# Do American people make sandwiches at home? Or is it more of a specialty thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 10, 2025, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414 "2025-06-10T07:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/222 "2025-06-17T21:02:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve never made sushi for a number of reasons (including that my husband doesn’t eat it) but I’ve watched friends make it, and it’s very easy. I think it is similar in complexity to making a sandwich, assuming you have a rice cooker and the rolling mat. If you make [nigiri](https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-nigiri-4800801) or [temaki-zushi](https://japan.recipetineats.com/temakizushitemakizushi-hand-rolled-sushi/) you don’t even need a rolling mat, you only need that for [makizushi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi#Makizushi) (sushi rolls). But sushifying the rice takes a bit of time. You need to wash the rice properly (whixh you have to do anyway if you’re going to cook rice the Japanese way), cook it with the right amount of konbu (kelp) for the right amount of umami and add just enough rice vinegar/salt/sugar during cooling. Getting that decently right takes some experience, but not more than getting other home country cooking dishes right. So, a decently competent home cook should be able to make sushi surpassing grocery-bought sushi after a few tries. Particularly if you make nigiri; then you only need to shape the rice balls and cut up the toppings. I’ve been served sushi at friends’ home in Japan, all prepared by the family cook (the wife, not unsurprisingly). I learned a great trick there: Don’t assemble the nigiri in the kitchen, serve the sushi and the toppings on separate plates. Everyone assembles their own sushi with their preferred toppings and their preferred amount of wasabi between the rice and the topping. On the other hand, the best sushi chefs - who have spent decades training for the craft - take sushi to Michelin star levels. One of the two-three best meals I’ve ever eaten in my more-than-six-decades-long life was when we went out for [omakase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omakase) sushi in Tokyo. And I’m a foodie and an avid hobby cook. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/223 "2025-06-17T21:12:28Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Nobody uses a rice cooker or a mat to make a sandwich. You can make a sandwich with no tools at all. How are the two tasks similarly complex? You don’t need a rice cooker to cook rice, nor to cook sushi rice. You only need a pot. And you only need a mat if you’re going to make maki-zushi (sushi rolls) or uramaki (inside-out sushi rolls, with the rice on the outside and the nori between the rice and the fillings). There’s temaki, there’s nigiri, there’s chirashi and probably more which I’m not aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/224 "2025-06-17T21:15:57Z")
Fun fact: That’s how we do it in Scandinavia, too. It’s almost always open sandwiches (a staple for breakfast (and for some of us, lunch)). A slice of bread, some fat (typically butter, sometimes mayo), some salami slices, cold cuts or cheese. Perhaps a veg garnish if you feel fancy. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/225 "2025-06-17T21:19:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. It is. Source: Japanese friends of ours, a Japanese friend who immigrated to our country, a domestic relative who has spent several years in Japan and a domestic friend who has spent several years in Japan and is also married to a Japanese woman. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Does sushi _require_ top grade raw fish? Or can it be made without that? Sushi is the rice. The most common topping/filling is (usually raw) seafood - which spoils rather quickly, but you can top/fill it with cooked prawns, slices of Japanese omelet, gourd ribbons cooked in soy sauce, sugar and _[mirin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin)_, cucumber, or you can fill it in inari-age (tofu pouches which have been deep-fried and then marinated in soy sayce, sugar and _mirin_). And probably a lot more which I don’t have access to outside of Japan. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What about Spam based sushi? Go sit in the corner and think about what you have said ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/226 "2025-06-17T21:36:12Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Maybe my ignorance but I don’t think any rice bowl is sushi. Even if the ingredients are the same. To repeat myself: Sushi is the rice. More specifically, the rice vinegar/sugar/salt flavored rice. Originally, it was lactic acid fermented rice, a way to keep boiled rice from spoiling. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/227 "2025-06-17T21:46:38Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. > > It is. It’s also standard in Chinese homes, at least in the US. I used to work with a bunch of data scientists of Chinese ethnicity. They learned that i ate rice most days (it’s the closest we have to a staple) and i didn’t own a rice cooker. So one of them gave me a spare he had lying around. Because he couldn’t imagine living without it. It was fun going to China Town with them for lunch. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/228 "2025-06-17T21:57:29Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > On a very basic level, sushi is “rice with stuff” No, on the most basic level, sushi is “slightly sour flavored rice”. The “stuff” is formally optional, but in practice compulsory ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/229 "2025-06-17T22:00:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > This is where insecure assholes who know _some_ things come to make themselves feel superior because they know something someone else doesn’t. And some assholes try honestly to fight ignorance by providing some actual facts. Yes, I know. Futile. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/230 "2025-06-17T22:01:49Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > Re: sliced tomato: Whenever I slice tomato, it comes out way too thick (like 1/3 of an inch thick, which really is too thick and can ruin the sandwich. Do you have a trick to slicing your tomatoes thinner? Have a really sharp knife. Practice your technique. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/231 "2025-06-17T22:03:07Z")
On the other hand, a ceramic knife chips too easily. Another option is to have good knives with good steel and learn to sharpen them properly ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/232 "2025-06-17T22:12:00Z")
Yeah, it seems to be a big Central European thing, as well. I’ve definitely seen it in Germany. When I lived in Hungary there were old-style sandwich shops that served nothing but these sort of open-faced canapé sandwich. Speaking of Scandinavian, I’ve really been getting into store-bought crispbread and even making it myself from rye and sesame seeds lately, and that’s been a nice on its own as a snack or as a vehicle for some light toppings. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/233 "2025-06-17T22:58:52Z")
Another poster recommended that I bisect it through the core, put the flat ends down against the board, and slice that way. I think the style was that you hold the sharpened knife in one hand, press down on the half tomato with the other hand with four fingers tightly together, and then you use the thumb to slowly guide it forward along the board (while moving back the four fingers). I know I bought myself one of these a ling time ago and that my wife put an old butcher block knife holder /knife set away in the basement. [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41FcYnDx85L._AC_SX569_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41FcYnDx85L._AC_SX569_.jpg) I don’t know if I should start sharpening from the left or the right though. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/234 "2025-06-17T23:45:22Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > And you only need a mat if you’re going to make maki-zushi (sushi rolls) or uramaki (inside-out sushi rolls, with the rice on the outside and the nori between the rice and the fillings). You don’t _need_ a mat. You can use a tea towel or even do it by hand. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/235 "2025-06-17T23:47:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > It’s also standard in Chinese homes, at least in the US. I have been gifted rice cookers from a Chinese American and an Indonesian grad student. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/236 "2025-06-18T01:52:05Z")
I’m careful with them, and never use them on foods that will chip them, like bone-in meat. Anyway, the blades are also brittle, so i don’t want to use them for things where a little “give” is good, like meat or apples. But they are great for onions and tomatoes. Why yes, i have a knife wardrobe, and many of my knives are only used for a few foods. I have a nasty mid-sized knife clad in Damascus, that i only use for meat, too. It likes blood, and will turn on me if i use it for vegetables. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/237 "2025-06-18T02:07:18Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > To repeat myself: Sushi is the rice TIL. And I have worked as a waiter in a restaurant serving sushi (and sashimi… doh!) ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/238 "2025-06-18T03:46:44Z")
Is this a whoosh? Im no fan of spam, and I haven’t had spam sushi, but I know it is a legitimate thing in Hawaii. The best sushi experience Ive had was in a little spot in Kihei, Maui. As others have described their experience in some restaurants in Japan, the chef chose the evenings menu. There was no spam that night, I am sure its a much more casual form, byt my understanding is that it is a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/239 "2025-06-18T06:58:19Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > Im no fan of spam, and I haven’t had spam sushi, but I know it is a legitimate thing in Hawaii. It’s technically not sushi; it’s musubi. They use plain rice; not sushi rice which is flavored with vinegar, salt, and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/240 "2025-06-18T19:58:02Z")
And it’s delicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414.md?page=11)