So, while I was preparing a sushi dinner for the first time, my sister thought it would be fun to take a picture of it; since then, I've come to like the idea and have kept a record of the dishes I've made. I've also found a few guildies to be sushi fans, including one who makes it at home with fish he catches fresh from the ocean, and as such, in a similar fashion to Tetsu's thread, I'm starting one for homemade sushi!
It's a lot of fun to prepare, and it can make for a great dinner at a fraction of the restaurant price, but it does take a LOT of work, and I for one don't do it more than once every few weeks.
Special thanks to Lotte•Assi Plaza for carrying the sashimi grade fish, as well as many imported goods from Japan. http://www.lotteplaza.com/
WARNING: Do not attempt to prepare sushi without sashimi-grade fish, proper tools, knowledge of how to prepare raw food safely, high quality rice cooked fresh for each use, and plenty of time on your hands. It really takes a lot longer than it would at a restaurant, where they have everything sliced already, a clean cooking space, the rice ready to go, and a lot more experience!
First attempt:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1-4.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel
Rolls: 1) Tuna, Salmon inside w/ Salmon on top; 2) Salmon, Crab inside w/ Tuna on top; 3) Salmon, Tuna, Crab & Avocado inside w/ Salmon, Tuna & Avocado on top
This was my first attempt at making a sushi dinner, and although I didn't get fancy with rice on both inside and outside of the rolls, and wasn't terribly skilled at getting avocado to hold together on top, it was delicious!
And yes, that knife is REALLY. FREAKING. SHARP.
Second attempt: I hadn't gotten into the habit of taking pictures yet :(
Third Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3-2.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Tuna, White Tuna(half w/ spicy mayo)
Sushi: Salmon, Tuna
Rolls: 1) Salmon, Crab & Avocado inside w/ Crab Salad on top; 2) Tuna, Crab & Avocado inside w/ Salmon on top
*Local specialty: Rose Petals (Salmon & Tuna)
By this point, I had gotten better at slicing fish properly and keeping rolls solid. The store had a particularly good selection of fish as you can probably tell from the pictures, and I made my first attempt at replicating a favorite from one of our local restaurants.
Rose Petals are made with a ball of rice at their center with a long, thin slice of fish (sometimes two) wrapped around the rice with a strip of spicy mayo to keep it together. Add a dab of spicy mayo on top and a few drops of RED PEPPER SAUCE (I know, sounds awful) and you have what may be the most enjoyable bite of food you'll ever taste. You might not want to share them, given the chance to eat some.
*Spicy mayo = orange spicy sauce mixed with mayonnaise to ease the intensity
Fourth Dinner: The store ran out of sashimi-grade tuna which wasn't frozen. QQ
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4-2.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Salmon, White Tuna(half w/ spicy mayo)
Sushi: Salmon
Rolls: 1) Salmon, Crab inside w/ Avocado on top; 2) Spicy Crab Salad inside w/ Salmon on top
Rose Petals: Salmon
They might have been out of Tuna, but that's okay, since salmon is still the best overall fish. Those rose petals were especially good.
Fifth Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/5-1.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel
Rolls: 1) Tuna, Crab & Avocado inside w/ Salmon on top; 2) Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon inside w/ Tuna on top (not pictured)
Rose Petals: Salmon, Tuna
Because of the difficulty of slicing the fish just the right size to use two pieces on each rose petal, I started using a single longer piece, which doesn't stick together quite as well, but allows almost twice the pieces.
The reason the other roll is not in the picture is because one of our cats managed to get on the counter and knocked the dish into the rice basin, so it didn't look pretty, but still tasted fine. On that note, one of our cats is a Tuna addict.
Sixth Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/6-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/6-3.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna, Red Snapper
Rolls: 1) Crab, Spicy Crab Salad inside w/ Avocado on top; 2) Tuna, Avocado inside w/ Salmon on top
*Local specialty: Spicy Sandwich (Salmon & Tuna)
This was probably the most filling sushi meal I ever had, but that's no reason to complain.
The spicy sandwich is basically two sheets of seaweed with rice on both sides, surrounding a layer of spicy fish, cut into several pieces. It is called a sandwich because you can literally pick it up with your hands and eat it as such (and it won't fall apart as easily that way). The restaurant does make them better than I can, and with a wider selection of fish. The Yellowtail and Eel/Avocado variants are amazing.
Seventh Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/7-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/7-2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/7-3.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna
Sushi: Shrimp
Rolls: 1) Crab, Tamago inside w/ Tuna on top; 2) Spicy Tuna, Avocado inside w/ Salmon on top
Rose Petals: Salmon, Tuna
I found something at the store which was rather surprising: perfectly split, de-veined, cooked, flash-frozen shrimp of varying length, which are in the same condition as the restaurants receive them, for half the price you'd get at a grocery store (30 shrimp for $10). These taste far better than the grocery store variety which accumulate ice and bleach the flavor. The rating I use for sushi is "5L".
I also tried my hand at making Tamago, which is essentially an extremely thin egg omelet folded on itself several times, with a few added ingredients to sweeten it and add flavor (mirin, soy sauce, sugar). You really need a non-stick rectangular pan and a large heated surface that can hold the entire pan for it to come out just right.
Eighth Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/8-1.jpg[/img]
Sashimi: Tuna
Rolls: 1) Crab, Egg, Shrimp inside; 2) Salmon, Tuna inside w/ Avocado on top
Rose Petals: Salmon, Tuna
*Local specialty: Osaka Box Roll (Spicy Shrimp inside w/ Spicy Salmon & Avocado on top)
That Osaka Box roll actually is as enormous as it looks. It's more or less the same as the spicy sandwich, but I omitted the layer of rice on the bottom and added the topping. It's usually done with two thin sheets of fish, but I made it more complicated, and it took a while. The pieces may have been too big to comfortably eat in a single bite, but the flavor was worth it.
Hopefully more to come (and more to eat, nom nom nom)
Holy crap norg, you have too much time on your hands. You should come back and raid imo.
Looks very yummy though!
HOLYY MOLLY! LOL thats a lot of sushi for one night, sounds good!
It's actually surprising how far the fish goes. The most recent one only took 3 cups of rice (before cooked), one avocado, half the pack of shrimp, a pound of salmon and half a pound of tuna. It definitely gets filling, but getting full at a restaurant is a bank breaker, so it's nice for a change.
So first off
Are you fucking NOT good at anything?
</fanboy>
where do you get your sushi grade fish from?
I've looked locally, but can't find it, I've not looked into san francisco much, but at the point I can also order it flash-frozen, tho i'd prefer fresh cultured salmon so it doesn't have to go through freeze procress
It's in the post, Lotte•Assi Plaza.
That said, you have better sources in California. I found the one I saw a while back, which seems good to me. They're centered in San Diego and they ship; for that short distance, it might be a reasonable price.
I like to think that I can do reasonably well at whatever I want to, but I outright suck at basketball ;p
thank you sir, i very much apriciate it, i admit I didn't read all of it, so maybe i should have, but i'll check out the site, i've been wanting to do it myself for a long time
thanks for making me super hungry. on a side note, how much was it roughly because id liek to try my own
Norgulzar said »
The most recent one only took 3 cups of rice (before cooked), one avocado, half the pack of shrimp, a pound of salmon and half a pound of tuna. It definitely gets filling, but getting full at a restaurant is a bank breaker, so it's nice for a change.
The price varies a lot by the ingredients. Avocados, mayo, spicy sauce, red pepper sauce, fake crab, seaweed and good rice are all pretty reasonable. You need a decent rice cooker, or a very good eye for cooking it on the stove.
Prices here are somewhere in this vicinity (sashimi grade prices are higher than reg!)
Shrimp: $10 for 30
White Tuna: $12/lb
Tuna: $15/lb
Salmon: $14/lb
Red Snapper: $9/lb
Basically, that most recent dinner was around 40 bucks for 3 people, and it could have fed four. Cheap for sushi.
If you do try your own, remember that unlike in a restaurant, you can't just reach into the cooler for another slab of fish; you need to plan out what goes where, measure the length against a piece of seaweed (which you can't get wet before making a roll), and be sure to cut on a diagonal for the best pieces. It takes a little bit of engineering.
yeah sounds much cheaper already than goign out for it. I love sushi but the prices are outrageous. Thanks I'll try it
Oh, don't forget a bamboo sushi rolling mat.
i've made my own sushi before. it... wasn't so good. yours looks much better.
looks good
Long time no post, sorry! (mostly for not eating it for a while)
Ninth Dinner:
[img]http://vanquish-guild.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9-1.jpg[/img]
Sushi: Shrimp
Hand Rolls: 1) Spicy Tuna, Avocado, Crab stick inside; 2) Spicy Tuna, Avocado, 2x Shrimp inside
*Local specialty: Spicy Tuna Bowl (Spicy Tuna, Avocado on a bed of rice in this case, or on shredded daikon radish)
This was more of a quick dinner than the others (three of those plate pairs, but still). A one-pound brick of frozen, ground, sashimi-grade tuna (the parts that aren't shapely enough for sashimi slicing, only $8 a pound), another pack of 30 shrimp, three crab sticks, an avocado, three sheets of seaweed cut in half, some spicy mayo and a few cups of rice, which came to about $24. Sweet deal to have sushi for three.
Have any of you tried your hand at it yet? :p
I will now have to head to the sushi bar tomorrow afternoon after seeing this post. Food looks amazing Norg.
No picture of your feminine hand this time?
Special thanks to Lotte
No prob
You seem oddly fixated on my hands. Perhaps it was that fine motor control required to make sushi and a lifetime of honed video game reflexes?
I can introduce you if you're that interested.
Norg. I miss you.
I miss you too. You're a worthy adversary, even if I am a more cunning linguist.
Cunning linguist lol I get it.
Because of oral sex.
:|
Now that I re-read Norg's last 2 posts... what a perv.
I believe I've said something to this effect before, that as someone with a strong sense of empathy I pick up on other peoples' attitudes when chatting with them; in other words, I subconsciously have a tendency to try and please my audience. In regards to the occasional innuendo,
Lotte said »
Special thanks to Lotte
No prob
I guess that means you're enough of a perv to get me talking like one, even if it is with my typical polite demeanor :p.
I made sushi last night!!!!!!!!!! Though I made half veggie sushi and half tuna sushi... it was awesome!!!