Title: The Sushi Experience
Author: Hiroko Shimbo
Colorful Hardcover $40.00 US, $54.00 CAN
Publisher: 2006 Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY
Reviewed by, Rachel Bennett, November 2010
The review---
Sushi encompasses so much more than raw fish on
top of rice: it is defined by the quality of the fish, the rice,
the rolling techniques, the sauces, and much much more. Shimbo
tackles many of these subjects in her cookbook, The Sushi
Experience. She starts with a history of sushi and how it has
evolved, then plunges extensively into etiquette, essential
tools, shopping tips and preparation methods. Her passage on
rice alone is extremely helpful to the novice sushi chef.
The recipes range from sushi/sashimi, on to traditional
Japanese appetizers, entrees, and desserts, then to a special
section for kids. I chose to make the spicy tuna roll, sushi
rice packed in golden tofu bag, and the eggplant with yuzu miso
sauce. Unfortunately, the stores close to me that Shimbo
recommends in the back of her book are now either closed or have
moved, but I did find another wonderful Japanese market right
down the street (These recipes definitely require that you find
one, as a regular supermarket will not suffice). This was a
somewhat costly adventure, because I did not have a lot of the
ingredients or cooking tools needed, but it was well worth the
money.
I thought the tuna roll was incredible. I learned
why Japanese spicy sauce is so good: it is because they use a
different mayonnaise. The nagaimo yam was also a perfect
complement to the dish. I found the stuffed tofu to be very
interesting as well. The pistachios and apricots made it more
interesting than the inari-zushi I am accustomed to, although
the coriander, mixed with the sweet rice, mixed with everything
else, was a bit overpowering for the small pockets. Lastly, the
eggplant was definitely my favorite of the three. Japanese
eggplant is so much more flavorful than the ones in American
markets and, as for the yuzu sauce: well, phenomenal is the word
that first comes to mind after tasting it! This is a fairly easy
dish (especially compared to the other two) that is sure to woo
even the most picky dinner guest.
Overall, The Sushi
Experience is a wonderful guide to the world of Japanese
cuisine. My only complaint is that I wish there were more
recipes, since the ones I made were so good.
Recipes tested---!
Spicy Tuna and Nagaimo Yam Roll
Makes 7 Rolls
1/2 pound sushi maguro (tuna) block, cut into strips 1/4
inch by 4 inches long
1 tablespoon spicy sesame shoyu sauce
(see below)
1/2 pound peeled nagaimo yam, cut into sticks 1/4
inch by 4 inches long, or jicama shredded
1/4 cup thinly
sliced scallion rings
The garnish: 1/2 cup toasted white
sesame seeds
6 cups (lightly packed) prepared sushi rice
(see below)
7 half-sheets nori (layer); choose the thicker
variety
Toss the tuna in a bowl with the spicy sesame
shoyu sauce. Line up all the filling ingredients - tuna, nagaimo
yam, scallions, and white sesame seeds-on a tray then follow the
master recipe (see below).
Spicy Sesame Shoyu Sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons Sriracha
2
teaspoons shoyu (soy sauce)
Pour the sesame oil into a
small skillet and heat it over medium heat until it is fragrant,
but don't let It'smoke. Transfer the sesame oil to a jar, add
the Sriracha sauce and soy sauce, and mix well. Cool the sauce
and store it tightly closed in the refrigerator.
Sushi
Rice
6 cups short or medium grain rice
5 tablespoons
rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Cook rice in rice cooker. While rice is cooking, put rice
vinegar, salt, and sugar in a bowl and stir with a whisk until
sugar and salt until almost dissolved. When rice is done put
into large flat bowl. Break it up, crisscrossing it with side of
a paddle. Pour prepared vinegar evenly over rice. Turn the rice
over and push it to one side of the bowl. Holding paddle
horizontally, insert it into the rice and rapidly move it back
and forth, pushing that portion of the rice to the other side of
the bowl. Fan the rice until cool.
Master Sushi Recipe
Bamboo rolling mat
Saran wrap
Sesame seeds
Nori
sheets
Line up all the filling ingredients and tools you
will need. Place rice ball on the far left side of the nori,
leaving 1/2 inch uncovered at the top. Sprinkle sesame seeds
over the surface of the rice. Flip the rice-covered nori sheet
over onto the mat. Pile up the filling ingredients on the
sauce-smeared area. Pick up the bamboo mat and fold it over the
fillings. Unroll the mat.
Sushi Rice Packed in a Golden
Tofu Bag, Inari-zushi
Makes 13 sushi pieces
8
pieces sweet-simmered abura age, cut in half (see below)
1/3
cup cashew nuts, toasted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup
walnuts, toasted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup hulled
pistachio nuts, toasted
1/3 cup currants or raisins
6
pieces dried apricots, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons
toasted white sesame seeds
1/3 cup minced shiso (perilla)
leaves or coriander
1/4 cup minced gari (sweet pickled
ginger)
6 cups sushi rice (see above)
Line up
seasoning and tofu bags. Mix all the chopped nuts, currants,
apricots, white toasted sesame seeds, shiso, and pickled ginger
in a sushi tub or wooden bowl with the rice. Have at hand a
small bowl containing 2 cups of cold water and 2 tablespoons of
rice vinegar for moistening your hands. Pick up a small handful
of rice (about one-sixteenth, or slightly more than 1/3 cup) and
form it into an egg-shaped clump that will fill about two-thirds
the pouch. Open one half-sheet of the tofu bag so that it forms
a pocket and pack the rice ball into it. Fold in the top edges
to make a small pillow-shaped container. Fill the remaining
fifteen pockets the same way.
Sweet-Simmered Thin Tofu
20 abura-age sheets (fried thin tofu)
(1 sheet is about 3
by 6 inches; one package contains 3 to 5 sheets)
2/3 cup
sugar
1/4 cup mirin (sweet cooking wine)
1/2 cup plus 3
tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
Bring plenty of water to
boil in a medium pot and add the tofu sheets. Push them down
into the water with a wooden spatula without poking into them
and cook for 30 seconds (this removes excess oil). Remove the
tofu sheets from the pot, put them in a colander and cool them
under cold tap water, then press gently between your hands to
remove excess water. Transfer them to a chopping board and cut
each tofu sheet in half crosswise in the center, into two 3- by
3-inch pieces.
Carefully open up the cut side of each piece
and separate to form a pocket or bag.
Combine 6 cups water,
the sugar, and the mirin in a medium pot and bring to boil over
medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the tofu bags
and simmer for 10 minutes, covered with a drop lid or a
parchment paper disk. Add the soy sauce and cook until the
liquid is 80 percent absorbed. During the cooking, to get even
color and flavor, carefully turn the tofu bags several times
with a wooden spatula (do not use steel tongs with sharp teeth,
or you might puncture the tofu bags.) Drain the tofu bags in a
colander, discarding the cooking liquid, and let them cool. They
are now ready to use.
Eggplant with Yozu Miso Sauce
Nasu no dengaku
Makes 4 Side Dishes
4 Japanese
eggplants or 1 medium American eggplant
Vegetable oil for
frying
1/2 cup brown miso-based yuzo miso sauce (see below)
2 tablespoons white or black poppy seeds
Remove the stems
of the eggplants and cut each in half lengthwise. With a small
pointed knife, make several shallow cuts in a checkerboard
pattern on the cut surfaces of each eggplant. If using the
larger American eggplant, cut it into four disks crosswise and
make several shallow checkerboard cuts on both cut surfaces.
Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in skillet and cook eggplant over
medium heat until the cut surface is golden. Turn the eggplant
over and cook it through, about 3 minutes over medium-low heat.
Drain the eggplant on a paper towel.
Serve equal amounts of
the eggplant on four serving plates, with the yuzu miso sauce
spread over the surface and topped with the poppy seeds in the
center.
Brown Miso-Based Yuzu Miso Sauce
Makes 1/2
Cup
2 large yuzu or 1 large lemon
3 1/2 ounces akamiso
(brown miso) (about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons sugar
2
tablespoons sake (rice wine)
1/4 cup mirin (sweet cooking
wine)
1 egg yolk from large egg
Using a fine grater,
grate the rinds of 2 yuzu or 1 lemon into a cup. Squeeze the
yuzu or lemon to obtain about 2 tablespoons of juice. Put the
brown miso, sugar, sake, mirin, and egg yolk in a saucepan and
mix with a whisk until smooth. Set the saucepan over low heat
and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the
sauce is no longer watery, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the grated
yuzu or lemon rind and juice and cook until the liquid is
absorbed, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the
saucepan from the heat and let it cool. Store the sauce in a
clean lidded jar in the refrigerator.