In the Kitchen: Sushi Mania

It was a combined chef effort in the kitchen for unprecendented sushi mania. We had freshly opened sea urchin, prawns cooked on skewers (so they stayed flat and didn't curl!), broiled eel, flying fish roe, sashimi salmon... it was a seafood bonanza!

Clockwise from bottom left: gunkan-maki (battleship wrap) with flying fish roe; gunkan-maki with sea urchin roe; bara-maki (rose roll); inside-out California roll; maki-sushi with salmon and cucumber, salmon and avocado and plain salmon.

Clockwise from bottom left: Nigiri-sushi with prawn, avocado and broiled eel; salmon sashimi

Clockwise from bottom left: nigiri-sushi with broiled eel, salmon and tuna (sandwiched in the middle and topped with seaweed furikake); inari-sushi with salmon, cucumber and avocado

Clockwise from bottom: boiled edamame soybeans; nigiri-sushi with tuna middle; seaweed salad; nigiri-sushi with salmon and broiled eel.

Our home-made sushi efforts are getting better, but I've still gotta work on the zen of food styling and night-time photography!

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Home-made sushi - Sushi frenzy, 13 Nov 04 and
Home-made sushi - Steamboat and sushi extravanaga, 5 Sep 04

16 Comments:

At 1/27/2005 3:07 pm, pinkcocoa said…

Wow!! this looks yummy! You are so good with sushi! really have to learn from you ;-)
At 1/27/2005 3:22 pm, Fish Fish said…

Are these all home-made? Hard to believe. Look so nice. wow! Impressed. Hey, is the flying fish roe the orange colour one? Here, they called in Tobikko, my favorite.

And the last pic edamame and seaweed salad oso my favorites. :P
At 1/27/2005 4:42 pm, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi pinkcocoa - Awww shucks... thanks! We are not quite sushi masters but our technique (and adventurousness) is definitely improving. I bought a couple of recipes books when I was in Japan and some of the ornamental sushi is beautiful but far far too much work!

Oh and btw, happy to exchange sushi care package for perhaps some okara pancakes and mango pudding? :P

Hi fishfish - yup we slaved over all of these li'l creations. My sushi-chef partner-in-crime and I are an unstoppable duo!

Yes the flying fish roe are the small orange eggs. We also used these to coat the inside-out California roll. Very delicious.

And oh yes, I have recently fallen in love with edamame. Great to snack on in front of the TV. The seaweed salad is also yum (we actually bought that from the fish markets but don't tell anyone... :P)
At 1/27/2005 7:05 pm, Anonymous said…

Can't believe all these were homemade! They look so professional; in fact they look even better than some store-bought ones I've had. Way to go! :)

Julia
www.aromacookery.com
At 1/28/2005 11:53 am, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi Julia - Thanks. Wow, so much gushing praise. We'll start getting too big for our sushi mats! ;-)

Sushi is not that hard to make. And it always looks impressive!
At 1/28/2005 7:30 pm, Ben said…

This may sound a bit odd but I've always found the secret to good sushi is a great knife. Which one do you use?
At 1/28/2005 9:52 pm, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi BHR - Errr you'd be surprised at the number of culinary crimes we commit with inappropriate equipment! However I agree with you... the painting can only be as deft as the quality of the artist's brush... errr... grasshoppaaaaaa...

My personal knife of choice would have to be Global knives. And given that they're Japanese, you're pretty much guaranteed precision slicing and a nice balance in the wrist. Everyone has their own preferences though...
At 1/28/2005 10:09 pm, Ben said…

Cool - I'm a Global devotee as well (one piece, stays sharp, looks cool). My Globals probably tie with my camera as my most prized possessions.

I remember being thrilled when I read Kitchen Confidential by Tony Bordain because he extolls the virtues of Global knives for about three pages. It was an awesome validation of my decision to spend too much money on knives :)
At 1/30/2005 12:05 am, obachan said…

Wonderful!! Just wonderful!!
At 1/30/2005 2:11 pm, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi BHR - Nah you can never spend too much money on knives. And besides... the number one cause of kitchen accidents are blunt knives, so really it's all about OH&S and thumb-preservation!

I remember that passage by Bourdain. That was a good book but I didn't think much of his 2nd one, "A Cook's Tour"--a bit try-hard I thought. He's also dabbled in kitchen gangster crime fiction too. I tried reading "A Bone in the Throat" but it didn't quite grab me.

Hi Obachan - Thanks! They tasted pretty good too... :P
At 1/31/2005 4:59 pm, pinkcocoa said…

hahaha. No problem. I can be in charge of sweet things while you get all those sushi done!! One of my favourite ingredient in sushi is kanpyo (dried gourd). I am the type who would actually order the cheapest sushi if ever I head to a sushi restaurant!

I forgot to say you have very good food presentation skill. I spot that cute pickled ginger rose there!!

So you guys use global knife? I am a cleaver girl.....-_-....aiks....
At 1/31/2005 9:23 pm, Ms One Boobie said…

Hey.. AG,
Not only impressive.. but adventurous.. but tat's you we are talking about.. ;) so i shouldn't be too surprised.. ;)
At 1/31/2005 9:33 pm, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi pinkcocoa - The sushi chef I was with was actually searching high and low all over Sydney for kanpyo! Where did you get yours from?

Aww shucks, thanks for the compliments on the presentation. I have a greater appreciation for food stylists now. It is a lot harder than it looks!

And yes the other chef made the ginger rose but there was a lot of bickering about the best place to position all the garnishes! :)

I used to use a cleaver a lot but not so much now... besides it's a little heavy and scarey to use when slicing sushi! :)

Hi MrsT - Oh now stop it! :P No, we have been slowly building up our sushi skills and becoming more adventurous each time. It's a lot cheaper than eating sushi out anyway...
At 2/01/2005 9:20 am, Veruca Salt said…

Commenting frenzy! Loves it!!! We had heaps of fun and did not make too much of a mess. The sushi and sashimi were delicious between mouthfuls of seaweed salad and long warm sips of miso soup. Thank you AG for introducing me to Endamame. Disappointed that we could not source fresh mackeral, kanpyo or make the eel from scratch. Definitely one for next time. Stay tuned dear readers for Sushi Mania 2, that is if AG is up for it, after my trip to Japan.
At 2/01/2005 9:24 am, Veruca Salt said…

Commenting frenzy! Loves it!!! We had heaps of fun and did not make too much of a mess. The sushi and sashimi were delicious between mouthfuls of seaweed salad and long warm sips of miso soup. Thank you AG for introducing me to Endamame. Disappointed that we could not source fresh mackeral, kanpyo or make the eel from scratch. Definitely one for next time. Stay tuned dear readers for Sushi Mania 2, that is if AG is up for it, after my trip to Japan.
At 2/01/2005 10:36 pm, Helen (AugustusGloop) said…

Hi VerucaSalt - Yep I'm counting on our font of knowledge pinkcocoa to come through for us! :) And I'm always up for sushi mania!