I really like sushi and had some yesterday... yum! Anyone else here like it? I don't go for the uncooked kinds, though... my sushi buffet offers only varieties that are not raw. Safety issues most likely. I like cream cheese and faux crab in there with the seaweed sheet and cuke stick. I like the inside out kind with the rice on the outside and sometimes rolled in crystalized ginger. A little bit of wasabi spread on top... no soy. Makes a great lunch!
I remember trying sushi a few years back, but didn't really like it as much as I thought I would. I didn't know that there was sushi that wasn't raw though. Where do you find that?
Most of our Chinese/Japanese restaurants and buffets have it that way now. If it's on a menu, I'm not sure what all of them are called, but as far as I know, "California Roll" isn't the raw stuff, for one choice. As a tip here, though, California Roll is an American/Euro thing... don't order it in Asia or they'll laugh.
A good friend spent some years selling wasabi. Chefs are beginning to use sushi on lots of different foods now, even on steaks! Katharina, have you tried wasabi in sour cream? That really adds some zing to your everyday food.
I haven't! But it sounds very interesting for sure. I've just had it "straight up" until now... a wee bit of it directly onto the sushi. I think it's supposed to be mixed in soy sauce for dipping but I don't like soy sauce. I'm remembering the first time I had it not knowing what it was but it sure was a "pretty green" hehe Oh man, the fire!
I learned yesterday that all wasabi is NOT the same. I picked up a pack of sushi at the supermarket instead of the restaurant stuff I usually get... and that packet of wasabi in there was *wicked!*
Our Sushi friend says that sometimes wasabi is not really wasabi. There is "Japanese Horseradish", which is much cheaper, and real Wasabi root, which is really expensive.
We have hosted Japanese students for four years and my daughter has traveled to Japan, she is going for a one year internship starting this Fall. Sushi is a vinegar rice mixture wrapped around traditionally one ingredient. In the Edo style (Tokyo) that is usually a small piece of raw fish. Fish is not always used in Sushi, it can be a vegetable or some meat. Many times the Sushi is wrapped with seaweed. Many people think Sushi is just raw fish, but Sushi is the rice/vinegar mixture that can contain different ingredients. Sashimi is raw fish as the main dish. Raw fish spoils quickly and is rarely prepared anywhere that is not close to the ocean. California is especially noted for Sushi and Sashimi since it has so many miles of shoreline and so many cities on on the ocean. Wasabi is used with raw fish because it has antibiotic properties that help to keep the fish from spoiling. Most restaurants on the interior of the US do not serve raw fish since it must be served within a couple hours of being caught. In some very expensive restaurants the fish are flown in live so they can be served fresh. The mixed ingredient style Sushi is strictly an American invention. In Japan there is a new style called "Creative Sushi" that still tries to focus on one ingredient but will add a second ingredient in small amounts to empahsize the main ingredient.
