Sushi 1.0
The Idea
First off I completely screwed up taking pictures for this post. I even took out my nice DSLR camera, but due to extreme user error, all the pictures I took are unusable. I promise on the next post to have some really nice pictures to share.
So this turned out to be both fun and I think a good first attempt at making a sushi roll. My inspiration behind this comes from recently watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi again. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it, and I believe it’s currently on Netflix. It was done by the same creator of Chef’s Table, which is also on Netflix. The documentary talks about how the owner Jiro became an artisan and created a sushi joint that has three Michelin stars. It’s inspiring to see someone with a small ten-seat sushi shop in a subway in Tokyo have the most prestigious sushi restaurant in the world. His passion for what he does is inspiring as well.
Now I’ve tried many times to attempt sushi, but finding sushi-grade fish isn’t the easiest. Sushi grade fish is typically flash-frozen, per FDA standards to kill any parasites, and then usually a grade 1 fish. I also try to cook sustainably when I can, so using unfarmed tuna or salmon when I’m experimenting probably isn’t the best solution. I decided to go a different route and make a sort of cheesesteak roll. Now you’ll notice I actually didn’t use any cheese, but I have an idea of what to do next time that will include cheese. My main goal was to learn how to roll sushi and to perfect the sushi rice itself.
The Process
For the rice, I used a recipe that I’ve used multiple times and has been well received by my family. I am a big fan of the Nishiki Medium Grain that I have linked below. Normally a short grain is used, but this rice came highly recommended when I was researching rice. This recipe is very easy especially if you are using an Instantpot. The recipe has you use equal amounts of rice vinegar and white wine vinegar. I was lazy and just used rice vinegar, and next time I actually think I will use both but eliminate half of the sugar. It was a little sweeter than I’d like it to be. The consistency of the rice was perfect, however, and was sticky enough that it was super easy to work with.
After the rice, I prepped the ingredients I would be using in the rolls themselves. I had a package of chip steak that was left from the last cow purchase we made, so I decided to go with that. The only other ingredients that I needed to prep was to fry up some green peppers and onions. My original idea was to use a can of Cheez Whiz, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t find it in the grocery store until weeks later when I wasn’t actively looking for it. I then decided to skip the cheese and instead made a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise AKA fancy sauce if you’re a fan of Stepbrothers.
All that was left was to actually make the rolls. I had purchased a roller probably a year ago that I had yet to use. It consists of a mat, a stand for the mat, a template to ensure that the rice is uniform and leaves enough blank space on the nori sheet, and a rice paddle. It’s extremely easy to use, and I will link the kit below. There are other options including the sushi cannon, but I don’t know how well they work not to mention I’m trying to actually learn how to roll. To roll the sushi you essentially lay down a sheet of nori (dried edible seaweed), using the paddle or wet fingers lay down a thin layer of rice ensuring you leave approximately a half-inch of unused nori at the top of the roll, lay down your ingredients ensuring now to overdo it, and then finally using the matt roll up your sushi roll. The first roll I did actually turned out perfect, but the second roll I used too much rice so it wasn’t as tight as I would have liked it. Overall it was a pretty easy practice. The only thing that is left is to slice up the roll evenly. I recommend using the thinnest knife that you have and make sure that the knife is wet in between slices. Traditionally sushi chefs will use a single bevel Japanese knife. This means the knife has only one sharpened edge instead of two like most western knives, which allows the blade to be thinner. A Japanese knife also is just slightly concave so food sticks less as you slice.
“I wish I had been less of an airhead with my camera because they turned out quite nicely.”
After slicing I then applied a stripe of my “fancy sauce”, and for a little flourish, I then drew both parts of a ying-yang on both sides of the roll. I wish I had been less of an airhead with my camera because they turned out quite nicely. This just means I’ll have to do it again, but next time I plan to use actual fish.
The Recipes
Ingredients
Lessons Learned
I think besides the obvious screwup of not operating my camera correctly this was a good attempt at making a sushi roll. I’m glad I decided to go without fish because when I actually use fish I want to be able to create perfect rolls worthy of good fish. I will definitely make adjustments to the rice as well next time. My family liked it, but I would like to tone down the rice so the roll ingredients aren’t overpowered. I also learned that a nice tight roll means I need to use less rice. Essentially the layer of rice shouldn’t be much higher than an individual grain of rice.
Useful Gadgets
For this recipe, the main must-haves are some type of rice cooker and a rolling mat. I have included my Amazon Associate links for everything below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
For the rice cooker, this could be a traditional rice cooker or I highly recommend an instant pot. It’s easy to use and is probably one of the most versatile kitchen gadgets that a person could have.
While you’re buying an instant pot save yourself the time and get the non-stick insert as well. I typically use this insert unless I’m using the instant pot to sear. It’s not only nice to have two inserts to eliminate the need for washing in between cooking multiple components of a dish, but it prevents sticking for obvious reasons. For rice, the insert is super necessary because rice loves to stick to the stock stainless insert.
For the roller, I recommend the SushiQuik rolling kit. It comes with everything that I described above and really makes the process easy. After a couple of rolls, I felt confident that I could do it without the guide. Otherwise, a simple rolling mat will definitely do the trick, but for $25 it’s a pretty decent deal.
When it comes to slicing it’s really up to personal preference on what knife to use. As I said earlier traditionally you should use a thin filet style knife. I ended up using my large chef’s knife, but in the future, I’d like to have a nice Japanese knife. Looking on Amazon there are a ton of well-reviewed options. I included a decent option below.
