What exactly is sushi?

Sushi is a unique food in Japanese cuisine. "Sushi" is its Chinese transliteration, and its pronunciation in Japanese is "sushi". It is said that the method of making sushi was introduced to Japan from China along with the technology of rice cultivation. According to relevant records, sushi was mentioned in Chinese literary works as early as about the 1st century AD, and it was already in the 18th century that sushi first appeared in Japanese literary works.

At present, Japanese sushi restaurants are almost all over the world, and sushi has become a favorite food of people all over the world. The reason is not only the flavor and characteristics of sushi, but also related to the shrewd Japanese businessmen who are good at creating a "sushi culture" atmosphere, constantly improving sushi making methods, and launching new sushi varieties ingeniously.

There are many types of sushi. According to the different making methods, it can be mainly divided into Nama cooked sushi? "Nama" means raw in Japanese, and "cooked" in Japanese means pickled, cooked. It means fermented sushi, pressed sushi, nigiri, chirashi sushi, stick sushi, roll sushi, crucian carp sushi, etc. Among them, crucian carp sushi is regarded as the most famous and representative sushi made according to ancient methods in Japanese cuisine. .

Crucian carp sushi is made from crucian carp, rice and refined salt, and is pickled and fermented for several months. The sushi made in this way will produce a large amount of lactic acid bacteria in the raw materials, which will add a special sour taste to the finished product, and these lactic acid bacteria themselves also have a preservative effect.

However, sushi made using the ancient method is rare today. Most modern Japanese sushi uses the method of mixing rice with vinegar to process its main ingredients, and because more than four seasonings are generally added to the rice, sushi is also known as the "Four Happiness Rice".

Although sushi is an exotic food, its preparation method is not complicated. In the production, as long as we master the selection of sushi ingredients, the ratio of sushi and the condiments of sushi, we can make sushi with excellent aroma, taste and shape.

1. Selection of Sushi Ingredients

There are many types of sushi, and the selection of raw materials is also very wide. The main raw material commonly used for sushi is sushi rice, Japanese japonica rice, which is characterized by its white color and rounded grains. The rice cooked with it is not only good in elasticity, chewy, but also highly sticky.

Commonly used raw materials for wrapping sushi are high-quality seaweed, seaweed, kelp, egg skin, tofu skin, spring roll skin, Chinese cabbage, etc.

The fillings of sushi are rich and colorful, and they best reflect the characteristics of sushi. The raw materials used for fillings include sea fish, crab meat, shellfish, freshwater fish, fried eggs and seasonal fresh vegetables, such as mushrooms, cucumbers, lettuce, etc.

2. The ratio of sushi

The ratio of sushi refers to the ratio of rice and water when cooking sushi rice, the ratio of salt, sugar and vinegar when making sushi vinegar, and the ratio of The ratio of vinegar to rice in sushi rice.

1? The ratio of rice to water

Wash the sushi rice, drain the water, put it into a rice cooker, and add water according to the ratio of rice to water 1:1 , cooked into sushi rice. Note that if you cook more than 5 servings of sushi rice at one time, you should appropriately reduce the amount of water used. For example, you only need to add 5 bowls of water to 6 bowls of rice. In addition, if you want to increase the stickiness of the rice, you can also add a small amount of glutinous rice to the rice.

2? The ratio of salt, sugar and vinegar

Sushi vinegar is the basic seasoning of sushi. It is prepared with salt, sugar and vinegar in a ratio of 1:5:10. Done. When making the preparation, mix the salt, sugar, and vinegar, put it in a pot, heat it, and let it cool before use. Be careful not to let it boil when heating, so as not to reduce the sour taste of vinegar.

3? The ratio of vinegar to rice

When preparing sushi rice, usually add 1 bowl of sushi vinegar to 5 bowls of sushi rice and stir evenly. Note that sushi rice needs to be kept at a temperature of about 40°C. It is best to use a wooden spoon and wooden utensils when stirring, and use a wooden spoon to "chop" the sushi rice with vinegar to mix it evenly.

3. Sushi condiments

Authentic sushi can have a variety of flavors such as sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. Therefore, when eating sushi, you should match the condiments according to the type of sushi. For example, when eating sushi rolls, because the fillings include sashimi, shrimp, etc., you need to dip them in thick soy sauce and apply an appropriate amount of green mustard; when eating nigiri sushi, it is best not to dip them in soy sauce, so that you can eat it properly. Its original flavor.

In addition to strong soy sauce and green mustard, sushi also has a more important condiment-vinegar ginger. When eating sushi with a piece of vinegar ginger, it not only helps to add flavor, but also makes the sushi fresher and more delicious.

4. The making of sushi

There are many types of sushi. Let’s take rolled sushi as an example to talk about the making of sushi.

Ingredients: Seaweed, 1 sheet of seaweed, about 20 cm long and 15 cm wide, 200 grams of japonica rice, 1 thin ham sausage, half a medium-sized cucumber, 1 egg peel, horseradish sauce 15 grams of lettuce leaves, 1 piece of refined salt, 1.5 grams of white sugar, 5 grams of white vinegar, 10 grams of strong soy sauce, 1 dish each of vinegar and ginger

Preparation method:

1. Dry the japonica rice until The temperature is about 40°C; blanch the crab fillets in a pot of boiling water, remove them, cut them into fine pieces along with the ham and cucumber; cut the egg skin into 15 cm long and 1 cm wide strips; season with refined salt, white sugar and white vinegar. Make sushi vinegar and mix it with japonica rice.

2. Spread the seaweed vertically on a cooking cutting board, leaving 3 cm on the upper edge as a joint. Spread japonica rice on the remaining part of the seaweed, and then place it horizontally on the japonica rice with your palms standing upright. Press out 4 "grooves" evenly spaced, and then place diced crab sticks, ham sausage dices, cucumber dices and egg strips in each of the 4 "grooves" as fillings, and finally put the lettuce leaves with horseradish sauce on them. on rice.

3. Gently wrap the seaweed with rice, stuffing and lettuce into a roll from bottom to top, and apply a little rice on the top joint to seal it, then fold the rice roll horizontally Cut into 7 small rolls and serve with thick soy sauce and vinegar ginger dishes