We requested our son and daughter-in-law, who’ve develop into sushi fanatics since transferring to New York, to share a few of what they’ve discovered. We hope this data will help you discover the most effective sushi within the Capital Metropolis and past. – Rochelle Koff
By Davis Ward and Julia Zhang
For many individuals in the US, going out for “sushi” means feasting on elaborate rolls of rice full of uncooked fish — plus greens like avocado or cucumber, and lined in wealthy sauces reminiscent of spicy mayo, and full of crunchy flakes or cream cheese.
However simply as genuine Mexican or Chinese language meals have little in widespread with their Americanized variations, an actual sushi expertise is kind of totally different than what you get with a JB or California roll.
It’s one thing that took me some time to determine. I bear in mind first creating a style for sushi within the late 90s when locations serving it have been popping up throughout South Florida, the place I grew up. I used to get these huge, heavy rolls, then combine wasabi and soy sauce collectively, put ginger on high of the roll and blend all of it collectively to make a scrambled, salty, spicy mess.
It was good. However that was not, as I discovered later, one of the best ways to do it.
After I moved to New York about 10 years in the past, colleagues took me to sushi locations that served up a extra genuine expertise, and I’ve develop into considerably obsessed. OK, I’ve develop into actually obsessed. Seeing the documentary “Jiro Goals of Sushi” and going to Japan just a few years in the past solely fanned the flames.
Right here are some things I’ve come to be taught and recognize about what’s my favourite meals, in no explicit order:
- Sushi is definitely an umbrella time period for totally different mixtures of raw-fish and rice.
- Sushi rolls are referred to as maki, however are normally less complicated in Japan – simply the seaweed nori wrapper, sushi rice, and normally one type of fish.
- Sashimi is simply uncooked slices of fish, and is normally served as a warmup for nigiri, that are the uncooked items of fish on high of sushi rice. That is the primary occasion in conventional omakase (chef’s selection) dinners.
- Hand rolls are like maki however they’re usually packed a bit extra loosely, and are supposed to be eaten – as you would possibly guess – by hand, like a burrito, somewhat than as sliced items.
- Lastly, chirashi is a bowl of sushi rice with items of sashimi organized on high; you’ll be able to combine it collectively and eat the way you’d like.
Completely different cuts of tuna nigiri at Sushi Nakazawa in NYC.
– Julia Zhang
Ikura – salmon roe nigiri at Sushi Nakazawa in New York. – Julia Zhang
Nigiri at Ichimura at Brushstroke in New York. – Julia Zhang
Tuna bella and scallion maki. – Flickr, labeled for reuse
Tuna hand roll at Sushi Nakazawa in New York. – Julia Zhang
Chirashi. – Wikimedia commons
Contemporary, native – or not
Sushi doesn’t essentially must be “contemporary.” The truth is, the most effective sushi locations will serve fish that has really been aged just a few days. Simply as a advantageous steakhouse will age beef (although for for much longer than fish) to accentuate the flavors, fish for sushi wants just a few days for enzymes to interrupt down and tenderize the meat.
Should you have been on a Japanese fishing boat, caught a tuna and filleted it and ate it proper there, you’d be chewing on a comparatively flavorless, chewy piece of flesh (to not point out ruining a fish that might promote for tens of thousand of {dollars} or extra on the Japanese fish market).
Ageing it for just a few days on the sushi restaurant permits its delicate flavors to come back out. Some dishes are even marinated – mackerel usually in a vinegar marinade to mellow out its harsher flavors.
And it’s a meals the place native isn’t all the time higher — higher is simply higher. Cooks in NYC will fly in frozen fish from Japan as a result of that’s the place the most effective fish for sushi comes from. Few items of fish are served really contemporary – they’re deep-frozen on fishing vessels to kill micro organism and parasites and to protect them, then thawed out and aged. The deep freezing is why the uncooked fish is fit for human consumption.
Earlier than the invention of refrigeration, in reality, all sushi was deeply marinated in soy sauce or vinegar to protect the meals. Probably the most conventional sushi in Japan is extra marinated and salty-tasting than the brisker model you see in fashionable eating places.
Nonetheless, some dishes – shellfish like scallops or shrimp, for instance – are finest as contemporary as doable. At Sushi Nakazawa in New York, the chef will usually minimize open a stay scallop proper in entrance of you, set it on the sushi rice, contact on a little bit of yuzu citrus sauce, and serve it proper there. It’s completely scrumptious, even because the scallop wriggles in your mouth. He does one thing comparable with the botan ebi shrimp, a big, candy prawn – usually garnished with caviar – that’s one among a sushi restaurant’s biggest pleasures.
Reside scallop at Sushi Nakazawa in NYC
– Julia Zhang
Botan shrimp at Nakazawa
– Julia Zhang
Botan ebi with caviar
– Julia Zhang
Rice is sweet
The rice is vital. Whereas having nice high quality fish – ready in simply the precise manner – is vital to an incredible piece of sushi, so is the rice. It has to carry collectively with out congealing right into a formless blob, however it is best to be capable of really feel the person pearls along with your tongue as
Grains of Sushi rice.
– Meals52.com
you style it. It ought to have its personal, delicate taste, however help and produce out the flavour of the fish. Making good sushi rice is an artwork kind – it’s essential use a particular grain, cook dinner it with the correct amount of vinegar, and serve it at simply the precise temperature, then mould it in simply the precise manner. Rice is what distinguishes an incredible sushi restaurant from a merely good one.
Dessert
A good sushi place will give you a singular dessert: tamago. That is an elaborate omelet – eggs cooked with floor Japanese candy potatoes, shrimp paste, and sugar. A respectable model tastes like curiously, appealingly candy eggs; an incredible model tastes like nothing else.
Tamago dessert at Sushi Nakazawa:
– Julia Zhang
Enhancements
Contemporary wasabi and good pickled ginger make a distinction. However at most good sushi locations, you received’t really want to make use of soy sauce or wasabi – the chef places on simply the precise quantities when making it. He might get insulted if you happen to add extra sauce or wasabi by yourself, however might be completely satisfied to regulate on the following items if you happen to ask. Nice pickled ginger works as a palate cleanser between bites – the most effective variations are pale yellow, thick minimize and candy, not the pink, skinny ribbons you usually see.
Contemporary wasabi horseradish
– Wikipedia commons
So the place are you able to get this expertise in the US? Your finest bets are going to be New York Metropolis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles – the place sushi first got here to America about 100 years in the past. Whereas there are different nice sushi locations across the nation, these cities have excessive concentrations of Japanese immigrants and incredible fish markets – with entry to the most effective substances from world wide.
Discover a conventional omakase place and sit on the bar. It’s the most effective type of place to eat alone, specializing in the meals, what the chef is doing in entrance of you and nothing else. Open your thoughts and put your belief within the chef’s palms.
Sushi cooks, artists of meals
– Julia Zhang
Julia Zhang and Davis Ward at a sushi-making class.
