Do you like sushi?
- Thread starter Wippit Guud
- Start date
I had a really hard time getting past the smell. I am not afraid to try new foods and I do always give them a fair shot..but that smell, and then the taste and texture, not my cup of tea...then again, coffee gags me too, and I've tried that made about 100 different ways.
sushi can and often DOES contain raw fish.. but what people commonly refer to as 'sushi' is actually sashimi, which is a large piece of raw fish on a rice pad.
bad sushi smells. it's quite unfair if you went to a crappy sushi joint and hated sushi based on that experience. it's like going to taco bell, getting a mexican pizza with too many beans, and deciding that you hate all mexican food.
LOVE BOTH! It is usually a fight in my house when we buy it. They all want it and are not always nice about sharing equally. We do not walk out of the kitchen when the boys are there, two end up missing everytime. I can't figure out what happens to them...
Sashimi shouldn't smell. I went to the fish market in Tokyo... HUUUUUUGE (on the order of several city blocks)... dead and live fish and other seafood everywhere... and even in the middle of it, there wasn't even the faintest fishy smell. And man, the sushi/sashimi at the little shops there was goooooood..... not everything they serve was sashimi, though most was, and pretty much all had something to do with seafood. It has ruined me for life for anything inferior. *sigh*
Sushi itself is the rice - it's different from normal japanese rice in that it's got vinegar and sugar in it. The general recipe varies by region and the exact recipe by individual.
I make what friends call "sushi salad" (actually called "chirashizushi" = scattered sushi). Sushi rice + cucumber, grilled salmon, scrambled egg, sesame seed, etc., all cut very fine, and mixed together.
I'm not quite clear on the terminology, but I would call sashimi + rice = sushi (or a variation thereof). Sashimi by itself is sashimi, and very tasty. And better, because the rice doesn't fill you up so you can eat more
But you can have cooked fish + rice = sushi. Or cucumber + rice = sushi. Or any number of creative things people in this country do that the Japanese wouldn't have dreamed of (e.g., California rolls) 
I've tried a lot of different raw fish, and like pretty much all of them. Not as much a fan of raw shrimp, definitely not a fan of squid, octopus. If it's not an identifiable body part, and put in front of me by a sushi chef, I'll try it. I even tried things I normally don't like when in Tokyo, and have to admit they aren't too bad when that fresh and that high quality... The thing is, most sashimi I've had in the US all has a similar texture (slightly mushy) and flavor. But when it's high quality, fresh fish, each type of fish has a unique flavor and texture (not at all mushy), and you can actually differentiate them.
Would you believe, as a kid, I wouldn't eat sushi unless it was kappa-maki (nori + sushi rice + cucumber). My mom's Japanese, and was disappointed in me
Sushi itself is the rice - it's different from normal japanese rice in that it's got vinegar and sugar in it. The general recipe varies by region and the exact recipe by individual.
I make what friends call "sushi salad" (actually called "chirashizushi" = scattered sushi). Sushi rice + cucumber, grilled salmon, scrambled egg, sesame seed, etc., all cut very fine, and mixed together.
I'm not quite clear on the terminology, but I would call sashimi + rice = sushi (or a variation thereof). Sashimi by itself is sashimi, and very tasty. And better, because the rice doesn't fill you up so you can eat more
But you can have cooked fish + rice = sushi. Or cucumber + rice = sushi. Or any number of creative things people in this country do that the Japanese wouldn't have dreamed of (e.g., California rolls) I've tried a lot of different raw fish, and like pretty much all of them. Not as much a fan of raw shrimp, definitely not a fan of squid, octopus. If it's not an identifiable body part, and put in front of me by a sushi chef, I'll try it. I even tried things I normally don't like when in Tokyo, and have to admit they aren't too bad when that fresh and that high quality... The thing is, most sashimi I've had in the US all has a similar texture (slightly mushy) and flavor. But when it's high quality, fresh fish, each type of fish has a unique flavor and texture (not at all mushy), and you can actually differentiate them.
Would you believe, as a kid, I wouldn't eat sushi unless it was kappa-maki (nori + sushi rice + cucumber). My mom's Japanese, and was disappointed in me
Funny that you didn't eat it as a child. I too have been to Japan and preferred what I was served there to here. My son however is a sushi fanatic. His favorite since he was about 3 has been unagi (eel)
Some Japanese food I loved. Some I hated. Much of which my sister liked, and she hated some of what I loved. So we both had to deal with it
Both of my parents would occasionally make jokes about how all Japanese kids love such-and-such, and how I couldn't be Japanese if I hated it Most of what I hated as a child, I enjoy now. A couple things I generally don't like, but if it's good quality, I like it (e.g., miso). *shrug* Unagi is one of those things that I generally hate. But gotta say, eating it in a 150-year-old little sushi bar on the edge of the Tokyo fish market for breakfast certainly wasn't bad (but my dad got half of my piece anyway, since he appreciated it more... I just wanted to try it when someone presumably better at it than my mom made it. And my mom is a good cook, just hasn't the rigorous training and access to the quality of seafood they had
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