Sushi Burogu (Sushi Blog)

 Today I made a special Shrimp Tempura Roll without the sauce because I had some extra shrimp and did not want to waste it. I was able to wrap the roll really tight and cut it well. I have attached my Shrimp Tempura picture from November. Seeing the difference in these two pictures shows me how much I have improved from when I started. Some of the things I noticed that are better are: my roll is cut evenly, the roll is held together well, and there is no rice falling off. My presentation is better because it looks clean, even, and almost professional.

 Today I made my own Dragon Roll. The Dragon Roll combines everything I learned to make one incredible roll. I made the Dragon Roll using shrimp tempura from my Shrimp Tempura Roll. I used my signature sauce to dip the Dragon Roll in and I made Unagi sauce that I poured on my roll. I also needed to use all the cutting and rolling skills I knew to put all the ingredients together. The inside of the roll required cucumbers and shrimp tempura. Then, I added the Unagi sauce made up of sake, soy sauce, sugar and Mirin. I had to be very precise when slicing the avocado because it needed to look very good. In this roll I did not use eel or fish roe even though they are usually in a Dragon Roll because I could not find them anywhere. In the end I am proud of my work because I did my best and it tasted very good. Here is a recipe for a Dragon Roll. https://www.justonecookbook.com/dragon-roll/ Here is a recipe for Unagi sauce. https://www.justonecookbook.com/unagi-sauce-2/

 Today I tried a Dragon Roll from Fujiya House. I noticed that the eel was on top of this roll unlike other rolls where the eel was inside of the roll. The sauce tasted sweet but there was no avocado, unlike most Dragon Rolls. The roll consisted of eel, avocado, the signature sauce, crab and cucumber. Overall I thought the roll was very well done. Now that I have tried two rolls I am ready to make my own.   

 Today I tried a Dragon Roll from Umi and it tasted good. The crab was a little hard but it was still flavorful. Also there was a sweet sauce in the Dragon Roll and the avocados were tightly packed together. I noticed that the sushi didn't taste very fresh but the avocado looked nice. Overall this was an okay roll. This is part of my research before I make my own Dragon Roll.

       Today I got new sushi tools to make my Dragon Roll as best as possible. I got four sharp knives to cut the sushi better. A Gyutou, a Nakiri, a Santoku, and a Petty. I also got two tiny tables for cutting sashimi on, 4 sushi plates to present my sushi on, and 5 nice pairs of chopsticks to eat my sushi. I am excited to start using them to make better sushi. Gyutou: Chef's knife Nakiri: Vegetable chopping knife Santoku: Multipurpose knife Petty: Delicate work knife There are 18 types of sushi knives, read all about them below. https://homequicks.com/types-of-sushi-knives-that-chefs-use

 Today I made my signature sauce that I will use on my Dragon Roll in the future. I tested it on a California Roll and a Crunchy Teriyaki King Salmon Roll from Wegman's. The sauce was made out of eggs, lime juice, olive oil, and siracha sauce. This created a spicy mayo that is orange and creamy and tasted very good. The spicy mayo had a good texture and was not too spicy. Overall I would rate the spicy mayo a 9/10. In my recipe I used: 1 large egg 1/8 teaspoon of Minced garlic Powder ½ Tbsp. (7.5 ml) Wasabi 1.5 tsp (7.5 ml) lemon juice 1 tsp (5 ml) white wine vinegar ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) Dijon mustard 1/3 tsp (2.5 ml) Tabasco sauce ½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt 3/4 cup (180 ml) olive oil Below I used a spicy mayo recipe for a base then I changed the recipe to make it my own. https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Spicy-Mayo

 Today I made sashimi. I got a pack of salmon and cut it into tiny slices. I then made a sauce out of soy sauce, orange juice, and lime juice. I used olive oil to keep the sashimi from sticking to the plate. I could not find any sashimi to taste so I had to make it without comparison. The sashimi was salty but it tasted good. I believe that the sashimi turned out the best out of all of the types of sushi I made until now. Here are two links to look at. The top one brings you to an article on how to make sashimi and the bottom one brings you to a video on how to make sashimi. https://www.japanesecooking101.com/sashimi-recipe/ https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;

 Sashimi was developed in Japan and means raw fish cut into thin slices. Sashimi has evolved from regular fish to allow for sauces to be added. Now there are many common types of sashimi that can taste very good but I think the salmon sashimi looks the best so I will make that. To make it I will need to make a sauce and cut the salmon really thin. To make the sauce I will need wasabi, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and a few other ingredients. With this knowledge of sashimi I am ready to make it. Here is a link for the history of sashimi and types of fish used in sashimi. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2044.html

 Today I made a Philly Crab Roll. I used avocado, cream cheese, and imitation crab. The rice came out perfectly and the whole roll stuck together. I cut up avocados to put in the roll and I rolled the roll up using my sushi roller. The roll ended up tightly packed and resembled the Wegman's Philly Crab Roll. When I tasted the roll I noticed it did not have as much flavor as the California Roll but the roll I made tasted the same as the Wegman's brand Roll. I think I did a good job making the roll. Here is a recipe to make a similar roll. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/169856/cream-cheese-and-crab-sushi-rolls/

 Today I made a Veggie Roll. A Veggie Roll is made up of cucumbers, carrots, and an avocado. The veggie roll I made was rolled tightly but the the shredded carrots fell right out of the roll. I would not call my sushi a fail but it sure was close. on the outside it did not look too bad until you realized that half of its ingredients were missing. The Veggie Roll from Wegmans on the other hand looked great and tasted the same as my roll(minus the carrots.) I believe this is a difficult roll because even if you tightly pack the roll it will still fall apart. Here is the recipe I used for my Veggie Roll. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/veggie-sushi-rolls-367009

 For my sushi this week I made a Shrimp Tempura Roll and coated it in Tempura Sauce. I tried the Wegman's version of the roll and it tasted spicy and crunchy. The tempura I made tasted great but the sauce I put on top was a little too thick. The roll itself consisted of rice, shrimp tempura, avocado, and cream cheese. I think the Wegman's roll is better because it was made with higher quality shrimp and the sauce was dripped onto the roll instead of being poured. The roll I made definitely didn't look the best but it tasted good and I learned something new. Frying my shrimp tempura                                                                                                    Here is a recipe for shrimp tempura in the link below. Recipe:  https://www.justonecookbook.com/shrimp-tempura/ Shrimp tempura Roll Wegman's Shrimp Tempura Roll (I used the same ingredients in my roll as Wegman's did, except for the onions on top.)

 Today I recreated a California Roll. I started by cooking the rice as usual then mixed in the rice vinegar. After that I added in crab, cucumber, and avocado. I then rolled it together. (Always put plastic wrap over your roller to keep it clean.) My finished product is on the left and the roll from Wegman is on the right. When I first tasted the store bought sushi roll I noticed that: The store bought sushi was rolled really tightly and when I ate it the roll did not fall apart. When I first tasted my homemade sushi roll I noticed that: The homemade roll was falling apart and when I ate it I noticed it was too wet. Next time I will control how much vinegar I put on so it's not so moist.            The link below is a recipe for a California Roll. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/189477/california-roll-sushi/

  Today I practiced rolling my sushi so I could make tight rolls. The tighter the roll the less it will fall apart. To roll a sushi roll you need to gently compress as you roll it and make sure it stays together. The roll will fall apart if the sushi rice is too moist though. It got difficult to make it very tight because there was so much stuff I needed to pack into the roll. and it ended up falling apart quite a few times before I got it right finally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swGJ2dIu9XE&feature=emb_logo

 Today I created a bowl of sushi rice vinegar. The vinegar is put on sushi rice to give the rice more flavor. typical rice vinegar consists of 4 tbsp. of rice vinegar, 3 tbsp. of sugar, and 1tsp. of salt. This is the basics for making sushi because you need to first make the rice. After making it it should taste like a sweet vinegar. https://norecipes.com/sushi-rice-recipe/

  Today I cut avocados. The tricky part about cutting avocados is how they are round so you have to cut them in half. Many people cut themselves trying to cut an avocado so you need to be really careful. Once I cut the avocado in half I sliced it up into small slices(top right of picture) and they were the perfect size for a sushi roll. The link below shows how to properly cut an avocado. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=

 Today I cut a cucumber to practice my knife skills but I had to cut it in a specific way to make it small enough to fit well into a sushi roll. First, I washed the cucumber. Then, I peeled it and after that I cut it down the middle. I proceeded to cut it down the middle again and sliced it into smaller slices. I didn't have an example of how to do this so I did this based on my own knowledge of sushi cucumbers.  I also julienned a carrot to make matchsticks that also needed to fit well in a sushi roll. I have attached a video of how to julienne a carrot in the link below. Julienning a carrot was easy because you cut it straight. How to julienne a carrot:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlOP2MT_3sU&feature=emb_logo

Today I created different types of sushi rice and decided which was the best. I made sushi rice by taking a cup of sushi rice and dumping it into a bowl. I then washed the rice out until the water became clear. Next, I poured two cups of water in and cooked it in a rice cooker for 30 minutes. Once I took it out it was ready. I repeated these steps for the three different types of rice I made. The three types of rice were Sushi Chef, Sushi Rice, and Han Kuk Mi rice. After trying all three of them I found that the first two types of rice tasted more or less the same while the Han Kuk Mi rice had more flavor. Along with having more flavor it also stuck to the bowl less. I believed that my decision was obvious and I will use this sushi rice in my future recipes.

Where did sushi come from? The first thing to realize is that “sushi” doesn’t mean “raw fish”. It actually refers to a dish of vinegar rice served with various fillings and toppings, which may include raw fish. Sushi was originally invented as a means of preservation, when fermented rice was used to store fish for anything up to a year. This was known as  narezushi , and in fact the rice was thrown away and only the fish consumed. A later variant called  namanarezushi , invented in the 16th century, introduced the idea of using vinegar rice, which was consumed instead of being thrown away, and this is still enjoyed today, particularly in Japan’s ancient capital, Kyoto. The History of Sushi Sushi is said to have originated in China between the 5th and the 3rd centuries BC, as a means of preserving fish in salt.  Narezushi , the original form of sushi, has been made in South East Asia for centuries, and nowadays, there are still traces of it in some parts.  Narezushi  appeared in Japan

 I have always loved to eat sushi and now my dream of learning to make it has come true, welcome to my sushi blog. To start I will develop skills vital to making sushi. Once I am fully prepared I will choose a type of sushi every week and eat it. After that I will try to recreate it for myself and taste the difference. I will then decide out of all the sushi I try, which roll I like the best. During these next few months I will make sushi, sashimi, and end with my very own Dragon Roll.     To start off my journey I will research the history of sushi and then I will make sushi rice. Next, I will learn how to use a knife. A knife is the most important tool in the kitchen and it is a good skill to have. To improve my knife skills I will practice cutting up cucumbers, avocados, and carrots.  After that I will decide the best sushi rice recipe by testing how they taste and I will begin making my sushi starting with the most basic roll, the California Roll, and working my way up to my end go