Sushi is basically various types of fish or seafood pressed onto small mounds of vinegared rice.
Great skills and effort is required to prepare good sushi, thus sushi chefs are often held in high esteem.
Also, the freshness of the ingredients used is of great importance. The color and taste of the sushi depend greatly on the freshness.

Traditionally, sushi is served on wooden platforms. Nowadays, sushi is usually served on porcelain dishes or even plastic plates.
 
 

Nare-sushi :

This is the original form of sushi in Japan. One way to preserve fish was to gut it, slice the meat with or without the skin and pickle / ferment it in rice.
The fish could then be presented at meals after having taken it out of the pickle jar, cleaned it and served it with the usual Japanese fare of rice, miso soup and pickles.
Then one day, a fishmonger in Edo ( Now known as Tokyo ) came upon the idea of wrapping the fish around balls of vinegared rice .
These balls were 2 or 3 times as big as nowadays and 3 balls would be enough for a meal. This form of sushi is rarely encountered or available these days.

One modern extension of this technique is "Zuke".
The fish is first dipped in hot water for a while, then transfered into iced water to stop it cooking and then finally marinated into a pickle brine ( tsuke shiru ).
When cut, the surface is cooked and slightly harder, while the inside is still soft and comparatively raw. If it is not dipped in brine it becomes "tataki".

Note :
"Zuke" also means leaving the fish slices in a mixture of soy sauce, marinated after a certain amount of time before making any kind of sushi.
Each restaurant has its own original secrets and recipes.

Nigiri-sushi ( Edomae Sushi ) :

The term "nigiri sushi" basically means "pressed sushi". Made by pressing slices of fish or seafood onto small hand-formed ball of vinegared rice called "shari".
Usually, a small portion of  Japanese horse-radish called "wasabi" is added between the seafood and the rice.
Wasabi is known to kill the bacteria on the seafood.

Temari-sushi ( Kyoto Sushi ) :

The temari-sushi looks like a small, round nigiri-sushi, and its size is extremely popular with diet-concious ladies.
 
 

Oshi-sushi ( Osaka Sushi ) :

This type of square-shaped sushi is made from stuffing vinegared rice into small wooden boxes, then smeared with wasabi.
Finally thin slices of fish or other seafood are carefully arranged on top usually so as to form a pattern.
A wooden lid will then be placed on top of the sushi to press it evenly and firmly.
The sushi will be then slid out out of the box and cut into regular rectangular portions to be served accordingly to the chef's taste and skill.
 
 

Kaiten Sushi ( Revolving Conveyor-belt Sushi ) :

The fashion nowadays is having a sushi feast in Kaiten Sushi restaurants. With sushi moving on conveyor-belt, you can choose whatever you like.
Sushi used to be a delicacy, and not everyone can eat sushi very often. Kaiten Sushi enables almost everyone to eat sushi at an affordable price.
The pricing is usually calculated by the number of plates of sushi comsumed.
 
 

Some Kaiten Sushi restaurants even have a computerised system which customers can order the sushi not found on the conveyor-belt.
The chefs would then receive the order over at the sushi bar. When the sushi is prepared, it would be placed onto the coneyor-belt for collection.
 
 

Freshness of the sushi is very important. In fact, sushi ingredients should be stored an air-conditioned environment.
The taste of the sushi will be affected when placed in open-air for too long, and bacteria may grow on the sushi.
So, how do we ensure that the sushi is really fresh ?
No worries. Every individual plate is encoded. The plates of sushi that are left on the conveyor-belt unconsumed for over 55 minutes are removed to ensure the freshness of the sushi.
 
 

[ BACK TO THE MAIN PAGE ]