SUSHI!!! ThannnnkkyouVeryMuuuuch!!!!

OK, it has been a long time coming and I am deciding to give yall the Sushi education you all need! Oh you honor me John Choi!

OK, I figure I can just give you a bunch of links and maybe some photos and let you all decide for yourselves, but please just promise me that you will try it at least once in your life!!!! (And no not all sushi is raw fish, the best offering here in Santa Fe is a deep fried tempura shrimp and green chili roll. Ymmm Ymmm Good!!!

OK, first of all you need to find the closest Sushi restaurant to you and I found a website that allows you to find the closest one to you anywhere in the world:

The Sushi World Guide

OK, now that you know where to go (and if there are several places to go eat then find a phone book and call any random person with the last name Fujimoto, or Fujishima, or Fujita, or Tanaka...Etc get the point here? Just call someone or talk to someone who eats Sushi or at least might know something about Sushi)

Now you need to know something about the actually food you will be ordering and then eating.

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Some basic terms:

SUSHI
Nowadays sushi is commonly known as raw fish on a piece of rice. But, actually sushi means vinegared rice that is rolled with vegetables, fish or pickles, then wrapped in nori, and sliced into rounds (Norimaki). There are different sushi formats: Nigiri (hand-shaped), futo (thick), maki (rolled), temaki (hand-rolled), chirashi (scattered on top of the rice).


NIGIRI SUSHI
Sushi format, hand-shaped piece of rice with any sort of sliced raw fish on top.

NORI
(Basically, fancy definition for seaweed) Thin sheets of dried sea vegetable. Nori is often roasted over a flame until its color turns from black or purple to green. It is used as a garnish, wrapped around rice balls or other foods, or cooked with tamari as a condiment.

WASABI
A light green Japanese root that has been dried, powdered, and made into a paste. It is traditionally used as a seasoning in sushi, sashimi, and in dipping sauces. Wasabi is very hot with a taste reminiscent of horseradish. i.i. will kick your tail if you use too much of it.

SASHIMI
Raw, slivered fish, usually served with a dip made of shoyu and wasabi. The different styles of filleting are highly ritualised,different fish are cut in different ways. This is just the fish no rice or anything else...just the fish, and nothing but the fish.

GARI (This is just ginger, sometimes pink or white)
Pickled ginger, usually pink and thinly sliced. Served with sushi to cleanse the palate between courses.

HASHI
chopsticks.

MISO SOUP
A protein-rich, fermented bean paste made from soybeans,usually with the addition of barley or brown or white rice. Miso is used in soup stocks and as a seasoning. It comes in a wide variety of styles from white to red, from slightly sweet to very salty and earthy, and crunchy or smooth.

EDAMAME
Soybeans, served in the pod as an appetizer.

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You do not have to know how to speak Japanese to order, it is just nice to know what the menu is saying when you order it all.

Ok so lets start out and let me give you a suggested menu to order when you go eat Sushi.

(BTW: Most of the time Sushi is expensive so go with other people and then you can make them pay for the food and then you get to eat it all, heh)

Sample Menu:

Get some "Edamame" for the first course of the dinner.


To eat Edamame you ONLY eat the seeds inside the shell and then just put the shells on your plate or back into the bowl they came in. The shells will be taken up by the server when you are done.

Ymmmm Ymmm, salty huh? Not too bad huh? Oh yeah it is only started.

Ok, now I would probably go ahead and order some Miso Soup, and maybe a small side salad with Ginger dressing (typical dressing of the greens) (some sushi meals come with these two items.)



Ok, now you can go two routes. The first route is to just order a 7-15 piece sushi platter (dinner or lunch). This will come with a variety of sushi that the chief has on hand and then you just eat it up, but if this is your first time I would go with individual orders. And one order of one kind of sushi would look like this:



When you get to the restaurant they will probably give you a sheet of paper with all the different kinds of sushi on it and then you can specify the amount that you desire to order. Most of the time they will give you two pieces of Nori Sushi for each order, and yes that is probably going to cost you $3-$10 for just two pieces of sushi. (Always check to see if they have a happy hour or something like that and you might be able to find half off of certain kinds for that hour)

And if you go to an authentic Sushi place they might give you a warm moist hand towel to clean your hands and I have even seen a few men wipe off their face with it as well, the wait staff will take them back from you when they come to get your drink order.

Now, you will probably also notice that there will be hand rolls (temaki) and just rolls. A Hand roll looks like this:



and the regular roll is cut into pieces ranging from 5-8 pieces and looks like this:



So, yes the hand rolls and regular rolls cost more, but you get more (as you can see) (the picture has two rolls on it probably).

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OK, now what to order:

two menus here one for the first timer and another of my favorites!!!:

1st time visit to Sushi restaurant:
Edamame
Miso Soup
small Salad
1 order each:

Salmon (Sake)


Tuna (Maguro)


Yellowtail (Hamachi)


Shrimp/sweet Shrimp (Ebi)

Now go for some rolls:


California Roll sometime it has the roe (fish eggs) around it (like this picture)but most of the time it does not like this picture:)

(A California Roll is made of crab meat, avocado, and cucumber) But, most places have all different kinds of California rolls some even have cream cheese and stuff like that so make sure it is just a plain California roll. The non roe version is Tiffany's favorite and therefore makes it a good beginners choice.


Spicy Tuna Roll (This can be spicy so just be careful with it.) This is my 2nd favorite roll and my favorite place to eat this is at Kobe Stonegrill and Sushi House in Lexington, KY. He puts some small fried tempura batter into the mix and it adds an amazing texture to it, but it does not come this way most of the time)


Tempura Shrimp roll (This one is cooked so you wimps out there can still eat this one, it is just fried shrimp wrapped in the rice and Nori.)

Ok, that should fill 1-2 people up, but not me, heh.

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Now for the fun stuff:

This is what I would order on top of what was on the other menu (my favs):


Seaweed Salad really good, but sounds bad, heh you just have to try it (tastes like soy sauce...so if you like soy sauce then you will love this!)!!!


Monkfish Liver (Ankimo) (this is basically monk fish Foie Gras, in a awesome sauce!) My favorite Sushi to order and sadly most places do not carry it. (I think it is also a seasonal thing too)


Fatty Tuna (Toro) Dang this is good, It melts in your mouth, and it is Oh so good! Super Fatty Tuna is the same thing, but this is a special cut with more flavorful fat in the tuna and it is just amazing!


Cooked Freshwater Eel (Unagi) Dang this is good! Usually has a thick Teriyaki sauce on it.


Sea Urchin Eggs (Uni) Now this one is not my favorite, but I always get it to show off for the noobs, heh. It should have that frill look to it and you need to only order this is a good restaurant or it will be the bane of our existence, heh)


Soft Shell Crab Roll (Spider Roll) You eat the entire roll legs and all because it is a soft shell crab, heh. But this is also cooked and man the flavor is amazing! This is my Favorite Roll to order!!!

If you order all the food at one time they might give you a sushi boat that looks like this (actually there are two boats, heh, hey why not it was my Birthday!) BTW: I am making the noise of two ships passing in the night, and the fog horn noise!)



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OK there you have what to order there are just a few other things you need to know:

1. NEVER absolutely NEVER stab the fish with your chopsticks. Or two people grab a piece of sushi with two pairs of chopsticks. This is offensive to any Japanese. Apparently they use big chop sticks as a part of their funeral rights and pick up their dead's bones with them, and so if you stab the fish you are offending them.

(Here is some updated info from a wonderful and intelligent visitor tot he blog that gave a few correction and meaning behind why you are not to do this):

"stabbing food with chopsticks is definitely a "no no" when it comes to Japanese table manners, but not for the reason you gave. It simply shows lack of skill. Very often food does need to be broken apart by pressing chopsticks into it and then prying the two points apart or even in a way "cutting" the food with the edges. (Using one hand, of course!!)Resorting to stabbing it merely shows you don't have the skills to break up the food correctly. Your fellow diners might be offended by your crude methods, but the dead certainly won't.

Here is some more information about what you said about long chopsticks and funerals.

Yes, large chopsticks are used during the Japanese funeral ceremony. Family members (in pairs) pick up the bones of the recently cremated and place them into a pot. (They hold one bone together using one pair of chopsticks each.) This is why it is terribly bad for two people to hold the same piece of food with chopsticks whilst eating dinner.

The other thing connected with Japanese funerals is the practice of sticking a pair of chopsticks into a bowl of white rice, so they stand straight up. This is very commonly done and the bowl is placed upon the alter in front or behind the coffin during the funeral as a gift to the deceased. It is therefore a major faux pas to stick your chopsticks and leave them standing up in a bowl of white rice. (I can't imagine why anyone would want to do it anyway, but people are always warned against it just in case.)

I can see how a combination of information from these two elements of culture could lead to confusion about stabbing food with chopsticks."

(thanks anonymous Sushi expert! It is great to hear the truth, and help out one Texan's ignorance! You rock!)

2. Use the ginger to clear your pallet between different kinds of sushi so you can taste each flavor cleanly and wonderfully. Use it like you would sorbet in a fancy restaurant before you get to the main course.

3. When the food arrives at your table you can use chopsticks or it is perfectly OK to use your hands to pickup the sushi.

4. You should find a small dish (come in different shapes, but most common is rectangular very small bowl). This dish is for you to put your soy sauce in to dip the sushi into the soy sauce. It is typical to dip each piece of sushi in before you eat it (so dip the fish only not the rice...that gets you too much soy sauce and you can not taste the fish...but since I LOVE soy sauce...I do it all te time the wrong way, heh heh).

5. You will see on the plate a pile of ginger and a pile of wasabi for you to use.

6. Some people like to put a little of their wasabi into the soy sauce container to give it a little more bite. But the real men just add the wasabi straight to the sushi and see if they can take it, heh (actually crazy men do this, but you can call me what you will)

7. Most of the time you will eat the entire piece of sushi in one bite, but if you can't that is OK too, for example the hand rolls are impossible to eat in one bite and some of the larger rolls (like the spider roll) are too big too!

8. It is perfectly OK to order just a little sushi and eat that then order more, so start out small and please don't quit...keep going until you have found your favorite 5-10 kinds. There are TONS more kinds of sushi than what I have suggested to you or I love, so try it all and see what you do and do not like. Have fun with it!

9. Don't ever forget to tip!

10. Just because you are in a Japanese restaurant does not mean the people working there are Japanese. I have been to several restaurants and they are Korean and even Chinese, so be careful about using only Japanese phrases below.

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OK, here are some good things to say before, during, or after the course of the meal:

Domo. Thank you.

Domo arigato. Thank you very much.

Dozo. Please.

Gaijin. Outsiders, foreigners.

Gochiso-sama [deshita]. Traditional phrase closing a meal.

Hai. Yes.

Itadakimasu. Traditional phrase opening a meal.

Itamae. The sushi (or other Japanese) chef.

Konichiwa. A greeting, roughly `how are you'.

Omakase. Chef's choice.

Okonomi. The practice of ordering sushi a few pieces at a time.

Sabinuki. `No wasabi, please.'.

Well, I hope you enjoy the Sushi, and please let me know if you used this sushi guide or not! I know it sure has made me hungry, heh! The most important thing is just go try it and don't let the "ewwwwuuu grosssss" statements of the world hinder you from living a little! God bless you all! Take care and Good night!