Well, tonight we went out to dinner with friends. We went to a Japanese restaurant. I’ve wanted to try sushi for years, but frankly, I don’t really like fish much, and the idea of raw fish makes me nervous. Still, I felt like a big dork for never even trying it.
But lots of people have told me that I’d like California Rolls. That fake crabmeat stuff, avocado, cucumber, rice and some seaweed - nothing too scary sounding in that lot. So tonight I got brave and I tried it, and it was YUMMY! I even ate a teeny bit of wasabi. My friend Scott, who is also a big food coward, tried raw tuna sushi and he said it was also yummy, but my bravery ran out before the plate got to my side of the table.
Now that I’m back in the safety of my own home, I’m feeling brave again. I’m funny about weird textures, so I need to be warned if something is slimey or crunchy (or heaven forbid, both at the same time.) I DO like crabmeat, I’m OK with shrimp in small doses, and the only veggie I will not eat is eggplant. I know there are some all-veggie sushi choices, and I will try those, but I’d like to try The Real Thing.
So please educate me a bit about this stuff, and recommend some not-too-scary sushi choices for me?
Well, the California roll is about the most mild of all sushi. Next up from there, I’d look for a roll with some mild raw fish in it as well as other things, to kind of disguise the fish.
Do you like Salmon? Raw salmon, IMO, is much milder and less-fishy than the cooked version. Yellowtail tuna is also quite mild. If I were you, I’d look for rolls with either of those and some veggies.
Moving on from there, try plain salmon or yellowtail sushi. Just plain rice and fish - very mild, very yummy!
Ebi is shrimp and it’s cooked. No harm, no foul if you want to order that. Do not order Ama Ebi (raw shrimp). At least not at first.
Other than that, the stuff I get is the usual tuna, ebi, (cooked shrimp), and whitefish. Now, I don’t know the technical term for “whitefish” but it’s really white/pale in color and very tasty even raw, which is why I like it. Someone will be along to give the real name of the fish I’m sure.
These are the three “usual” things I get when I order the “sushi combo (chef’s choice)” so I assume it’s a standard. I think the chefs use the tamest to start, so that’s probably the best to try for starters.
tamagozushi, egg omelet [slightly sweet, i do think they put in about a pinch of sugar in 4 eggs, it tastes about like that proportion=)] on a bed of rice, with a wrapping of seaweed. I prefer it without the seaweed=)
some places put a schmeer of wasabi under the egg. I like to put a schmeer of wasabi, and a thin slice of pickled ginger under the egg on mine=)
Everybody else has mentioned my favorites, tuna and salmon. being on atkins, I usually will do 2 pieces of egg sushi on the rice, and the tuna and salmon as sashimi [no rice] a bowl of basic soup [usually has tiny tofu chunks, sliced scallions and seaweed. I ask for mine to not have seaweed but use spinach instead, and sometimes if i am really lucky i might get a slice or 2 of kamaboko [a steamed fishcake, like sealegs/fake crab] I also get one of the ubiquitous tossed salads with the ginger dressing.
LifeonWry, I’m not all that timid when it comes to food, and even I was leery of the Sushi experience. My husband loves it. He orders it often when we’re in a place that looks respectable enough to know what they’re doing. I finally screwed up my courage to try it after I had tried California rolls and not keeled over, but the raw fish aspect still squicks me out. I managed a bite of the kind with the big, flattened shrimp on top, and I ate most of the one with the tuna on top. I lived. Now I can say that, yes, I have had Sushi, and no, I’m not a fan of it. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had to eat, though. That dubious honor goes to the orange hummus that I had to run over and spit out in the bushes.
Well, I can definitely say I’ve given sushi the ol’ college try. Three times in three different authentic well reviewed sushi restaurants. I just cannot eat it. There’s just something about the taste and texture I just do not like. Just try it. If you don’t like it, then you don’t like it. Don’t let food snobs tell you “well, you just didn’t eat at a good restaurant” or “how can you NOT like sushi!” At least you can say that you tried it and it just did not appeal to you.
Most people, it seems, don’t like the rice if they don’t like sushi. Since you do like the rice, you’ll be fine with most.
Start out with a tuna maki (tuna rice and seaweed). If you like spicier stuff, get the spicy tuna. Salmon is always good and not “fishy”.
Unagi might be worth a try, but since it’s cooked it does have a tendency to be a bit crunchy in parts. Maybe someone you go with can order some (i’ll go with you:) ) and you can try it. The sweet sauce on it is to die for.
You could try unagi, which is cooked eel with a slightly sweetened soy sauce, on a rice ball. It is delicious! (My mouth is watering uncontrollably as I type this.) No, it doesn’t look icky – it just looks like a wide sliver of cooked fish. Hirame and hamachi are white-fleshed raw fish with a mild, sweet flavor. Salmon is wonderful. You can get it either fresh or smoked. The fresh is way better, IMHO.
Most sushi places also have rolls that are all-vegetable.
You can experiment with the wasabi and soy sauce. You’ll get a small saucer-like dish with your meal. Put a dab of wasabi on one side of the dish, then pour some soy sauce into it. With your chopstick, mush a bit of the wasabi into the adjoining soy sauce. You should wind up with a sauce that graduates from stright soy sauce, through a wasabi-laced goo, to the remaining wasabi lump. Experiment with dipping your sushi pieces into various parts of the range, to see how much wasabi fire you can take.
Oh, and don’t be afraid to try bits of the sliced pinkish ginger, too – either between sushi bites, or draped on a mouthful.
For a fully cooked meal, try Ten Don. It’s a big bowl of rice with shrimp and vegetable tempura, slathered with a slightly sweetened thick soy sauce. Scrumptious!
Of course, if you decide you don’t like it, that’s okay. That just means there’s more in the world for ME!!!
most well prepared sucshi should be okay actually. The flavour or fishiness comes out when cooking. Raw fish has Much less taste in it. Tuna, salmon. eel…it’s all good. It’s more the idea of eating raw fish that’ll get ya. Little bot o’ wasabi mixed in soy sauce. Yummy. Then you get the bill and wonder why the hell rice and soy sauce costs ya 50 bucks, cause that’s all you can taste.
[snob]If the pickled ginger is pink, you’re not in a good sushi place. It’s not supposed to be dyed.[/snob]
And if you have a good sushi chef, IMO there’s no need to mix wasabi into the soy sauce. He should be able to put the appropriate amount of wasabi on the sushi itself. This is one of those perennial personal-taste and do-you-let-the-chef-guide-your-dining-experience issues, though.
That’s what I was thinking. Mmmm…eel… . If your problem is texture (which was my problem when I started eating sushi) eel is good 'cause it’s cooked and all (and yummy).
As far as the Real Thing (ie actual raw fish) I would say a really important factor when you try it is to make sure you get the good stuff…very fresh. Less than very very fresh can be rubbery (ick!) and could turn you off forever. Good sushi is not rubbery or slimy.
And I dunno…the guy who introduced me to sushi ate it with lemon juice. Apparently this is Not Done (guys at the Japanese resurants would look at us like we asked for ketchup ) but somehow it made it easier to get used to (now I just go for a little soy sauce and lots of wasabi )
Eat what ever the hell you want to eat. Otherwise it is money down the drain. I could eat steak every day for breakfast lunch and dinner if it were feasible. I wouldn’t hesitate to order steak in a restaurant if that’s what I’m hungry for. I’m sure not going to eat fish eyeballs just because everybody else is. If people give me grief I hold up my hand and say “pass” (unless they want my to see my share of the eyeballs as they come back up).
As far as trying something new, I’m rarely surprised. If it didn’t appeal to me before then chances are it isn’t going to taste good (squirrel comes to mind).
If you truly want to see if you like it then go down to a grocery store that makes it up daily and try some. I like the combo’s because I like pickled ginger (which they usually come with). I wouldn’t recommend the horseradish (very hot).
A side note, if you don’t like slimy food such as oysters then toss some of your favorite hot sauce on them. Works for me and I couldn’t tell you why.
Most sushi places have maki (that’s the sliced rolls) without raw fish - many are entirely vegetable. I like the ones with cucumber or that plum sauce stuff in them.
Assuming you don’t run into a language barrier, you can always ask. Every sushi place I’ve gone to the staff wants you to enjoy your dining experience and they also know that it’s a very new thing for a lot of folks. If you don’t want to eat raw fish there are still many, many choices on the menu. I’ve also seen sushi chefs prepare something not on the menu for customers if they know the person either doesn’t like something or has particular favorites. Of course, if there’s a large crowd in the place that isn’t always feasible but seriously, sushi places do want you to enjoy the food and will help you make choices if you ask.
For first-timers, I usually suggest California rolls (which, personally, I don’t like - if that had been my only experience of sushi I would have said I don’t like it. Fortunately, my friend knew I hated avocado and steered me elsewhere) or futomaki, which is usually vegetarian or with cooked crabmeat. I know more than a few people who wouldn’t touch raw fish who nonetheless enjoy vegetarian sushi.
Wow, has nobody yet posted the obligatory comment about how the word “sushi” actually refers to the rice?
A Japanese friend of mine occasionally makes what she just calls “homestyle sushi”. It’s just a big bowl of the seasoned rice, served with pickled vegetables. Also, if you have access to shops that stock Japanese groceries, you may be able to find containers of different seasoning mixes that you sprinkle on your cooked rice.
Amen. And this is from an admittedly adventurous eater. But keep in mind sushi is just another in a long line of trendy foods. By all means try it, but there’s nothing wrong with not liking it, LifeOnWry
FWIW, Broomstick’s advice about maki is very well taken. It’s a good entry point.
For perspective, I love just about anything that swims, suctions, slithers or just plain settles in water. I don’t much like sushi. It’s not the raw fish thing; I love ceviche, raw marinated calamari and decidedly rare tuna. Thing is, unless the fish is out-of-the-water fresh, most sushi is a wasted effort.
Sushi is trendy but hardly required. Unless you’re dining right beside an ocean, and know the seafood is of freshest quality, you’re eating mystique, not the real deal. Frankly you’d be better off ordering an honest plate of cunningly cooked fish.
The first time I ate raw fish I was terrified (like you, I don’t much care for fish, and I’m fussy about weird food texture), but I figured if I was going to live in Japan I had to give it a shot. Turns out I like salmon sashimi much better than cooked salmon. Go fig.
A lot of American sushi-lovers I know recommend unagi, as have several posters above. I don’t think I’ve ever had it myself though, because it’s kind of expensive. For the squeamish, it does have the advantage of being cooked. Many Japanese people go crazy for uni (sea urchin), but the one time I had it I didn’t think it was anything special and I’m told that if you don’t eat it very fresh it turns nasty.
I love, love, love the little cucumber rolls with wasabi, and I like the pickled plum rolls too. But when it comes to the actual raw fish sushi rolls, my usual choice is tekka maki (aka the tuna roll). It’s sort of the PB&J of sushi rolls – simple, cheap, tasty, popular. I get it for lunch all the time.
. If your problem is texture (which was my problem when I started eating sushi) eel is good 'cause it’s cooked and all (and yummy).