Making Sushi

[Rau Le Creuset]

Dudes, I've totally never eaten sushi. I should get on that.

[peter]

I'm sold. I'm going to forget any experience I have had 'sushi wise' to date and go eat in the best sushi house my country has to offer. I'll find it. I'll do it, and be back within.... mmm..... well realistically, a few months [I'm guessing I'll have to go to London and it'll be this long 'till I'm up there again].

[Vader]

Just made some classic maki-suhsi rolls again. Symmetry was okay, I'm getting better there. Filled with raw tuna, wasabi, avocados, cucumber and spring onions, served with Japanese light soy, more wasabi and gari.

This time I follwed Zarathustra's advice and added a bit of dashi to the rice. I will never cook my sushi rice without it again.

The tuna, cucumber, onion and avocado leftovers were turned into a salad. For that I roasted black and white sesame seeds in a bit of oil, added the skliced tuna, stir fried it for like 20 seconds, deglazed with a few drops of sake and put it together with th evegetables into a bowl., Seasoned with soy and Japanese vinegar and a bit of shichimi togarashi - seven-spices-chili-pepper.

[peter]

It's 8.30am where I am Vader and few things in the world get my apatite going before eleven or twelve - but you just managed it!

[Vader]

My second attempt making at dragon rolls. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Used Zarathustra's dashi trick again. Wonderful flavor. I read in a sushi book that you can put a piece of kombu on top of the rice while cooking it. Flavorwise I guess it'll be similar.

[Zarathustra]

My god, those look amazing. Is that red pepper slivers inside one? I love red/yellow/orange bell peppers, along with jalapeno, with sushi.

Thanks for the credit on dashi, but I'm just passing on info I've learned from others. The only thing I can add personally is that I like 3/4 tsp per cup of rice (measured uncooked). The "fishy" taste of dashi is quite strong if you taste the rice by itself, but blends perfectly in a roll.

I'll try to post some pictures, but I'm a little intimidated by yours.

[Zarathustra]

Alright, not a great picture, not even my best rolls, but here's a sample:

[damnit, having trouble posting. Can anyone help with advice on how to get a photobucket picture to show up here? I copied shortcut for the picture, and then put that url in Img tags. I thought that's how I used to do it.]

[Savor Dam]

Z, what I find to be helpful when I can't get a tag to work is to quote someone else's post where they used the tag, adapt their syntax to what I am doing, preview...and repeat until I get it to work.

Try this technique based on some of Vader's photo posts and see if it helps.

If that fails, consider leaving your attempt in your post. Perhaps by seeing the url and syntax you are using, we can diagnose what's amiss and PM you so you can edit...or our mod, the Gracious Concierge of the Watch, will just step in and fix it.

[Vader]

Actually it should work that way. Don't know what's wrong.

The orange stuff js carrot, for color and more important extra texture.

[Zarathustra]

I figured out my error.



Now, I'll just have to buy a better camera, and not have as many homebrews while I make sushi, and it might turn out as pretty as Vader's.

[Vader]

Those look wonderful, far better thyn mine. I'd pay to eat this.

[Zarathustra]

Ah, you're too kind. But I appreciate the compliment.

[Vader]

How beautiful would it be to have our two rolls together on a plate - one topped with what I assume is salmon (smoked?) and the other with avocado. Orange salmon, white rice and green avocado. We either need an Irish whiskey with that or make some Indian tandoori sushi rolls. :p

[Menolly]

Oh, please not smoked salmon. In sushi, the purer the sashimi, the better.

I'll take a boat of both of y'all's rolls, please.

BTW, Z. Do you have any recommendations for eateries (sushi or otherwise) in Louisville? I'm headed to the Makers Mark Distillery after 'fest, since Beorn's barrel is ready and I'm going to dip his two bottles. I'll be in Louisville for a couple of nights.

[Zarathustra]

Vader, that's sashimi salmon, not smoked. But I do smoke my leftover sashimi either the same night or the next day.

I've tried doing the avocado on the outside and failed miserably every time. But the technique for salmon on the outside looks the same as what you've done above, with the plastic wrap over the top, forming it with rolling mat, and then cutting through the plastic wrap (I assume that's what you do). I'm just not able to get the right shape or slice out of the avocado.

Menolly, I'm not very familiar with Louisville restaurants. I know there are several craft breweries/brew pubs. I've been dying to go to Against the Grain Brewery and Smokehouse. Check out the pictures at their website:

www.atgbrewery.com/

The pulled pork nachos look tasty. I'm also intrigued by the smoked Manhatten.

There is also Bluegrass Brewing Company (BBC), but I was not impressed with either the food or the beer.

However, be careful downtown. The local government and media are downplaying how dangerous it is. Parking structures are becoming ambushes. Women are being chased in stairwells and blocked from elevators. There have been assaults and more. I hear Waterside Park isn't safe.

[Menolly]

However, be careful downtown. The local government and media are downplaying how dangerous it is. Parking structures are becoming ambushes. Women are being chased in stairwells and blocked from elevators. There have been assaults and more. I hear Waterside Park isn't safe.

Oh dear. Will do.

[Vader]

Silly me. I should have guessed it was sashimi.

The avocado needs to be in the perfect state of ripeness. Soft enough to beautifully bend around the roll, yet firm enough to let you cut it thin slices without ending up with a guacamole.

The last time I cut both halves in halves again, used the thinner ends for the filling and put the thicker ends together again and cut them in thimn slices for the topping. This way the slices on top roughly had the same size.

Otherwise I mostly followed this example here --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJNj5df963A

He makes it look so easy.

Watching it again I see that I always cut the end pieces to small, that's why they tend to fall apart. Obviously they need to be thicker than the other pieces. I have seen this video millions of times and only notice it now ... You see, but just don't observe, Vader.

[Zarathustra]

Damn, I can see how you'd miss something in that video. He goes so fast! With little explanation. I also watched the Crazy Tuna video from the same source. I'm amazed how they can put the correct amount of rice on the nori from the beginning, almost exactly where all the rice needs to go, without having to spread it around much. I have to fuss with my rice to make it "perfect," spreading it to cover every little gap. Maybe I'm over-thinking it. I also use less rice than they do, so perhaps they'd go slower without slapping such a large amount down.

For the dragon roll, it's interesting to see that all the avocado is left together, stacked at a slant. I've been cutting individual pieces and then trying to layer them on one at a time. Stupid. This is so much better.

Oh yeah, I wanted to say about the dashi ... now that I'm used to it, the rice just tastes bland and "watery" without it. I've forgotten to add it before, and the difference it huge.

One final trick I've learned on my own: I use a spice grinder to powder my salt and sugar before adding it to the vinegar. Prior to doing this, I could never get all the salt/sugar to dissolve in such a small amount of vinegar, even after heating it in the microwave to speed the process. It would always have a syrupy mix at the bottom. (Of course, if you buy "sushi vinegar" that's pre-seasoned, this isn't a problem, but they taste like crap in my opinion ... high fructose corn syrup, yuck.)

[Vader]

No secret, I love Gordon Ramsay. Watch him trying to make a dragon roll.

Also watch a Japanese sushi master make the roll even without a maki-su at 1:53.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHdOCWjQ00

[Vader]

My latest attempt trying to recreate Zarathustras dragon roll with sashimi. I'm still way to slow, but I think I got the rolling technique right now.

Filling is tuna, avocado, spring onion, carrot and cucumber.

And I can't thank him enough for sharing that dashi trick.