Hello!
For this week’s blog post we will be going over “Sushi Grade” fish, how to prepare it, and other ingredients needed to make delicious sushi!
What is Sushi Grade?
“Sushi Grade” is a classification and regulation given to fish that is utilized and prepared in many forms for sushi. It essentially requires the fish to be edible when consumed raw, with different fish needing different preparation. The most common sushi fish types are salmon and tuna, both having their own traits.
Salmon – Develops parasites very easily and early in their shelf life, and the fish often have them after being caught. This is why salmon is often frozen after being caught to kill any parasites living in the fish. Cooking also achieves this, however, we’re talking about sushi after all. Work quickly when using salmon because parasites can develop after it being unrefrigerated for only a couple of hours!
Tuna – Is often called “chicken of the sea” because it’s common, easy to catch and eat, and readily available at most supermarkets. Tuna, unlike salmon, don’t naturally carry any parasites! This means you could catch a tuna, kill it, and consume it safely right then and there. If you’ve ever seen or read The Life of Pi, this is why they are able to eat a tuna right out of the water when surviving on a boat.
Important Ingredients
- Soy Sauce
- Pickled Ginger
- Wasabi
The ingredients above are commonly used as garnishes or are served with sushi. Soy sauce is traditionally used to dip your sushi into, to add some extra salinity. Ginger is eaten in between bites of different sushi and acts as a palette cleanser, however, it’s common in America to eat the ginger with the sushi. Wasabi is a spicy root vegetable that is traditionally added to sushi pieces in order to give a little kick spice-wise.
- Nori Seaweed
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Avocado
- Cucumber
The ingredients above are traditionally found in sushi. In maki rolls, nori seaweed is used to package all of the rice and fillings, like wrapping paper. Sesame seeds are added to the exterior of uramaki (a maki roll where the rice is on the outside), for flavor and texture. Avocado and cucumber are commonly used as filling with fish for rolls and will be used in our example coming week 3.
Note: To make rolling the sushi easier, I recommend a bamboo rolling mat (I’ll include a link below to buy one). They allow you to uniformly rolly your sushi tightly and are recommended for beginners instead of using your hands!
I hope you enjoyed this quick briefing on what ingredients we will be using during our assembly and preparation process next week! Stay tuned for my following post on making Maki, Sashimi, and Nigiri. As always, happy cooking, and I’ll see you next week!
