How to eat sushi?

[Chrono]

David, that was a great post you did. I learned a lot from it.

Me and a friend from school went to eat sushi at a local restaurant and it was my first time. I had no idea the etiquette on it. The chef helped a little bit, though.

[Gary Dolce]

Penzeys spices (www.penzeys.com) sells something they call "pure wasabi" ($11.95 for a 0.7 oz jar), which they distinguish from "natural wasabi" - a blend of "pure wasabi" and horseradish. I haven't tried it yet, and at that price I probably won't. While their terminology in this case leaves something to be desired, in general this is a good place to order high quality spices.

Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days? Some are quite tasty, though I draw the line at ones containing cream cheese, blue cheese, or mayo. While I really like some of the spicy ones, I imagine that these defeat the purpose of savoring the flavor of the rice, vinegar, and sugar. To the purists, what are the limits for maki sushi ingredients?

[John Seavitt]

Penzeys ... sells something they call "pure wasabi" ... which they distinguish from ... a blend of "pure wasabi" and horseradish.

I've got some of that at home. Penzey's is great (and I gather they have a store coming to Boston soon). As they point out in their product literature, it's a much milder flavor without the horseradish (duh, I know). It is my impression that most commercially available wasabi is 'cut' with horseradish
and mustard (perhaps not unlike other expensive products such as balsamic vinegar and crack cocaine).

It is pricy, but I'd say that it's worth trying. Only going to need a tiny bit at a time, anyway, as recently discussed. I like it for cooking if there's no fresh around.

Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional ... blue cheese ...

Alright, I'm perfectly happy to combine flavors in imaginative ways, but - blue cheese and fish? C'mon already!

John

[Chrono]

Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days?

I tried the California rolls when I went. It was pretty good. The girl I was with told me that it's a good start for someone just trying sushi.

[Brian Owens]

...Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days? Some are quite tasty, though I draw the line at ones containing cream cheese, blue cheese, or mayo....

Well, I like some of the ones with cream cheese or mayo; it's a change of pace. I just chew plenty of shoga before the next one.

I like Salmon, Apple, and Cream Cheese (all products of my state, as is nori).

[Gary Dolce]

Penzey's is great (and I gather they have a store coming to Boston soon).

I wish they had a store coming to the Detroit area. I'd probably hang out there just for the smells. Have you tried their Vietnamese cinnamon? A little too sharp for most baking but the aroma is incredible. Their Maharajah Curry mix (the one with saffron in it) is also amazing.

It is pricy, but I'd say that it's worth trying. Only going to need a tiny bit at a time, anyway, as recently discussed. I like it for cooking if there's no fresh around.

OK, you've got me convinced. After what I sepent for a bottle of vanilla a few months ago, $11.95 isn't so bad.

[Dave Lowry]

I am asked above by Mr. Dolce about the relevance of various sorts of wrapped sushi named imaginatively after cities, geographical regions, etc., and filled with items ranging from the odd to the bizarre.
Mr. Dolce, have you ever watched the "Today" programme in the morning and seen the shrieking, mooing, hooting, near stampeding hordes clamouring for the attention of Katie or Matt or whatever pop star is performing that day? People, mostly from out of town and coming to one of the most interesting cities on the planet and who have nothing better or more productive to do than to traipse down to Rockefeller Plaza in the early morning to form a confederacy of similarly-inclined quid nuncs?
The sushi-like products you mention are to real sushi what those crowds are to decent and intelligent and creative people.

Cordially,

[Gary Dolce]

Thanks Mr. Lowry - your answer was pretty much as I expected. Fortunately, I don't watch TV, but I can appreciate the image you describe.

When it comes to food, I like anything that tastes good. While I appreciate traditional sushi (which I have had at many places in both the US and Japan), I also like some of the odd variations, just as I like some, but not all, of the odd combinations that one finds in restaurants that make "pan-Asian" cuisine. There is a place for traditionalism in food and a place for innovation - I personally have no problem with either as long as neither one claims to be something it isn't.

I will look forward to reading your book. I am still curious where you draw the line in terms of ingredients and combinations in maki sushi. Besides things like cheese, mayo, and hot sauce (I'm guessing these would be on your list), what else is do you put outside the bounds of reasonable sushi? Or in other terms, are the only reasonable ingredients, besides the sushi rice, the seafood, egg, and some vegetables native to and traditionally used in Japan?

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Dolce,
Your question is a good one, but difficult to answer—and probably impossible to answer conclusively. Contrary to what many might think, sushi is actually among the most modern of innovations in Japanese cuisine, even though its roots, using rice as a medium for preserving fish, goes way, way back. The most popular sushi we eat today, nuggets of rice topped with various ingredients, dates only back to the late Edo period. Hanaya Yohei opened the first sushi stall in Ryogoku in 1824, serving “Edomae” sushi. The word’s a reference to Edo Bay, from where the fish for the sushi came. Since that time, some toppings (they’re called neta or tane) have come in and gone out of fashion. Just before the second world war, for instance, kajiki or marlin became a huge fad as a tane. Now it’s only rarely eaten in sushi-ya. Very, very few people in Edo times ate iwashi (sardine) at sushi-ya. Now it’s fairly popular. And ikura, the salmon eggs that are now eaten all the time in sushi were not even heard of in Japan until the 1930s. They were introduced to Japan as a result of some Japanese spies who were in Russia and up to no good, men affiliated with the nefarious Black Dragon Society. While spying on the Russian military (by, among other ways, setting up judo dojo where they taught the art to Russians), they ate caviar for the first time. No sturgeon in Japan, but there were salmon and the egg sacs of salmon, sujiko, had long been eaten and so the Japanese spies, on their return to Japan, got sushi makers to incorporate just the eggs into sushi.
So sushi isn’t some monolithic “traditional” cuisine that hasn’t changed since the Yayoi Period. It’s always been in flux and remains so today. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. I suppose the best advice I could give would be in judging innovations would be to use these criteria: Does the change enhance the taste and “mouth feel” of the rice which is at the heart of sushi? Or does it obscure that? Is the change consonant with what has been prepared and eaten in the sushi-ya? Or is it simply a change for the sake of being outrageous or “creative?”
In Japanese aesthetics, there are a couple of terms that come to mind. Konomi and konomi-metate. Konomi is a creative impulse that vivifies something in a new way. A good example is the hoe of Sen no Rikyu. Rikyu, who galvinized the tea ceremony in Japan, was a genius at finding beauty in everyday objects. Once, in the tokonoma, the alcove of the tea room where flowers or a scroll are normally placed, he put an old hoe, still muddy from the field. Placed there and observed as an art object, the old hoe, the worn handle and pitted, well-used blade, it was seen as beautiful. He caused the viewer to look at this everyday object in a different way. Same with the tea bowls he used, which were based on the rough, simple bowls used for rice by Korean farmers. That’s konomi.
Konomi-metate is when one goes over that line and tries to be creative but succeeds only in being atrocious or pointlessly avant-garde. Most “art” today is konomi-metate. Immersing a crucifix in a jar of urine does nothing to get us to see the crucifix in a different or unique way. It simply seeks to shock. Epatage la bourgeois. Wearing a formal kimono in which to do a karate kata, as Nakayama did back in the Sixties was an act of konomi. It caused us to see the beauty of kata in a dramatically different way but one that was consonant with kitsuke (proper wearing of kimono) and with the kata of the art. Wearing a day-glo hakama and tank-top and squawking like a frightened macaw while doing some made up crapola "kata” is konomi metate.
So, to make a long answer slightly longer, my advice in judging innovations in sushi would be to learn so much about sushi that you are capable of recognising and appreciating the difference between konomi and konomi-metate in it. And in so much else in life.

Cordially,

[Moniteur]

Hi Dave,

great reply.

As an example... there is a hibachi steak place and sushi bar here in Wichita, which is owned by a Japanese gentleman. There are a few others here that are own by Taiwanese. All of them offer basically the same sorts of things. The rice and fish at the Japanese owned place are a cut above the rest however, and priced accordingly. It is the only place in town where you can get Katsuo (What exactly is katsuo/bonito anyway? a tuna? or a form of skipjack mackeral?) when it's in season.. the usual nigiri are there, as are temaki and hoso/futo maki.. of the more odd stuff, there is the usual spider roll and so on.

Being that KS is a beef state, he has a roll on the menu called the KS roll, which contains a little bit of prime filet, barely seared (or left entirely raw if you ask politely and promise not to sue or tell the health department), fresh grated horseradish, and a little bit of what I think is beefsteak plant.. its really quite good, a nice subtle flavour over all. however - it does no favours for the rice. it's not bad, but it does rather drown out the flavour of the rice (this is more of a problem if they sear the beef, than if it's left raw). Personally, I'd say its slightly over the line into 'not sushi' I've had it a couple times, and would probably order it again, but it's really not sushi. one of these days I'm going to try to convince him to do a sashimi type plate of the raw filet - though I suspect I'll have to ply him with a drink or two first.

Chris

[kimiwane]

I detest self-promotion. However, I’ve written a book, a rather lengthy one, The Connoisseur’s Guide to Sushi, that will be published this October by Harvard Common Press, which answers all the questions you have asked, often in considerable, even tedious, detail.

Will look forward to reading your new book.

Thanks for the interesting facts. Didn't realize you were such a food expert. I've read your articles for years. Good to see you have balanced the martial arts knowledge with cultural and other knowledge.

I went to a local market to buy some sahimi for my lunch one day. I wanted a bunch of maguro with shredded daikon and wasabi to eat at my desk, propriety being no consideration. I just wanted a bunch of raw maguro.

So I picked out a little styrofoam tray that looked like it had about a pound of sushi on it and asked the guy to get it for me. He did and when I saw how "little" wasabi was on the tray, I asked him to put some more on it.

He said "More?" and I said, "Yes, please."

So he handed it off to someone else and said, "More wasabi!"

The other guy said "More?"

And the first guy said, "Hai! Gaijin!"

And when he saw my slightly hurt look, he added "San!"

[Trevor Johnson]

Sounds like gaijin should stash their own wasabi somewhere so as not to be found out.

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Kimiwane,
Sashimi is different from sushi, of course. The principal difference is that sashimi is eaten with regular rice and not with prepared sushi-meshi. Wasabi with sashimi is proper and enhances the taste.
I know this flies in the face of everything you might have been told about sushi, but wasabi is a very small part of enjoying that food. It is added by the maker, between the rice (shari) and the topping (tane) in some instances and in limited amounts. Remember this: You know how that beautiful woman on TV reminds us that Overstock.com is "all about the codes?" Or is it "clothes?" Or is it "gold?" I can't understand her. Anyway, imagine her explaining to you that in sushi, "it's all about the meshi." Sushi is all about the exquisite blending of rice, sugar, and rice vinegar. That mixture changes, depending on the season and on the particular form of sushi. But it's about enjoying the flavour and texture of the sushi-meshi, the sushi rice. The toppings and other ingredients are there to make things more interesting but they should never overwhelm the rice.
That's why wasabi-joyu, the slurry of pond-scum green soy sauce that's whipped up by the would-be sushi enthusiast the way the witches were brewing a potion in "Macbeth" is such an egregiously bad idea. It began, no doubt, when eating sashimi. With sashimi, it enhances the flavour of the fish since it's the fish that's the star of that particular culinary party. Somehow, wasabi-joyu got carried over into sushi. Now, like kudzu or Paris Hilton, it's ubiquitous and we'll never be shed of it.
People confuse sashimi and sushi, even when they know the difference. But they are two different foods and are eaten differently. With a lunch of maguro sashimi, wasabi and shoyu mixed together is good, especially if you're eating it, as you should, with a bowl of plain rice. But too many sushi enthusiasts, even in Japan, are drowning good sushi in wasabi-joyu, negating the time and energy the maker has put in preparing the delicate rice.
By the way, if you like maguro sashimi, you should know that shoyu really, really enhances this fish. Remember that the fattier the cut, the less shoyu you'll want to use.
You also ought to try tekone-zushi, which is usually made with bonito but which is excellent with maguro as well. Cut up maguro into dice-sized chunks, then marinade it for about fifteen minutes in a little fresh ginger juice, then mix it into sushi-meshi. Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds, or chopped shiso and serve it with squares of toasted nori on the side. Tekone-zushi is a classic meal made by fishermen right out on the boat.

[Chrono]

So I picked out a little styrofoam tray that looked like it had about a pound of sushi on it and asked the guy to get it for me. He did and when I saw how "little" wasabi was on the tray, I asked him to put some more on it.

He said "More?" and I said, "Yes, please."

So he handed it off to someone else and said, "More wasabi!"

The other guy said "More?"

And the first guy said, "Hai! Gaijin!"

And when he saw my slightly hurt look, he added "San!"

Ok, I have to admit, that was pretty funny.

[Brian Owens]

Dave, I have a sushi question if I may.

On Saturday I had a type of fish I'm not familiar with. The chef called it "Super White Tuna" but said he didn't know the Japanese name.

Pure white, with a very buttery mouth feel and very mild taste.

Any idea what this was?

TIA.