When I was in grad school I went to a roll-your-own (vegetarian) sushi social sponsored by the campus international club. I had been living in Japan until just a few months previously, and this seemed like a good opportunity to meet people and get some free sushi.
My lack of skill at sushi-rolling may have been to blame for my kappa maki falling apart, but it definitely didn’t taste right. It wasn’t disgusting or anything, but it was worse than the cheapest supermarket sushi I’d ever had. I soon realized the problem: the rice wasn’t sushi rice, it was plain white rice. (I don’t think it was even short grain.) There didn’t seem to be any Japanese people present, and I didn’t have the heart to tell the adorable, enthusiastic Midwestern undergrads who’d organized the event that they’d made a mistake.
This thread makes me want to try really high-end sushi. To go back to the OP, though, what makes a great sushi chef is knowing the exact proportion of fish to rice to sauce, knowing what sauces or glazes to add to enhance each bite, and perfect marinating or cooking time. Ideally, the sushi should be perfectly seasoned and not need soy sauce or wasabi added.
As an aside, I am hooked on sushi rice. I could live on the stuff but apparently you can’t order just a bowl of the vinegared rice. If you order extra rice it is always plain. I feel resigned to ordering chirashi and eating the fish first if I want to enjoy just the rice. Am I just a crazy American know-nothing intent on ruining the essence of the sushi or do people ever eat just the plain vinegared rice?
My Japanese in-laws make chirashi with no real toppings per se. There are chopped shiitake and pickles mixed with the rice, but it’s mostly just rice. It looks a lot like this. So so, you’re not being too weird but I wouldn’t expect any restaurant to just serve rice.
Another thing that separates skilled sushi chefs from less-skilled ones is knowing when to add wasabi to the sushi and how much to use (and as previously noted, using real wasabi vs various stand-ins). Unfortunately, most sushi places don’t use wasabi at all, presumably because a lot of people don’t care for it, but when you find a chef that adds just the right amount, it really is a nice (and almost surprisingly subtle) touch of flavor.
Bourdain makes the point that a true expert will not offer wasabi or soy sauce as condiments because the sushi chef will have already added the appropriate amount, if needed.
Most places I’ve been to offer rice as a side dish, if you want it. And if they use rice, I’m sure you could ask for a bowl.
There was one sushi / Japanese place that did rice bowls and served sushi rice with them. But I don’t know if that’s because the one I always ordered was tuna sashimi or what. Theirs was a little stronger than other places I’ve gone to (especially the sushi at college where I was couldn’t tell if it had vinegar at all. But yes, I still ate it, because it was better than 90% of the rest of the food) and oh so good.
I see nothing wrong with asking for a bowl of sushi rice as a side, as long as you eat something else too. I agree that it’s yummy.
I have also heard of Japanese people cooking up more-or-less just sushi rice to eat at home, but I don’t recall ever seeing a side order of sushi rice (as opposed to plain white rice) listed on a menu in the US. Not sure about Japan, as my Japanese reading skills are weak enough that I wouldn’t have noticed a menu item I wasn’t particularly interested in.
Until you’ve had the real stuff, wow, it’s a revelation. Depending on the price level of the place, at least in the US, the real stuff isn’t available.
The Bright Green Horseradish (BGH), has its place in terms of adding heat, but after having tasted the real stuff from the root, I can’t even put Wasabi and BGH in the same class.
I grew up in Japan and I’ve never seen shari (the flavored sushi rice) served by itself, at home or elsewhere. Maybe some families do it, but I’d find it rather strange.
We did have temaki (hand rolled) sushi regularly. It’s very easy to prepare - all you do is put a bowl of sushi rice (plain white rice mixed with store-bought “sushi vinegar”), store-bought sashimi, and a stack of seaweed on the table. The “sushi vinegar” already has all the necessary flavorings in it (dashi and sugar, I think).
I just watched “Jiro Dreams Of Sushi” and I thought it was a great documentary. I t was a bit weird for me because I kinda hate fish. I had a severe food allergy to fish as a kid, and that set a standard. I since adore shellfish like crab, shrimp and lobster, but regular fish still skeeves me out. I had a few “sushi” dishes at a local sushi place that had no raw fish, and were catered to American tastes, and I liked them. I love ginger, wasabi, and everything else in sushi that isn’t raw fish. I’m aware of what sashimi is, and it’s just not for me.
It occurred to me more than once that if I ever had a chance to eat at this world class sushi place, that was arguably the best in the world, I’d have to turn it down, based on my finicky palate. I bet Jiro couldn’t appreciate a good grilled cheese as much as I, so there’s at least some parity in the world.
