i'm taka sakayara sushi chef and owner
of naminoy restaurants i'll be answering
your questions from twitter this is
sushi support
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queen's custodian asks i know this seems
like a stupid question but can i just
buy sushi grade fish from the market and
cut it up
and that's sashimi simple answer yes
sashimi is raw fish sliced for
consumption so the only questions come
into mind are what is sushi grade
generally in the american markets sushi
grade is referring to any fish that has
been treated in a way to prevent
bacterial growth generally when we are
talking about sushi grade fish in japan
oftentimes it needs to be wild fish it
needs to be lying caught there's a
process called ikijime it is a
technique used to kill the fish
instantly and then to remove the nerves
from the spinal cord to reduce the
amount of lactic acid that is released
into the fish gj wellington hearse as
interactive tweet please reply to this
with a description of your ideal sushi
roll so my ideal sushi roll actually is
very simple i like what we call hoso
maki i can show you one right now here i
have a makisu makisu is the bamboo mat
designed for rolling sushi seaweed
actually has two sides shiny side and
rough side for this we're gonna leave
the rough side on the outside i'm going
to get the appropriate amount of rice
here basically make a little bed for my
protein to sit inside and wasabi
and then i'm going to fill with tuna i'm
going to bring the back edge of the nori
to the front where the rice meets create
one nice press
roll over to make the final seal and
basically now my tuna roll is done and
generally hosomaki is cut into six
pieces
very simple tuna inside some nice wasabi
soy sauce that's heaven uvernius asks
how much wasabi is too much let's start
with what is wasabi wasabi is a rhizome
it is often growing on the sides of very
freshwater streams all you need to do to
produce wasabi is take this wasabi root
and grind it what's most commonly seen
in the u.s markets is some sort of
derivative of horseradish that has been
colored with food coloring and maybe
there's some other seasonings added salt
or sugar unless you actually see
a chef with the actual wasabi root
you're most likely having horseradish
and the reason why fresh wasabi isn't
used in all restaurants is this is very
expensive if you're using enough to
overpower the flavor of the fish and
you're just using it to mask everything
i'll say that's too much okay cc asks
how many of you have had sushi are there
different types is it good does it taste
someone like chicken or salmon tell me
does it ever taste like chicken no i
will say there's no sushi out there that
should taste like chicken as far as
different types i do have a platter here
of different types of sushi here you
have takamaki my favorite roll next to
that is called gunkan the rice
underneath that's wrapped with seaweed
topped with ikura in front there is two
pieces of akami nigiri sushi and then
here is a sashimi two slices of kami
there and this is kind of a not a
traditional tomaki but in the style of
there's salmon yellowtail tuna and some
cucumbers in there and a salmon roll
with tobiko called uramaki where the
rice is on the outside and this also is
another way that we can incorporate more
ingredients into a roll so that we can
have you know more creativity or
different types of things inside of a
roll honey504 asks for sushi eaters what
is eel sauce my son said blood and all
of a sudden i'm not well
okay i i think that your son needs to
show you some respect and stop lying to
you
your sauce is not blood real eel sauce
is made from roasting the bones from the
eel creating a stock basically eel stock
and adding that with soy sauce sometimes
meating some type of sugar steeping that
in the bones to create eel sauce sushi
pop uss what's the strangest ingredient
you've had in a sushi roll for me it's
not personally strange but maybe people
might find it to be strange there's a
fish called fugu the puffer fish and in
the wild they eat certain shellfish and
it creates a poison in their body and
this is one of the most poisonous fish
in the ocean if you take that same fish
and farm raise it not allow that fish to
have certain shellfish there's no poison
created in the fish so now you're able
to eat the entire fish from one of these
farm-raised fugu one of the best parts
is actually the liver fugu liver in a
roll with shiso leaf and some ume paste
is one of my favorite rules abandons
asks why is sushi so expensive it's five
grains of rice and like a gram of fish
wtf
fish
tends to be expensive especially high
grade very fresh fish grating is
depending on of its taste texture fat
content but also color grading from
yellowfin 18 a pound up to 70 a pound
depending on different cuts of that fish
the most prized fish are generally line
caught that causes the least amount of
damage to the fish the boat has a
refrigeration that might increase the
cost to the fishermen and on top of that
there's a lot of waste that goes into
fish a lot of the fish is not edible for
sushi coletti susan asks why do sushi
chefs wear bandanas when making sushi i
never thought of that as a tough workout
being a sushi chef is tough work i think
that what you see as a guest is
literally 10 of what the work a sushi
chef does 90 is the prep and there are
large fish like including bluefin
sometimes whole fish can be 800 pounds
so if you're carrying a quarter of it
you need several people to carry that
around running around all day long this
is generally a job that's you know 12
hours on their feet minimum 96 dyn asks
when did sushi start having avocados in
it can avocados even be grown in japan
sushi avocados i think was an american
advent this was sometime in the 80s or
early 90s when the california became
popular the abbreviation for california
being ca
is a crab and avocado this is i think
that's the original reason why the name
california rope came to be does it grow
in japan i haven't seen many avocado
trees in japan maybe there's someone
growing on avocado trees somewhere in
japan but this is not common food for
japanese people rahit yukon asks in
japan it takes up to 20 years of school
to become a sushi chef
which is years longer than it takes to
become a doctor is this true i think
that three to five years you should have
a pretty good understanding if you're
really dedicated and really studying
hard and working hard at it there's been
a lot of kind of lore surrounding sushi
chefs and to be honest i think the most
simple answer is that if you're a sushi
chef and you want to call yourself that
you're always studying you're always
learning so 20 years is really a short
time to become a sushi chef subway 3
asked i forgot to get chopsticks for my
sushi so what am i supposed to do now
eat it with a fork like some kind of a
lunatic
i don't think that you're a lunatic if
you decide to use a fork to eat your
sushi but there's also an alternate
option sushi is finger foods so if you'd
like you can just use your hands pick it
up and enjoy flip caboose asks what kind
of fish do i use for fresh sushi rolls
there are many different types of fish
for sushi but if we're talking about
sushi at home in the us markets i do
have some fish here today that you can
find in the markets tuna here salmon and
yellowtail tuna specifically we are
looking for bright red color nothing
should look sad it should be bright this
is called a saku and these are basically
taken from the entire fish cut into
these kind of rectangle shapes in
preparation for cutting for sushi or
sashimi in order to create a tender cut
i'm going to cut against the grain this
would be for sushi all right so here i
have a piece of salmon and it's just a
little bit easier to see the sinew lines
in the salmon sinew is the connective
tissue
that is connecting the muscle fibers
generally speaking you can cut this in
any direction and you shouldn't really
feel the sinew too much getting sorted
asks we have been making and eating
sushi lately but we can't get the rice
right what is your secret to perfect
sushi rice i have a bowl here sushi rice
prepared one thing we want to make sure
is that we're starting with the right
type of sushi rice most commonly in
american markets you'll find a type of
japanese grain called koshihikari it is
a short grain japanese rice and that is
most commonly used in sushi preparation
after that is really about washing
process is about releasing the starch
you know we want the rice to be able to
stick together to form a ball but we
don't want it to be gummy and too sticky
if this is overcooked you're gonna see
that this is like a big mosh and it's
going to look very very moist and wet
and you'll see that the grains aren't
individually distinct and then on the
other side if this is undercooked it'll
look too distinct and it'll kind of
flutter and fall apart versus i don't
know if you can see there's a little bit
of a stretch and they're kind of you
know dragging each other along
understanding that reading that to
really focus in on and getting those
fine details takes a long time to
understand hot toddy 24 asks it was only
right to get sushi on last night in cali
because how fresh can it really be in
utah will you have fresh sushi in utah
versus california
maybe it might be a day a day different
but also modern sushi chefs are now are
using aging process you might be
thinking that it's fresh fish but
sometimes chefs are now aging toro for
instance for up to two weeks and
allowing kind of a natural fermentation
to occur obviously in safe environment
and controlling bacterial growth the
idea there is to reduce the moisture
content and increase the flavor and the
tenderness by going through aging
process
richard chu asks soy sauce question do
you think putting soy sauce on
everything especially white rice is faux
pas personally it makes me cringe when i
see people put soy sauce on rice or
dipping their sushi in gallons of soy
sauce but that's just me simply put
answer is yes it is faux pas to put soy
sauce on everything if you're going to a
high-end sushi omakasa restaurant
omakase means literally translates to
the chef's choice
and so generally this is a type of
restaurant where you don't make any
decisions except for maybe what you're
going to drink generally the chef is
going to
you know basically manicure everything
to the way chef wants it so that would
include the amount of soy sauce or
seasoning that's put on every fish if
you are in a more kind of quote-unquote
casual sushi restaurant you do have the
option to have your own soy sauce and it
won't come seasoned but generally the
idea here is if you put soy sauce all
over the rice the rice will fall apart
and you won't have a you know a
beautiful piece anymore it'll it'll
decompose
just from being wet amelie over asks
today while eating sushi i told my
boyfriend he's meant to eat the ginger
between the different pieces and not on
top of the sushi and he snapped back
this is how they did it in japan
and i've been thinking of it ever since
have i been taught wrong i think that
amelie over you've been taught correctly
fishy ginger is meant to be a palette
cleanser between bites of sushi there
are certain pieces that work really well
with sushi sushi ginger and i think that
there's nothing wrong with it but again
setting is important if you're in a
restaurant where the chef is serving you
exactly how the chef wants it to be
eaten it would be very disrespectful to
put that piece of ginger on top of that
fish and enjoying it together kodi twist
one asks what is imitation crab even
made of
sushi is ruined imitation crab most
often is made out of pollock that's been
turned into a paste mixed with some sort
of starch and some seasonings sometimes
they use artificial crab flavor or maybe
real crab juice this is actually a
japanese fish product called tsurimi in
japan sudimi products are not marketed
as imitation crab vivieu irosa asks what
is temaki so tamaki directly translates
to hand roll i think most commonly is
the cone shaped where you'll see kind of
the ingredients sticking out at the top
and the idea here is to turn this corner
into the side here and wrap
the nori stays crisp because it's so
quick and easy to make but also this
style has become very popular at to do
at home so generally if people are
coming together and having a party at
home everyone is making tamaki's at home
gazdivs asks question for sushi lovers
am i supposed to eat this leaf and if so
how do i do it using chopsticks this is
a
called shiso or also known as oba and
yes it is edible it kind of has a minty
herbaceous flavor and i love to have it
just wrapped around a piece of sashimi
it adds a great different
dynamic to the flavor of the dish nicole
kanahan asks how do sushi chefs cut
sushi rolls so perfectly neat i don't
get it so it takes a lot of time
dedication and practice most commonly in
the beginning when you first start
learning how to cut we go
from center and cut it in half
cut this in half again
and then on each side we cut these in
half
it's obviously much easier to see
something bisected something that's half
than to see and understand what one
piece is but as we advance faster way is
to cut this in half
and instead of cutting it in half again
just going from left to right straight
but this
takes practice so that we understand
each piece and how big it should be and
so generally uh japanese sushi knives we
call yanagi designed to be a little bit
thinner behind the blade and has the
bevel which is much more elongated to
kind of create a thinner blade and
easier to slide through ryan d jacobs
asks what kind of vinegar do you add to
rice for making sushi sushi vinegar can
either be made with rice vinegar or red
vinegar called akazu this is a vinegar
produced from the leaves of sake this is
kind of the residual byproduct of making
sake and then you know age to create a
vinegar and through the aging process it
kind of turned to this kind of red color
and you'll often see
now
in higher end sushi restaurants the
resurgence of akazu and actually akazu
now is more expensive than the rice
vinegar and the smell is very very
strong and so this is actually
associated with a kind of story of the
apprentice waving
you know the sushi rice as the master is
mixing the rice with the vinegar there's
a lure that says that actually that
akazu is so cheap and the smell was so
pungent that the apprentice was there
not to wave off and cool down the rice
but just to blow away the smell and the
scent from this from the master susie
tobias asks what are these teeny wee
orange bubble things on the outside of
my sushi i like them fun to pop i think
that suzy tobias is referring to tobiko
tobiko is the row from flying fish this
is uh you know manufactured and this is
created there's flavorings in here
there's some food coloring in here as
well and you know one of the great
things about this i think is that it has
msg in there as well and so actually
adds as a great flavor booster to
anything that you add it to from dkd22
who invented sushi hahahaha
it's so good so sushi that we know today
edomaizushi is credited to a gentleman
named hana hao yohe this was around 1820
i would say the original sushi was
almost like fast food this was
originally done through basically street
vendors these were carts that carried
around the rice and the fish and served
on street sides so people would come by
eat a couple pieces and be on their day
sushi underscore ebooks asks what is
your favorite slice of fish i'm gonna
assume and interpret that this question
means what's my favorite piece of sushi
so i have here uh sea urchin this is my
favorite this is actually the gonads
from sea urchin the sea urchin is kind
of a round spherical hard shelled
with a bunch of spikes sticking out of
it has a very subtle sweetness nice
ocean flavor and for some people it's an
acquired taste amber lynn asks sushi
question is a spicy tuna roll
tuna and wasabi or tuna salad made with
spicy mayo tuna and wasabi together be
called tekamaki which is just tuna roll
spicy tuna roll is referring to tuna
mixed with spicy mayonnaise and then put
into a roll big nizzy nft asks when did
sushi in america become a cream cheese
log slathered in mayo
late 80s and into the 90s there was a
little bit of hesitation for you know
the
non-japanese consumer to have raw fish
and obviously cream cheese and
mayonnaise they do work in some types of
sushi i think it was just a great way
and create a way to introduce sushi to a
wider audience as long as people
understand that this is not traditional
chefs have the creative freedom to do
whatever they want i think and at the
end of the day the consumers will decide
if it's good or not okra wind asks how
do sushi chefs not cut off their finger
or something with all the sake and beer
they drink
practice makes perfect i guess this is a
practice among sushi chefs i think that
it is nice for a guest to offer a
beverage to the chef and i think that
this is really designed and was
originally to build rapport and it's
more of like a friendly gesture you're
out with friends and you offer somebody
a drink i don't think that a sushi chef
should be there behind the sushi counter
getting belligerently drunk i don't
think that's appropriate a responsible
sushi chef should know when to say no
all right that's all the questions i
hope you learned something until next
time
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