Monthly Archives: February 2012

What makes good sushi?

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Ask several Americans what their favorite Japanese food is and for sure a great majority would say sushi. In fact, many Westerners tend to equate Japanese food with sushi. There are many sushi restaurants in the U.S. especially in big cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles or New York. But there are only a handful of places that serve really good sushi. Like wine, sushi has attracted its own set of connoisseurs, people who can distinguish good sushi from no so good ones. What makes good sushi anyway? And how will you know if you are eating authentic sushi or not. These questions and more will be dealt with in this article.

A Good Sushi

Only a good chef can make a good sushi. That’s a fact. Sure, you can probably make sushi on your own at home but it can never be compared to the sushi created by real sushi chefs. This is because it takes years of training and hard work to be worthy of being called a sushi chef. Watching a good sushi chef is like watching an artist at work. You can see the preciseness of action and attention to details that one can see from great maestros. Do you know that preparing sushi is more than just rolling fish, rice and other ingredients together. A good sushi chef also knows how to create the perfect sushi sequence for his customers in order for them to have the best experience. So without a good sushi chef, it is quite impossible to have good sushi.

All Ingredients Should Stand Out

Perhaps, you have tasted sushi were only one or two stand out. Then that is not real sushi. In Japanese food, all ingredients should talk. This simply means that the ingredients should collaborate with each other and the flavors should be balanced. If one or two ingredients are dominating the taste, then that is not real sushi. This is the reason why it is quite hard to experiment with sushi. It is just so easy to get it wrong. For example, there are fusion restaurants that serve sushi with too much jalapeno. This is simply wrong because the flavor of the jalapeno will surely bury the flavors of the other ingredients. So what makes good sushi? One of them is balance.

Rice, Rice, Rice

If sushi has one ingredient that can be considered its backbone, then it is definitely rice. If you use the wrong kind of rice then you will definitely have bad sushi no matter how good the other ingredients are. One of the things to keep in mind is that the rice should be in proportion with the other ingredients. Some sushi chefs would say that the the rice should always be visible underneath the ingredients. Here’s one good way to tell if you are eating good sushi or not. If on your last swallow, there’s only rice or fish left, then that is not good sushi.

This, in summary, is what makes good sushi.

Mirai Sushi

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Mirai Sushi has become a hot destination point in the booming Wicker Park/Bucktown area of Chicago.  I should also mention that Mirai Sushi is just not a hot destination in the Lincoln Park and Wrigley but all of Chicago.  This trendy Chicago Sushi restaurant has managed to bend a cool hip scene with serving fresh sushi and a expensive collection of good sake.

There is no question that the fish is flown in daily as the sushi here is heaven to the senses.  This is particularly noticeable when you try their Toro (fatty tuna).  My particular favorite at this sushi restaurant is the Blue Fin Tuna and the Salmon.  They have three kinds of Salmon.  Salmon is one of my favorite sushi dishes so I was able to enjoy all three variety to my happiness.

For those with not an advance sushi diet, there are traditional rolls like the California Roll, Spider Roll, and other chef specials that will wet your appetite.   If you are adventurous as the chef to make something special for you, you won’t go wrong as these sushi chef like to show off their skills with the best fish of the day.

If you come to the Mirai Sushi, you will not be able to truly enough the place and understand why it is such a good Chicago sushi restaurant without taking a look at their saki menu and trying some of the fine saki on their menu.  The best saki is consumed cold.

How to make sushi rice

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One of the most important aspects to great sushi is the rice.  Some chefs spending years learning and perfecting the art of making sushi rice in Japan.  It is that important that they spend so many years learning to make proper sushi rice.  Without the rice, you might as well eat sashimi sushi.

The following tutorial is not design to teach you to become a sushi rice aficionado but will be enough to get you start at home preparing your sushi rolls.

There is a special rice called Shari.  Simply called it sushi rice in Japan.

First you need to measure and prepare the rice.  You will need one cup of rice for about three rolls of sushi.  So measure how much rice you think you are going to need to make your Chicago sushi.  Then put the rice in a bowl container and run water through the rice and stir it with your hands.  The purpose here is to remove the starch out of the rice.  You will notice a white color liquid form as you run the water.  The goal is to remove that starchy water.

After you are done washing the rice, take the rice and put it in a rice cooker.  Then add water.  Add enough water in to the cooker so that the water is about an inch and a half above the rice.

Now it’s time to cook the rice.  If you are using a rice cooker it will cook itself.  If you are using a pot, cook it until the water evaporates.  However, be careful to not over cook the rice.  Making sure not to burn the rice at the bottom of the pot.

Once the rice is done, take it out of the pot.  Only use a wooden spoon to take the rice out as a metal spoon will damage the rice.  Place the rice into a bowl.  If the rice at the bottom of the pot is brown or burned don’t use it.  Set it aside.

Next do the following: for 3 cups of rice, use ½ cut of rice vinegar, two spoons of sugar and 2 tablespoon of salt.  Mix together in a small pot on medium heat until all the solids are mixed in.  Then pour the mixture on rice and stir well.  Then let the rice cool down.  Once it reach room temperature it is ready for you to make your soon to be famous Chicago sushi at home.

 

Sushi Influences

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Its common knowledge that the Japanese usually prefer to eat simple meals.  Rice is the basic food.  They also eat a lot of fish, most of it raw.  Which is commonly known as Sushi.  Soybean curd and paste, and seaweed from a big part of the diet.

Meals are often served on lacquered trays, with the food arranged in many small bowls.  Each bowl contains just one kind of food – to emphasize its color, texture, and design.  Japanese meals are eaten with chopsticks.

I am sure the descriptions of all these things sound familiar if you are a big sushi fan.  Chicago is a big sushi town.  There is an abundance of fresh fish and sushi so there are tons of high quality Chicago sushi places to go to.

Welcome to Chicago Sushi!

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This blog is about Chicago Sushi and all the good sushi restaurants in the city of Chicago.  We will also talk about the different variety of sushi that are available.  Who serves the best sushi in Chicago and who has the freshest sushi.