Any sushi fans here?

[Jikoni]

I love sushi.

Put me down for uni (sea urchin); any fish egg, esp ikura; squid (love the mouth feel); yellow tail; tai....

Sushi is really easy to make at home but I think you need a lot of mouthes to feed to make it worth while. Have you ever tried CHIRASHI sushi? It's like of like a bowl of rice with the sea weed, egg, and fish chopped up and sprinkled on top. Much, much easier.

I remember having the Chirashi in Fukuoka years back when I lived there and loved it.I have never found it here, but should probably make it myself. I also love the Ikura and also Ebi(prawn) sushi. Love Sashimi moriawase as well.

 

[GB]

Jikoni, I have often found for some unknown reason that chirashi is not listed on the menu, but if asked they will make it for you. It is worth asking next time you are craving it.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Perhaps one of you "sushi-ites" can answer a question for me. Years ago (back in the 1980's) in an expensive NYC Japanese restaurant I was served "sea urchin", & it was a major gag-fest for me because it was the color & slimy liquid texture of a raw egg yolk. Thus I've never ordered it again.

However, these days, whenever I see a picture of sea urchin sushi, it looks like two firm little pale yellow "lobes". Is what I was offered way back when raw, & what's offered now cooked? Because that's the only thing I can think of to explain such a big difference. If it's now relatively firm, I'd be willing to give it another whirl.

 

[yrhenwraig]

I love sushi, all of it but I think my favourite filling has got to be eel or tuna. My problem now is that I've moved to a small town and the nearest sushi places are 2 hours away. I need to find a Japanese grocery too. Anyone know the best places in Ottawa?

 

[Jikoni]

Jikoni, I have often found for some unknown reason that chirashi is not listed on the menu, but if asked they will make it for you. It is worth asking next time you are craving it.

Thanks GB, I will try tomorrow for lunch! It just never occurred to me to ask, I have no idea why. .

 

[whole milk]

Perhaps one of you "sushi-ites" can answer a question for me. Years ago (back in the 1980's) in an expensive NYC Japanese restaurant I was served "sea urchin", & it was a major gag-fest for me because it was the color & slimy liquid texture of a raw egg yolk. Thus I've never ordered it again.

However, these days, whenever I see a picture of sea urchin sushi, it looks like two firm little pale yellow "lobes". Is what I was offered way back when raw, & what's offered now cooked? Because that's the only thing I can think of to explain such a big difference. If it's now relatively firm, I'd be willing to give it another whirl.

It has to do with how fresh it is. In Tokyo, I won't touch it, especially at the so called 'fast food sushi' places. It really does need to be fresh, cracked open in front of you. If you can get it like that, the meat is sweet and creamy -- it's realllllllly good. If you go scuba diving, you can get uni for free. We've done that many times. Oh, and it' really good grilled after scuba diving.


@Jikoni,
You lived in Fukuoka? What do you think of mentaiko? I love it just by itself.


I think the best thing about chrashi is that anyone can make it. For proper sushi you need some sklill to cut the fish; for chirashi you can let the kids help you cut everything up.

 

[BreezyCooking]

But that still doesn't answer my question. What's the difference between the liquid egg-yolk type sea urchin I had in NY & the firm cooked-looking urchin I see in restaurants these days? Was one actually raw & the others now cooked, or is there another difference?

 

[whole milk]

But that still doesn't answer my question. What's the difference between the liquid egg-yolk type sea urchin I had in NY & the firm cooked-looking urchin I see in restaurants these days? Was one actually raw & the others now cooked, or is there another difference?

The gooey stuff you ate was most probably old, not fresh, frozen and then thawed. Nicely colored uni that holds it's shape and "looks cooked" is fresh from the tank. Remember, you're looking at a picture and the picture will always be the best representation of the dish.

Cooked uni changes it's color and looks more like eel than anything else (I can think of).

Good uni will be expensive. Bad (old) uni will taste like the sea, be runny, be slimmy; frozen and thawed uni is often firmer but the color is a bit darker and will taste like the sea. Good uni will be creamy and sweet -- and expensive.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Thanks so much!!!! That's exactly what I wanted to know. The "gooey" urchin I experienced was back in the 1980's at a very pricey uptown Manhattan, NY, restaurant when Japanese cooking & sushi in particular was just taking off. While I obviously don't recall the cost, I'm sure it was "up there". Very few of my executive "power lunches" were cheap - lol!!

I'm definitely an adventurous diner - so now will feel better about trying urchin again should a "fresh" opportunity present itself.

Again - thank you very much.

 

[JohnL]

I like it a lot, sushi is my favorite birthday dinner treat. Never tried to make it at home though. I also don't feel comfortable about being able to obtain true quality sushi grade fish.

 

[2extreme]

I just had sushi for the first time this weekend. Its the best thing ever. Now i'm like addicted. I tryed salmon, and california wrap, and also phildelaphia cream, in cuccumber.. ahhh delicious.. im from a small town, and they just open a sushi restaurant down here.. its all new to us.. but people down here are loving it. Its always pack at the restaurant. I can't wait to have more

 

[Saraaaaa]

i love sushi! I like the simple type, no mayo or any kind of sauce. simple and tasty!

 

[Claire]

Big time sushi fan. When we moved to Hawaii, I did not like fish at all. Then I was served ahi sashimi. I was in love (you have to know I love raw beef, and that I'd not had such great fresh fish before). I "graduated" to sushi. Then my parents visited us, and my father, who really hates rice, fell in love with what he calls shusi. I think that the ceremony of it all adds to the experience. Dubuque has a sushi bar, and we'd never just order sushi delivered to the table, we need to sit at the bar and talk to the chef. We had a neighborhood sushi bar in Hawaii, and we've been to sushi bars around the country. We had a lot of fun introducing friends to sushi in Florida. Our birthdays are coming up, and we know that one meal will be at the sushi bar!

 

[andy_87]

Loooove sushi..have it almost every day. I like pretty much all types, especially those with salmon roe, raw kingfish, salmon, scallop, scampi. Love sashimi too. Here in Sydney we have a roll called a Spider roll which has soft shell crab, avocado, mayo, flying fish roe....sooo good! I just love going to Japanese restaurants and watching the chefs skillfully preparing the sushi....great entertainment while eating. I guess we're lucky here that sushi is so widely available. There is a sushi place pretty much anywhere you go!

 

[Asmodean]

I love going to Japanese restaurants, trying the same kinds of sushi at different places that I find, and also experimenting with other non-sushi japanese food. I used to not really enjoy raw fish so much, but it is sooooo good to me now! I eat pretty much anything; last night was octopus roll and whitefish nigiri.

 

[LaurenG]

As much as I love Japanese restaurants I haven't been going very often because they are so expensive. I LOVE sushi, so instead of just going to restaurants I've been going to sushi bars!! All you can eat lunch for around 12 bucks, count me in!!! I don't like anything that's not cooked, it just doesn't settle well, but I love a roll called the "Lion King". It usually has crab, avocado, and cucumber inside then salmon on top. They drizzle a light spicy mayo based sauce over top then send it through the oven and bake it. It is SOOOOO GOOD!

... actually I just came back from sushi dinner a couple of hours ago lol

 

[Claire]

My husband and I have a mind-set to "beginner's sushi". We're the same with other cuisines some might consider odd. You have to know which dishes will seem the least unusual to your friends who are experiencing it for the first time. When it is sushi, most people balk at it because they think it means raw fish. Some are bothered by the nori. So we order the sushi that has no raw fish and no nori. The next thing you know, the friends want to try the ahi and are even more adventurous. For first timers, help them along with some shrimp and crab sushi, and California rolls are often a huge hit with first-timers (still one of my favorites). For vegetarians, there are many vegetable rolls. The one I haven't seen here which was popular in Hawaii (I lived there in the era when the Japanese tourists had all the money and ruled the scene) was one that had a sort of omlet on top of a rectangle of rice, another good one for starters.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I agree completely. My first convert was my husband, & after that we took another couple to dinner & ordered a large sushi combination platter (sashimi is NOT the way to start things off - lol!). After a few tastes of the cooked items, they immediately wanted to try some of the raw items, & were both dedicated sushi converts from then on.

I think the biggest thing is not to force anything on anyone. Let them go at their own pace & discover their likes & dislikes on their own.

 

[Asmodean]

Agreed about pacing.

 

[Claire]

Although it is where I started, I agree sashimi isn't the place to introduce most beginners. At the time I was in my 20s, living in Hawaii, hated all fish, but LOVED (still do) raw beef - carpaccio, tartar, you name it. The ahi sashimi seemed wonderful. after living in Hawaii for a year, I learned that fish simply wasn't the same stuff I grew up on. Gray-ish oily stuff in Friday tuna casseroles, frozen stuff that smelled worse and worse as it thawed, etc (needless to say, I didn't grow up near the ocean and Daddy wasn't a fisherman). The stuff smelled bad enough that getting it near your mouth was a challenge. I was a pretty easy kid when it comes to most foods, but fish and even shellfish just didn't do it for me until that shashimi revelation.