If you want to be an expert in Japanese cooking, sushi making is a must-learn. Take a sushi-making class so you can avoid top mistakes beginners tend to make when making sushi.
Here are some examples of mistakes in sushi making. Let’s go back to the basics and learn what you have been doing wrong!
Using Wrong Rice
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is to use the wrong kind of rice for sushi. Even though a label says sushi rice, it does not necessarily mean that they are perfect for sushi.
The best rice for sushi is short-grain rice. Japanese short-grain rice is more moist and sticky than other kinds of rice. The best choice is Koshihikari rice, and this strain of short-grain rice is the most popular rice for making sushi in Japan. The rice’s perfect balance of resilience, stickiness, and savory flavor would create sushi at its best. If you cannot find it in your neighborhood, you can use another kind of short-grain rice instead.
Not Rinsing Rice
First, you have to remove bran from the surface of the rice when you cook it. The bran is attached to the surface of white rice, and it makes the cooked rice less tasty. So, it is crucial to wash the bran off before cooking.
The moment rice touches the water, it starts absorbing the water. At the first rinsing, you want to minimize the contact between the water and rice because you don’t want the rice to absorb dirty water. Drain the rice immediately with a strainer after the first wash.
Rice is very delicate, so it is better to use both hands to rub the rice gently during the following rinsing. Repeat this process three to four times. If you wash too much or too long, the rice absorbs too much water, leading to the inconsistent result of damaged rice grains.
Note that it is not a problem for the water to be still milky after the last wash. Leave it for 10-20 minutes to drain the water out completely. This draining process is crucial to achieving consistent results from cooking sushi rice.
Cooking Rice Wrong
Using soft water is very important when cooking rice. Alternatively, you can use filtered water. Keep in mind that you want to cook the rice rather hard because you will add sushi vinegar later. If you cook the rice as you usually do, the rice will come out too soft in the end. The ideal rice-to-water ratio for sushi rice is 1: 1 or 1: 1.1.
After adding the water, submerge the rice in the water for 10-20 minutes. This will allow the rice to absorb the water. If you skip this process, the cooked rice tends to get watery and undercooked, so make sure you do not skip this part.
Use the quick-cook mode if your rice cooker has the function. If not, that is also ok. Once the rice is cooked, leave it in the rice cooker or pot without opening the lid for 10 minutes. This is the final process – the steaming process – to make the perfect sushi rice.
Using Too Much Rice
As our master chefs in our sushi-making class often mention, many people tend to use too much rice for one piece of sushi. The standard amount of rice is 15-17 grams or a half-ounce. Gently roll the rice inside the palm of your hand to shape the rice ball into an oval shape. Here is the chef’s tip – it is vital to keep your palm facing downward as you form a piece of nigiri!
Another common mistake is that you press the rice too hard when you make a piece. So, do not forget to keep your touch light. Also, make sure that you make an indent in the center of the oval-shaped rice ball with your index finger when you are forming a piece. This indent helps the rice ball to hold the air inside so that the rice does not get too firm when you eat it.
One extra tip is to always have some vinegar water, Tezu, beside you when you make the pieces of sushi. Dip your fingers in Tezu every time you finish making one sushi. This will prevent the rice from sticking to your hands every time you make a piece of nigiri.
In our sushi-making class, you can learn the detailed steps of hand motion to make a nigiri piece.
Not Using Sushi-Grade Fish
Without mentioning, it is essential to use “sushi-quality” fish for sushi. Here are the tips on checking the freshness of the fish when buying them.
- No discoloration.
- Not slimy, sticky, or stiff.
- No strange/putrid odor.
- Not more than a few days old (The number of days varies depending on the fish).
For example, you should choose tuna that still has a fresh red color and can bounce back on touching. For salmon, the flesh should not have a brown color caused by the oxidation of blood.
You also want to know how to store the fish. When you use raw fish, you must ensure that the fish has been kept properly. Note that the water coming out of the fish damages the flesh. So, once you bring the fish back home, you will need to wipe off the extra moisture and wrap up the fish with paper towels and a plastic film to store in the refrigerator.
Also, it is important to store the fish in the freezer for a while before using it to kill parasites. Keep the fish for at least 24 hours below -20°C (-4°F), or 48 hours above -20°C (-4°F). A home freezer temperature usually goes down to around -15 to -18°C (-0.4°F), so you need to store the fish for 48 hours.
Not Including Wasabi
Some professional chefs say that you do not need to add wasabi in soy sauce when eating sushi. It is because chefs already include the right amount of wasabi in each piece of sushi.
As Mr. Takahashi, one of our master chefs in our sushi-making class, says, “because chu-toro, medium fatty tuna, and o-toro, the fattiest part of tuna, have a lot of fat, you want to add a little more wasabi on them than on white fish. The fat content varies depending on the type of tuna. Whether it is chu-toro of Bigeye tuna or Pacific bluefin tuna, you need to consider the amount of wasabi based on the fat characteristics of the tuna. For example, if the specific chu-toro you are using is not so fatty, there is no need to add much wasabi. The amount of fat varies also depending on whether it is natural or farmed. You want to consider this point when choosing the amount of wasabi.”
Take Sushi Making Class with Us!
In our sushi-making class, you can learn the thorough steps of making sushi, from which sushi rice to choose, detailed hand motions for making nigiri, to how to present a plate of sushi. Besides nigiri, we also offer how to make other kinds of sushi, such as hosomaki rolls and futomaki rolls.
Do you want to take another step to become an expert in sushi making? Join our sushi-making class today, and you will have access to a wide range of online materials and then some!
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