you watch a couple of Youtube videos on making sushi rice and sushi rolls. Or read this link from seriouseats.com. Other than using good rice, the key to good sushi rice is to make sure that you use a fan to cool the hot rice to room temperature while you add in the vinegar and other ingredients.

Also, technically, the word sushi means vinegared rice, not raw fish.

If you can't find sashimi grade fish, you can use smoked salmon, cooked crab meat, canned tuna, etc.

swirlybee

One more thing. I'm half Japanese and my husband is 100% Japanese and this is the way we do sushi at home. All ingredients are laid out separately on the table. Nori sheets are cut down to more manageable pieces (or bought pre-cut) and then each person just grabs as much rice, fish, and veggie as they want, put on the nori sheet and then roll themselves.

LookingBusy

Wow thank you for all of the information, extremely helpful! Where does one usually find sashimi grade fish? Do Asian markets usually carry it?

Call up local fishmongers or specialty seafood stores and ask. Sometimes they can order in specific ones for you.

Another easy roll you can do uses frozen torpedo shrimp (the long breaded ones). I line up two of them (facing each other so the tail sits outside the roll) and add cucumber, avocado, etc. It ends up being really tasty and simple.

Search how to make sushi rice. You season it with rice wine vinegar and salt (sometimes sugar). You can also buy specific Japanese spicy mayo. My regular grocery store has it, but you can also check Asian markets if you have some nearby.

Have fun! I love making sushi.

acpgee

swirlybee wrote: »

One more thing. I'm half Japanese and my husband is 100% Japanese and this is the way we do sushi at home. All ingredients are laid out separately on the table. Nori sheets are cut down to more manageable pieces (or bought pre-cut) and then each person just grabs as much rice, fish, and veggie as they want, put on the nori sheet and then roll themselves.

This is the way my Japanese girlfriend showed me how to serve family style nori hand rolls too. It's a great easy way to serve hand rolls at home. If you are stretching your fish budget, add those fake crab sticks used in california rolls cut in half lengthwise and sliced japanese rolled omelet. We also like to include julienned pickled daikon and 2 inch long slivers of chive. Not pictured are the wasabi and individual dishes for dipping into soy.