Sushi/Sashimi

[BudoYama]

Exscuse me, but could anyone explain to me the difference between sushi and sashimi?
I have had sushi but was told that sushi and sashimi are very similar whilst also being very different!!!
Are they both raw fish?

Thank you,
Joe Adams

[Woody]

As I recall, sashimi is raw fish without the rice cake or other stuff. Fish straight up, so to speak. Sushi usually refers to a piece of sashimi on top of a rice cake perhaps wrapped with seaweed and a bit of wasabi between the sashimi and the rice cake.

In America the terms are often used interchangeably.

[Josh Reyer]

There's actually no dish that represents "raw fish". Raw fish is simply one part of the Japanese diet. Sushi and sashimi refer to a method of preparation, not ingredients.

Sushi is anything that is eaten with rice that's been mixed with a certain kind of vinegar. One common kind of sushi is tamago; that is, a kind of fried egg that's cut into rectangles and placed on the vinegared rice. If you go to a sushi restaurant in Japan (particularly a cheap assembly-belt place), you'll see all kinds of things, including thin slices of steak, put onto the rice and served. It's all sushi.

Sashimi, similarly, isn't raw fish, it's any kind of raw meat that's served "as is". Take a slice of raw fish and put it on a plate, that's sashimi. Put it on vinegared rice, that's sushi. By the same token, take a slice of raw beef, put it on vinegared rice, that's sushi. Put it on a plate and serve it, that's sashimi. While the most usual type of sashimi is fish, there is gyuu-sashi (the aforementioned beef), and bazashi (raw horse).

[BudoYama]

Ahh thank you for that reply. It was very interesting and very informative.

[Jeff Larsen]

Sushi


Sashimi


Man, am I hungry!

Jeff

[kenningar]

i think sushi means "roll", it can has or not fish at all, sashimi is raw fish, uncooked and fresh, we eat it with some soy sauce and nothing else... I love when our sensei goes to fish on sundays and then he prepares some nice fresh sashimi for all of us after class!!!! he not only teaches the best, he cooks for us the best dinners2!!!!

[Josh Reyer]

Originally Posted by kenningar

i think sushi means "roll",

No, it derives from the word "sui" (酸い）, meaning "sour, acidic", and refers to the vinegar put in the rice, which may or may not be rolled. If rolled, it's maki-zushi. If it's packed together with the other ingredients laid on top, it's nigiri-zushi. If it's put into a bowl with the other ingredients and all mixed up, it's chirashi-zushi. In any case, it's all about the rice.

[Earl Hartman]

The dressing used on sushi rice is made from a combination of vinegar and sugar, not vinegar alone. It acts as a preservative. Any preparation using this dressed rice will be a kind of sushi. A rice ball using plain rice without sushi dressing will be called an O-nigiri. O-nigiri usually have a filling of some sort, such as brolied fish or salt-pickled plum and are wrapped with nori seaweed. While they might look like a kind of sushi they aren't.

In addition to nigirizushi, makizushi and chirashizushi, there is also oshizushi, where the rice and its accompaniment are pressed in a wooden mold, usually a rectangular wooden box, which has a lid the diameter of which is slightly smaller than the opening of the box used to press the rice and its accompaniment into a loaf, which is then cut into bite-sized blocks. Battera, made with vinegared mackerel and konbu (kelp) is a traditional oshizushi.

[allan]

Originally Posted by kenningar

i think sushi means "roll"

Roll is "maki."

[kenkyusha]

Originally Posted by Earl Hartman

A rice ball using plain rice without sushi dressing will be called an O-nigiri. O-nigiri usually have a filling of some sort, such as brolied fish or salt-pickled plum and are wrapped with nori seaweed. While they might look like a kind of sushi they aren't.

Or, as a certain moderator of this forum likes, peanut butter and jelly.

Be well,
Jigme

[Earl Hartman]

Umm.....peanut butter-and-jelly O-nigiri?

Blecchhh!

[Erik Tracy]

Knowing what sushi is, is only the first part - you must also know the proper etiquette for partaking in this delectable food:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8c2fMDatoU



Erik

[Adam Westphal]

That's hilarious. I'm going to start a synchronized sushi eating team.

Tabemasu.