Convince a timid eater to eat sushi

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

I’ve had three kinds of sushi that I didn’t much care for:

1. Mall sushi from a place that normally does Chinese food. It was incredibly foul and inedible–I think they just mushed up some steamed (not vinegared) rice in a piece of seaweed and added some appallingly tough vegetables to the bundle. Careful of that!
2. Uni, or sea urchin genitalia. Imagine if Bugs Bunny caught walking pneumonia, coughed up a gigantic, thick, viscous wad of carrot-colored phlegm. Now imagine a sadistic sushi chef cutting that thick phlegmball into rectangles and putting them on chunks of rice. That’s about what uni is like, only uni is worse.
3. Unagi. My wife loves it; I eat a piece every time she gets it to make sure I still don’t. It’s just far too sweet and greasy for my taste.

If you want to ease into the sushi scene, I’d suggest going for smoked fish. Salmon and trout are both lovely smoked and go well in sushi. Also look for wasabi moments–those times when you overload a piece of sushi with wasabi and your senses all shut down momentarily until the pain passes. It’s quite invigorating.

Daniel

[RindaRinda]

@Tabby_Cat

Eh, AFAIK, freezing causes ice crystals to form in the cells, and causes the cells to burst. This causes the flesh to become “mushy” or “slimy”, and it will definitely not be as firm. If you’re cooking it, it’s not such a big deal, but for eating it raw, it should be very noticable.

AFAIK.

All game fish, including bluefin tuna (from whence maguro comes), is frozen. A major reason is parasites. Another reason could be that these guys live far offshore, so they need to be frozen to preserve them.

Properly prepared maguro is neither mushy nor slimy. Certainly, the Japanese don’t notice anything “off” about previously-frozen bluefin tuna, and they are among the pickiest eaters on the planet.

I read somewhere that sushi chefs “age” their maguro a bit. They serve it when the flavor has reached its peak, but before any deterioration of flesh.

As for the OP: every single person I’ve dragged to sushi places with me has remarked that sushi is not nearly as fishy as they feared. I personally prefer sashimi, as large quantities of glutinous rice makes me vaguely ill.

[RindaRinda]

@Tabby_Cat

Eh, AFAIK, freezing causes ice crystals to form in the cells, and causes the cells to burst. This causes the flesh to become “mushy” or “slimy”, and it will definitely not be as firm. If you’re cooking it, it’s not such a big deal, but for eating it raw, it should be very noticable.

AFAIK.

All game fish, including bluefin tuna (from whence maguro comes), is frozen. A major reason is parasites. Another reason could be that these guys live far offshore, so they need to be frozen to preserve them.

Properly prepared maguro is neither mushy nor slimy. Certainly, the Japanese don’t notice anything “off” about previously-frozen bluefin tuna, and they are among the pickiest eaters on the planet.

I read somewhere that sushi chefs “age” their maguro a bit. They serve it when the flavor has reached its peak, but before any deterioration of flesh.

As for the OP: every single person I’ve dragged to sushi places with me has remarked that sushi is not nearly as fishy as they feared. I personally prefer sashimi, as large quantities of glutinous rice makes me vaguely ill.

[Club_33]

@Magiver

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.

With all due respect, I would not advise getting it at a grocery store. It just isn’t the same, especially if they make it fresh daily but store it refrigerated in the plastic containers. This makes the rice too cold and dry. It also will make any nori (seaweed) lose its crispness.

Sushi should be eaten right after it is made, not after it sits a while. I find that even if I order sushi to go, it changes quite a bit by the time it gets home.

The suggestions here are quite good concerning what to try. I would recommend Tekka Maki, (tuna roll). Have them add a little cucumber if you want a little extra crunch. I also love a simple shrimp handroll with a little lemon juice, salt, and chili. Simple and wonderful. If you are a little more adventuresome, you might try what is called a spider roll. It is basically a california roll with soft shell crab. Terrific flavor.

[iamme99]

@TVeblen

True and granted. The transportation costs do add to the final bill, though, and fresh fish is highly perishable. Many places settle for using frozen fish. (Some are a bit twonky about eking out that little extra time after the fish really isn’t all that fresh any more, too.) Not all, of course, but quite a few, IME. The taste just isn’t the same–and I eat frozen fish frequently and love it. My freezer’s stuffed with it, in fact. But since sushi isn’t cooked the quality of the fish really stands out.

Actually, according to the article below, fish to be eaten raw in the USA must be frozen first! Else it is illegal. I’ve also heard that ALL tuna sold commercially in the USA is frozen, whether intended for eating raw or not.

I like sushi/sashimi myself. I’ll eat most any raw fish, though I’ve come across some that were too chewy (octopus?) and something, years ago, that I’ve forgotten the name of that smelled and tasted like a sewer but I was told was fresh. Ugh.

I often buy Ahi tuna from Costco and slice it up raw. What I don’t eat in a couple of sittings, I freeze and cook later. I’ve never had any problems with it. However, I wouldn’t buy tuna for shashimi from a place like Safeway or Albertson’s.

Sushi Fresh From the Deep . . . the Deep Freeze
By JULIA MOSKIN
NY Times
Published: April 8, 2004

To many food lovers, sushi has become a near religion, and a cornerstone of the faith is that the fish is extraordinarily fresh. Its priests are chefs with seemingly mystical abilities to summon fresh fish from all corners of the globe.

But because of health concerns and growing demand, 50 to 60 percent of sushi in the United States is frozen at some point in its journey from the ocean, according to wholesalers. And rare is the sushi restaurant that tells customers upfront that they may be eating fish that has been in deep freeze for up to two years.

Most would be even more surprised to learn that if the sushi has not been frozen, it is illegal to serve it in the United States.

Food and Drug Administration regulations stipulate that fish to be eaten raw — whether as sushi, sashimi, seviche, or tartare — must be frozen first, to kill parasites. “I would desperately hope that all the sushi we eat is frozen,” said George Hoskin, a director of the agency’s Office of Seafood. Tuna, a deep-sea fish with exceptionally clean flesh, is the only exception to the rule.

But tuna is often frozen, too, not necessarily to make it safe, but because global consumption of sushi continues to rise. Frozen fish usually costs about half as much wholesale as fresh. And some cuts, like the prized fatty toro, are not always available fresh.

Full article