Sushi

Banking sushi.

The sushi can contain fish of different kinds.

Sushi (鮨, 鮓, 寿司 or 壽司, & #39;'Sushi''^?) is a typical dish of Japanese origin based on rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt and combined with other ingredients such as raw fish, shellfish, vegetables, etc. This dish is one of the most recognized in Japanese cuisine and one of the most popular internationally.

Although sushi is normally associated with fish and shellfish, it can also include vegetables or eggs, or even any other accompaniment. In addition, the traditional fresh products that accompany rice do not always have to be raw. Roasted, boiled, fried or marinated preparations are also included. That is to say, that the name sushi refers to the preparation of the rice and that the accompaniment, although it is relevant in terms of flavor, does not make the dish itself. Although there is a variety of internationally recognized and customary sushi accompaniments, the ideal is for each region to adopt typical accompaniments of the place with fish or fruits of the region that are identified with the local taste and gastronomy. However, you should refrain from using unfrozen saltwater fish, as it may contain anisakis, with the exception of farmed salmon.

Sushi is usually prepared in small portions, about the size of a bite, and can take many forms. If the fish and rice are served rolled in a sheet of seaweed nori it is called a maki ('roll'). If it is a kind of rice ball covered by fish, we are talking about nigiri. When the rice is stuffed into a small bag of fried tofu, it is called inari. A bowl of rice can also be served for sushi with pieces of fish and other ingredients on top.; then it is called chirashizushi.

Outside Japan, the name sushi designates only the most common varieties, such as makizushi or nigirizushi; Curiously, it is often extended to sashimi, a dish made from laminated raw fish.

Etymology

The Japanese kanji for sushi comes etymologically from Chinese because it was originally an ancient Chinese dish. The kanji 鮨 is related to "salted fish marinade". The first mention of 鮨 appeared in the ancient Erya dictionary (爾雅), written between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. C. It explained that "魚謂之鮨 肉謂之醢", translated as "those made with fish (are called) 鮨, those made with meat (are called) 醢". The 醢 is a sauce made from minced pork and the 鮨 is a sauce made from minced fish. It is believed that the character 鮨 must have an earlier origin and 鮨 is not associated with rice.

Five centuries later, in the 2nd century, another character is used to refer to sushi 鮓, which appeared in another Chinese dictionary that said: "鮓滓也 以塩米醸之加葅 熟而食之也", translated as "鮓滓 is a meal where fish is seasoned with rice and salt and eaten when ready." This food is believed to be similar to narezushi or funazushi, in which the fish is fermented for a long time together with the rice and eaten after separating it from the rice.

In the 3rd century, the meaning of the two characters was confused and for a time when the two characters were implanted in Japan, the Chinese themselves could not distinguish between them. The Chinese stopped using rice as part of the fermentation process and stopped eating pickled fish.

History

Painting of Utagawa Hiroshige of the Edo period showing a dish with sushi.

The earliest reference to sushi in Japan appeared in 718 in the Yōrō Code (養老律令, Yōrōritsuryō^?), a legal document from the Nara era. It was used for paying taxes and was written as “雑鮨五斗” (about 64 liters of zatsunosushi or zōshi, exact pronunciation unknown of the term for sushi); during the 9th and 10th centuries, 鮨 and 鮓 were read as sushi or sashi. This sushi or sashi was similar to today's narezushi.

Over the next 800 years, until the 19th century, sushi slowly changed and so did Japanese cuisine. The Japanese began to eat three meals a day, rice became boiled instead of steamed, and most importantly, rice vinegar was invented. As the sushi continued to get fermented together with the rice, the fermentation time was gradually reduced, and the rice began to be eaten with the fish. In the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573), the process for creating oshizushi was developed. It consisted of replacing fermentation with the use of vinegar. In the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573-1603), the namanari was invented. The Vocabvlário da Lingoa de Iapam includes an entry for namanrina sushi, literally ‘half-made sushi’. namamari was fermented for a shorter period than narezushi and was possibly marinated with rice vinegar, which gave narezushi a different smell. The strong smell of the narezushi was probably one of the reasons for the shortening and eventual disappearance of the fermentation process. Writings from the time described the smell of the product as "a cross between blue cheese, fish and rice vinegar".

At the beginning of the 18th century, oshizushi was perfected in Osaka and reached Edo (present-day Tokyo) in the middle of that century. These sushi required a short fermentation time, so the shops would tell waiting customers when the sushi was ready. Sushi was also sold near parks during hanami and in theaters as a type of bentō. During the Edo period, the most popular types of sushi were inarizushi, oshizushi, makizushi, and makizushi. the chirashizushi.

There were three famous sushi restaurants in Edo, collectively known as Edo-san-sushi (江戸三鮨, 'Edo-san-sushi'^?): the Matsugasushi (松が鮓, 'Matsugasushi& #39;^?), the Yoheisushi (与兵衛寿司, 'Yoheisushi'^? ) and the Kenushisushi (毛抜き鮓, 'Kenushisushi'^?); although there were many more restaurants. They all settled in a period of barely twenty years, until the beginning of the 19th century.

Hanaya Yohei (華屋与兵衛, Hanaya Yohei^? 1799 - 1858), in the final years of the Edo period, invented the Kantō variety of nigirizushi. It was a type of unfermented sushi that could be eaten with your hands (or using bamboo chopsticks). This new variety marked the beginning of sushi as fast food in Japan. These early nigirizushi were not the same as today's varieties. The fish was marinated in soy sauce or vinegar or heavily salted, so there was no need to dip the sushi in soy sauce. Sometimes the fish was cooked before forming the sushi; these methods were used because at that time there were no refrigeration possibilities. Each piece of sushi was longer, almost twice the size of the current ones. Nigirizushi had its moment of success and spread throughout Edo; In the book Morisadamankō (守貞謾稿) published in 1852, the author describes that for every chō (ten thousand square meters) in Edo there were twelve sushi restaurants; while for every soba restaurant there were 12 chō.

The advent of modern refrigeration at the turn of the 20th century allowed sushi made from fresh fish to last longer. At the end of the XX century, sushi began to gain importance and popularity worldwide.

How to eat sushi

The basic elements when eating sushi are: a plate, hashi (or wooden chopsticks), hashioki (or chopstick rest), wasabi and gari (or pickled ginger).

• The most appropriate parts of the fish (e.g. salmon) are the belly (the harvest called in Japanese otoro very rich in omega oils, then follows the fish loin instead it should rule out, according to the taste nigiri the tail and other very muscular or harsh parts.
• Despite what is commonly believed outside of Japan, the sushi is prepared with fish that yields to the adjoining rice already receives a good antisepsis (i.e., the fish is not as "crude" as it seems), on the other hand it is recommended that the fish have been few hours preserved crude and that in those few hours it has stabilized at about 4 °C shortly before being swallowed.
• The Japanese advise to eat it with sticks or covered with wood, or directly with the hand; but the use of metal utensils such as forks, spoons or tweezers should be avoided, as they would alter the taste of food.
• To start, a number of soy sauce is emptied in a small pot. In the West it is common to dilute a bit of wasabi in soybean, but it is an uncompromising practice as it hides the taste of the whole.
• Take a piece of sushi and wet it if desired in the soy sauce slightly, never on the side of the rice, as it would be undone.
• Take the whole piece to the mouth and eat it from a bite whenever possible.
• When the sticks are not used, leave them on the hashi-oki or on the plate.
• It is not considered good education to give food to another comensal with the sticks themselves, or to play with them, keep them separate, puncture the food, or move them in the air. When serving a common dish you should use the previous part of the sticks.
• Between bite and bite you can eat a piece of Gari with a little wasabi to clean the taste palate.
• Try to leave the dish completely clean of food, especially rice.

Presentation

Sushi preparation in a sushi bar, along with the kaitenzushi moving the dishes.

There are restaurants specializing in sushi called kaiten zushi (回転寿司, sushi train or sushi conveyor belt). They transport the sushi along a bar and it is the most common way to display this dish, both in the West and in Japan; customers take the dishes as they wish. Each plate on the bar is color-coded with each color denoting the price of the sushi; At the end, when paying, the account is made based on the total number of dishes that the customer has taken.

Traditionally, in Japan it is preferred to eat at the time of preparation. Sushi is served on wooden or lacquer plates in a minimalist Japanese style; They are geometric with one or two color tones, maintaining the aesthetics of Japanese gastronomy. Currently, many small sushi restaurants do not use plates, but instead it is eaten directly from the wooden counter, taking it with one hand.

Sushi bar of different ingredients in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

It is also suitable as a picnic food (although the fish should be kept cool to no more than 4 °C shortly before eating) and specialty restaurants often prepare bentō boxes (shōkadō bentō, 松花堂弁当) to take away.

Sushi kits sold in supermarkets and shops often contain nori seaweed, sushi rice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi paste, ginger, a bamboo mat, and chopsticks.

Styles and varieties

The fundamental feature of sushi is sushi rice or sushi-meshi, seasoned with rice vinegar or su. Depending on the way it is filled, there are several kinds of sushi:

Main varieties of sushi.

• Makizushi ( 司 司 司 司 司 司 司 司 司 司 司 司。, 'Makizushi'^?): the “sushi in rolls” is mounted placing the rice on a sheet of algae Nori dry, and fill it with vegetables or fish. Occasionally the Nori is replaced with a thin foil of French tortilla (the tortilla always carries some sugar). Using a bamboo mat called makisu it rolls the set and closes humidizing the edge of the algae foil to stick. Finally, the roll is cut into portions of about two centimeters of thickness; approximately six to eight pieces. During the Festival of Setsubun, it is tradition to eat makizushi without cutting, in its cylindrical form. The makizushi has some affinity with the Korean gimbap dish.
  • Futomaki (♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫, 'Futomaki'^?): the "small roll sushi". It's cylindrical and long, with the Nori outside. The futomaki common measures two to three centimeters thick and four to five centimeters long. Sometimes they are made with two or three fillers, chosen to complement and improve their taste and color.
  • Hosomaki ( き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き, 'Hosomaki'^?): the “slim roll sushi”. It's cylindrical and small, with the Nori outside. The hosomaki common measures two inches thick and two inches long. They are usually made with a single filling, due to their small size.
    • Kappamaki (., 'Kappamaki's^?): sushi filled with cucumber, its name derives from the yokai (Japanese demon that dwells in rivers and lakes), Kappa.
  • Temaki (♫ ♫, 'Temaki'^?): the “sushi rolled by hand” is a large cone formed by a leaf Nori filled with rice and other ingredients in the open part of the cone. A topicki typical has about ten centimeters long and is eaten with the hand as it is too big to use the sticks.
  • Uramaki ( き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き き, 'Uramaki's^?): the "sushi of the reverse". It is a medium-sized and cylindrical sushi, with two or more fillings. The uramaki differs from the other sushi in which the rice is on the outside and the nori is inside. The filling is in the center surrounded by a layer of nori, then a layer of rice, and other ingredients such as sesame roasted or grapefruit.
• Oshizushi (_, 'Oshizushi'^?): the "suppressed sushi" is a rice block, pressed in a wood mould, called oshibakothe bottom of the oshibako with the filling, the rice is placed on top and the mold cap is pressed to create a compact and rectilinear block, which is then cut into slices.
• Nigirizushi ( , 'Nigirizushi'^?): is possibly the most common form of sushi in Japan. The "massed sushi" is similar to oshi, but it is moulded by hand in the form of oblong rod; on top of a block of rice is placed fish, seafood or other flat ingredient, usually seasoned with some wasabi, and sometimes a thin strip of algae is added to keep the fish in place. It's called sometimes. Edomaezushi because it originated in Edo (now Tokyo) in the centuryXVIII. Two pieces are usually served in an order.
  • Gunkanzushi (Facilitation, 'Gunkanzushi'^?): Also called as a “sweed sushi”, is an oval sushi and amassed (similar to nigirizushi); it is rolled with a strip Nori, to form a bowl that is filled with some ingredient, for example caves.
• Inarizushi ( 국司, 'Inarizushi'^?): known as “sushi filled”, it is a kind of small bag filled with sushi rice and other ingredients (their name is derived from the sintoist goddess Inari, who had a special affection for rice products). The sack is made of fried tōfu or aburaage (¢Ü, 'aburaage'^?)Of a very thin tortilla fukusazushi (司, 'fukusazushi'^?) or cabbage leaves kanpyō (▪, 'kanpyō'^?).
• Chirashizushi (▸¶, 'Chirashizushi'^?): also known as “sweet sushi”, is a bowl of seasoned rice with other ingredients. Also called barazushi (_, 'barazushi'^?).
  • Edomae chirashizushi: sushi scattered Edo style. The ingredients are not cooked and decorated in an ingenious way on the rice ball.
  • Gomokuzushi (Facilitator, 'Gomokuzushi'^?): Kansai style sushi. The ingredients can be cooked or not cooked, and are placed inside the rice ball.
• Narezushi (▪, 'Narezushi'^?): “fermented sushi” is the oldest and most rare form of preparation; whole and clean fish pieces are salted and dried in barrels and pressed with a weight tsukemonoishi (bombstone). They leave between ten days and one month. Once cured, they are soaked in water between 15 minutes and an hour. They are placed in a wooden container. Its characteristic feature is that it is made without rice, making strictly use of fish and vegetables. The mixture is allowed to ferment in controlled conditions for several months, constantly prensing it with a otoshibuta and an adobo stone to extract the water. Six months later, it can be consumed, and it can be kept six months or more without having to put it in the fridge. For consumption the fish is cut into thin sheets. The narezushi it was invented to allow the conservation of fish without using too much salt, in the Mediterranean climate zones of Japan; today it is a rarity.

• 

  Nigirizushi.

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  Makizushi.

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  Inarizushi.

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  Kakinohazushi.

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  Oshizushi.

Ingredients

The fundamental part of sushi is specially prepared rice, seasoned with other essential ingredients.

Rice

Sushi is made with a short-grain, sweet white rice called Japanese rice; It is seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, konbu seaweed (昆布) and rice wine nihonshū or mirin (日本酒) which in the West is known as sake , although in Japan sake refers to any alcoholic beverage. After the rice has been boiled, it must be allowed to come to room temperature before it can be used. Sushi rice (sushi-meshi) is generally of the Japonica variety, with a consistency that differs from the kinds commonly eaten outside of Japan. The most important quality is its creamy and glutinous texture; if it is washed excessively to remove the surface starch that provides the texture, it will be dry when eaten. Freshly harvested rice (shinmai) usually has too much water and requires extra draining time after washing.

There are regional variations in sushi rice, and therefore specialized chefs have their own methods of preparation. Most of the variations are in the rice vinegar dressing: the Tokyo version of the dressing uses more salt; in Osaka, the dressing has more sugar. The preparation of the rice is the most important point in the preparation of sushi, and a good part of a chef's training is oriented towards being able to find the exact point.

The rice is allowed to cool to room temperature before assembling the sushi; it is generally used immediately after cooking, once it has cooled. Special pots of Japanese origin allow it to be preserved, but the texture degrades quickly.

Nori Seaweed

Nori.

The vegetable wrappers used in makizushi and temaki are called nori (海苔). It is an edible seaweed traditionally cultivated in Japan. Originally, nori was obtained from the docks of ports, drying the seaweed in sheets under the sun, in a process similar to that of paper. The nori is toasted before being used to eat.

Today, the commercial product is industrially grown, processed, roasted, and packaged. The product usually results in sheets of standard size 18 × 21 cm. Good quality nori is thick, smooth, shiny, and has no gaps in the sheets.

Nori sheets have great nutritional value. They contain proteins, minerals, especially iodine, and are rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, niacin, and vitamin C.

The darker the nori seaweed, the better its quality.

Egg

For the fukusazushi, a thin, slightly sweet omelette (called a Japanese omelette) replaces the seaweed sheets; the omelette is traditionally made in a Japanese rectangular pan called a makiyakinabe (巻き焼き鍋, 'makiyakinabe'^?).

Filling

• Fish: For sanitary and aesthetic reasons, the fish consumed must be fresh and of good quality. A professional sushi chef has learned to recognize fish in good condition; he must smell clean, have a live color and be free of parasites. Sea fish is used previously frozen in sushi. The most used fish are tuna (Magistrate), salmon (sake sake sake sake sake), the beautiful, the pargo, the jurel or lemon fish (hamachi) and the cabal (saba). The eel (unagi) is also used, although only cooked. The most appreciated ingredient in sushi is the Bull., a tuna belly cut, finely stripped of fat. The salmon caves (ikuraand tuna (Mazago) are also considered a very delicate dish.
• Kanikama: Also known as crab sticks, it is a substitute for crab meat produced from chopped and cured white fish meat. Used for various preparations Kariforuniarooru.
• Seafood: The squid/sepia is used (ika), the octopus (tako), the lobster/gamba (ebi), the sea urchin (uni), the abalone (awabi) and several kinds of clams (akagai). The oysters are not used for sushi, because their flavor does not combine well with that of rice.
• Vegetables: Japanese radish or daikon chopped, fermented soy (nattō), avocado, cucumber, tōfu and plums incurtides (umeboshi).
• Red meat: It is occasionally used very tender beef or unhealed pork. The meat is crushed before it is used almost always.
• Eggs: The chicken egg is used in the tamagoyaki to wrap fukusazushi or as an ingredient in nigiri; quail eggs are sometimes used raw.
• Huevas and others: The most important advice to take into account is that the caves should never be too mature, or immature, have to be of good size, color, taste, smell and texture. There are several types of important and very present caves in Japanese gastronomy, among the best known we can find the following:
  • Tarako: they are salty caves of cod and are characterized by their sweet, toilet and natural taste, which can be tasted raw or cooked. They are very small and reddish.
  • Kazunoko: are herring huevas, it is a very important component in the traditional gastronomy of Japan, it is very typical at dinners of new year, it has a great flavor and nutritional value, it is yellowish and small in size.
  • Shirako: is the abbot or cod's bed or sperm, its value on the market is very high, therefore the exclusive restaurants boast when they own them in their cards, is white.
  • Ikura and Sujiko: they are salmon caves, the difference is that the ikura is carefully removed from the entire membrane and fiber of the ovaries, while the sujiko maintains the ovarian membrane united, they are orange and large.
  • Masago: there are quite a few doubts concerning these particular caves, because the size and color of the same are very little peculiar (orange and small), in fact they are caves of chalan, but there are those who call it hooves of flying fish or crab, there are variants like those that carry included a touch of wasabi and are of green colour, among others.

Condiments

• Sushi-zu: The rice vinegar, added salt, sugar, and sometimes mirin, is the main dressing of sushi; its own name derives from the term sui, acid.
• Shōyu (¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü ¢Ü , 'Shōyu''^?): Japanese soy sauce. It's always present in case the comensal wants to wet the sushi pieces in it. In the West it is mistakenly believed that you should always do so, even having diluted before a little wasabi in the sauce. Doing that hides the taste of sushi and is unseen. If you want a more spicy sushi the best option is to ask the itamae to prepare it as well, or in its default, add the wasabi to the piece.
• Gari (##, 'Gari''^?): Sweet ginger snapped and sliced together with a little wasabi is used between sushi bites to clean the taste of the mouth. The ginger rhizome is wrapped and served next to the sushi to neutralize the saliva pH or clean the palate. Like rice vinegar, ginger is a natural antiseptic. It facilitates digestion by protecting the immune system and helping the body to safeguard the flu and colds.
• Shiso ( , 'Shiso'''^?): The green or shiso It is an aromatic herb that is used just like the gari.
• Wasabi (⋅, 'Wasabi'^?): The wasabi (rabano) spicy green, is used to enhance the taste of sushi. It is rich in vitamin C, stimulates the production of saliva and facilitates digestion. It has powerful anti-bacterial properties and is a mild antiseptic.
• Mirin (¢Ü, 'Mirin'''^?): Rice wine without alcohol that serves to eliminate the flavor of fish.

Utensils to prepare

Makisu.

Makiyakinabe.

In order to prepare sushi, regardless of style, several Japanese kitchen utensils are needed:

Fukin (teen)

Cooking suit.

Hangiri () margin)

Barrel of cypress wood to cool the rice.

Hoo. (

Special kitchen knife to cut sushi and fillet fish.

Makisu ()щ))

Rollable bamboo mat.

Ryoribashi (GRUNTING)

Kitchen sticks.

Shamoji (PHONELING)

Wooden fin for rice.

Makiyakinabe () oriented) oriented) or מ)に) or tamagoyakiki (の)の)。

Tamagoyaki pan rectangular or square (depending on the style).

Saibashi

Wooden sticks for cooking.

List of sushi by type

Nigirizushi

Kazunoko.

Gunkanzushi

• ikura (...) salmon.
• kazunoko (responsives):): herring cave.
• mentaiko (referred to 日本語): Alaskan abbey cave.
• tarako (Boundary Corner): Salt Alaska Abbot.
• tobiko (. ): flying fish.
• uni (as at):): sea urchin.

Makizushi

• Avocado
• California roll (Interpretation of the Gospel, Kariforuniamaki): crab, avocado and cucumber (this type is rare in Japan).
• Finely cut carrot.
• kappamaki (PHONE): cucumber, its name in Japanese is derived from the spirit (oni) of water that loved cucumbers.
• nattō (.): fermented soy seed.
• oshinko (known as "favor"): daikon chopped or other chopped vegetable.
• tamago (code): sweetened egg tortilla.
• tekkamaki: tuna maguro.
• ume (.): plum paste.
• wasabi (CAT):): wasabi paste.

Vegetarian makizushi such as avocado, carrot, oshinko and kappamaki are sometimes served with brown rice, as an alternative sushi rice.