But it takes years of moderating to be able to determine how sticky it should be.
I agree with this. It’s basically rice, salt and vinegar. No matter how complex the process is it shouldn’t take two years to master. I think it’s just another version of the emperor’s new clothes.
What would be interesting is a blind taste test. Until 1976 it was believed no wine could come close to the French in taste and quality. A blind taste test by the worlds foremost experts shot that notion to hell.
I think wine is a great example. You need 4 years of college to get your foot in the door and then it will take another 10 years or so before anyone will consider you for head winemaker. When in reality it’s just taking grape juice and adding yeast. Now just like sushi that is very much not true and you can easily tell your neighbor’s basement wine from the good stuff. There are certainly talented people who make quality product much faster than the schedule but it takes time to figure out the variations and make good product.
This. It’s not that cooking rice is hard, it’s that cooking it in this particular style takes a bit of finesse and having it come out the exact same every time with regards to flavor/texture/moisture content takes a lot of practice. The more time you put into it, the better you get, and the more money (and esteem) you get.
It’s like how golf isn’t a hard game: you’re just trying to knock a ball into a hole in as few shots as possible, but there’s a world of difference between a weekend duffer, a top-ranked collegiate player, and Phil Mikkelson.
Again, though, we have the same crap here. Look at the preposterous obsession at high end restaurants with so-and-so being a “Chef.” People take that title seriously, and some are better than others, but, seriously, just cook my food.
Of course a person who has done it for five years will be better at it than someone who started last Thursday, all other things being equal. That’s true of all jobs.
I don’t claim to be an expert in these matters but I am at least someone who greatly enjoys both good sushi and good wine and I have to say that I really strongly disagree with your dismissal of sushi and what you seem to be claiming those wine-tasting events prove.
Anyone is of course free to opine that sushi is just “rice, salt and vinegar”, just as they’re free to opine (as some people have sometimes done) that all wine is basically just fermented grape juice. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but, respectfully, when that opinion is based on lack of experience and knowledge of the subject matter it isn’t very useful or informative.
Personally I consider great sushi to be a really sublime experience, though I recognize that not everyone does. Perhaps a documentary like Jiro Dreams of Sushi might help provide some perspective on the subject. There’s far more to it than just “taste” – it’s really a whole experience that includes the subtleties of presentation and ambiance and expert knowledge of exactly how to select seafood and how to prepare, season, and present each particular fish that is at hand. I really don’t think that anyone who hasn’t been to at least half a dozen restaurants of at least the caliber of Sushi Nakazawa in New York and been treated to their omakase (chef’s tasting menu) truly understands what a real sushi experience is about.
I could make the same sort of comment about wines. Over the past 30 years or so California wineries have produced some world-class products, and the only thing that “Judgment in Paris” thing and subsequent tastings prove is that it’s taken the French some time to lose their pompous superiority and realize that they have true competition. Australia, a place that once had a reputation for producing mainly swill, has also produced award-winning vintages. Even Canada, despite its cool climate, is producing high quality award-winning wines, and I’m not just talking about their specialty icewines – a warming climate and improved local varietals like the Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir are giving the French a run for their money, and in less than stratospheric price ranges these New World wines are often far better value than their French counterparts.
This is key. It comes down to taste and expectations. I detest Starbucks, for example, because I’m not looking for an “experience”; I just want a three shot Americano and GTFO. I tend to overspend on PC’s because I insist on high-end Macintosh, whereas a lot of people are happy to settle with Windows (because I’m not a so-called fanboi, I don’t criticize their taste). I won’t eat at chain steakhouses like “Logan’s” or whatnot because I do it a hell of a lot better and use better meat.
On the other hand, I want sushi that won’t kill me (please, make sure it’s fake crab, and don’t give me anything with shrimp). Some sushi is better than others, but I can’t imagine any sushi being sublime, whereas a perfect Imperial Stout can be sublime to me.
High end sushi places cater to people who are high end sushi eaters, and also to people who think they’ll have a better experience by going to a high end sushi place. The former is appealing to a dedicated audience and the latter is good marketing.
And this is my point of course. I don’t mean to single you out or find fault with your opinions but how can you be sure the rice you are getting at those places is of a superior taste? Take away the ambiance, mystique and reputation and put their rice to a blind taste and I would bet anything you would not be able to pick out the expensive stuff.
I will agree that there are some things regarding cooking that would require more “learning” time than others. Soufflés, yes. Boiled eggs, no. Sushi rice, probably not a two year learning curve.
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Strongly hierarchical societies often have elaborate hazing customs, to make sure everyone knows their place.
Someone had to make the rice, right? Who else would do that if not the new guy? I think you guys are imagining more mystique here than is needed. Most professionals work entry level jobs for a few years and then work their way up slowly to the more exciting stuff. The process is more ritualized in a formal apprenticeship, but it’s not really that different from being an intern at an office.
Good sushi in Japan tastes better than many other places. The difference is quality ingredients and high standards.
Japanese culture emphasizes respect and repetition. Do you need so much time? No, but you could say the same thing about many apprenticeships and degrees.
If you want to cook at Papa John’s or TGIFs, less skill is required than at a Michelin restaurant. There is snob value in having spent a long time acquiring skills and working with skilled chefs. Most people who make sushi have not gone through this process.
I am reminded of a reference to a famous chef, who IIRC was/is Japanese, was asked what had he not mastered?
His answer was “salt”.
Thread: Iron Chef: 15 Years To Master Salt? (2006)
Yep, that’s where I read that. Good recall/search!
Holy E moly that thread may have set the board record for smart ass puns.
And there were a handful of posts about salt that were insightful.
The OP spoke of sushi rice but I was talking about sushi in general, of which, as I said, I consider good rice to be an essential base ingredient but only the minimum essential to great sushi. I understand that many sushi chefs make their own rice vinegar from scratch, and the great Jiro Ono (the subject of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi) is said to have his own rice dealer who won’t sell to common sushi restaurants because he claims they wouldn’t know what to do with it. I have no personal knowledge of such exotica and probably no ability whatsoever to discriminate between different kinds of good quality sushi rice. But I can certainly discriminate between good sushi rice and bad. The good stuff is soft and delicate, served at exactly the right temperature and consistency, and seems to melt in your mouth, adding a gentle and agreeable complement to, rather than distraction from, the main event that it bears on its surface.
I don’t claim that it takes years to learn to make good sushi rice. Again, my argument is about the sushi itself, and it does take years – and indeed a lifetime – to acquire the skills of preparation and the exquisitely subtle matching of flavors of which a great chef is capable.
This is undoubtedly true, and this is probably why most sushi is, at best, exceedingly substandard, though surprising exceptions can occur in unexpected places. A lot of it isn’t sushi at all, like the westernized abominations of “California rolls” or the inevitable raw salmon slathered on everything (I’ve never known a decent sushi chef to ever use salmon at all). I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but that seems to be the reality – sushi is one of those things where the spectrum of quality is huge, and not necessarily correlated with the richness or pretentiousness of the establishment. Indeed my little secret for a while was a distinctly unpretentious but fantastic little sushi bar in a rundown neighborhood, until the apprentice chef decided to leave and founded what became one of the most acclaimed and lovely sushi restaurants in the city.
It’s true that sushi began in the 19th century as basically a quick lunch or snack food, but unless the makers were exceptionally skilled and had access to first-rate seafood (which, in fact, they probably did) in many ways the early stuff probably wasn’t that great. It’s what sushi has evolved into today that is truly exceptional. Wine was, likewise, invented thousands of years ago when some enterprising individual discovered that grape juice would ferment into an intoxicating beverage, but it took a very long time for winemaking to evolve to where it is today. Early wines would likely be considered undrinkable by even the most rudimentary of today’s standards.
The western idea of an apprenticeship is also not necessarily applicable in this or other contexts.
The apprenticeship system for many crafts that the Japanese see as being an essential and unique part of their culture is designed not to spit out a competent practitioner, in their mid 20s but to identify and pass on an entire tradition and to have the safety net of knowing that the person will be able to carry that on in turn and that the entire legacy is not compromised. Its seen as a long journey, and each step is all about technical skill, comprehensive knowledge and also character, which has great currency in Japanese society.
Japan recognises national living treasures, as people who have made this journey. it does not have a food or cooking category, but the idea carries over.
With the current obsession with authenticity, its ironic that it is so shallow that it completely fails to register the need to develop deep knowledge over time. We believe that if we buy and get to the end of ‘Sushi Rice for Dummies’ without the kitchen exploding that we have somehow replicated what goes on in a traditional Japanese kitchen.
Another way of looking at this…long internships/whatevers ALSO weed out competition…you won’t have some half assed kid with a rice cooker outselling you 6 months after working for you.
Excessive “internship” might well lead to stagnation and ironically in some respects a thwarting of advancement…
OTOH, the crass capitiistic American way IMO can often lead to race to bottom quality/skill wise.
Hence rock gut buffets and a bunch of other stuff.
CPUs, medicines, rockets, etc. you know.
This is really the key here (already mentioned, but it bears repeating). When you go to a Japanese sushi restaurant, you know the chef has put in years of heart, soul, and sweat into being a sushi chef. This carries a lot of weight with Japanese customers.
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A lot of it isn’t sushi at all, like the westernized abominations of “California rolls” or the inevitable raw salmon slathered on everything (I’ve never known a decent sushi chef to ever use salmon at all).
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I lived in northern Japan (Hokkaido) where salmon and scallop is fresh, local, and abundant. Accordingly, sushi places featured them regularly (when in season). Why would you expect they’d pass over a readily available local delicacy? Be careful with the generalization there. The real key to sushi, contra all the fixation on rice, is sourcing the freshest local seasonal ingredients.
What you generally won’t see good sushi chefs use is ingredients that aren’t local or seasonal. Usually it’s too expensive to be worthwhile. That’s why sushi isn’t so popular in the mountainous inland of Japan.
Certainly the key to great sushi is the best possible ingredients, but I’ll make a few comments about “freshest”, “local”, and the general matter of salmon. You live in Japan and I’ve never been there so I can only speak of what I know from direct experience here and what I’ve heard anecdotally.
First of all it’s not a generalization but an observed fact that of the many times I’ve enjoyed omakase at top-tier Japanese restaurants here, salmon has never – not once – ever been served. I’m not sure if this is of any particular awesome significance, it’s just a factual observation. (I do recall having scallop on a number of occasions, and it was wonderful.) OTOH, salmon is found in abundance in the pseudo-sushi you can pick up at the grocery store, and often salmon is the only actual fish there, and seems to be the fish of choice for fast-food takeout sushi, presumably because it’s extremely cheap and plentiful.
Not long ago I was served a pinkish fish during an omakase tasting and when the chef told me what it was (I can’t remember now) I thoughtlessly remarked, “oh, when I saw it I thought it was salmon”, and the chef looked positively insulted. (It’s a bad idea to make comments like that to a temperamental chef wielding an extremely sharp knife! :D) I have read that the Japanese don’t typically use it for sushi, at least in high-end restaurants, and this is borne out by a chef’s anecdote of tourists in Tokyo asking for salmon sushi, and the chef looking at them like they were crazy.
And one reason for this is that salmon are exceptionally subject to parasites. A 1980s study found the anisakis larvae in every single one of the salmon species sampled in Puget Sound, and because of their lifecycle in fresh water, salmon can also carry tapeworms. The traditional remedy for this is freezing, which is not always done effectively as it requires minimum temperatures and durations. The FDA recommends (but does not mandate) that all fish to be eaten raw be frozen for 18 hours at -31°F – a temperature that few general-purpose home or commercial freezers can achieve – or correspondingly much longer at higher temperatures. Some fish may not require this and for optimum sushi may need to be prepared fresh, but others do and manage to retain their quality, and it takes knowledge and experience to know the difference.
This also has bearing on the the freshness and seasonality aspect. I would never expect a good sushi restaurant to have everything available at all times and would be very suspicious if they did, but I have also had superb sushi of all kinds that had its origins in different parts of the country or, often, flown in from Japan. Which belies the idea that great sushi can’t be served by distant or inland restaurants, albeit at corresponding expense. But I agree that the ultimate source – the expert selection at quality fish markets – is one of the prime determinants of quality.