Hochner Family Blog

It was a beautiful day but the lesson started with bad news, practical test.  It's tomorrow, and there will be a test for the actual Sushi making and another one about the preparation of the fish.  For the making of the Sushi, we were talking about making 15 pieces within 3 minutes, but this time, we have to make a beautiful sushi with rice weighting between 16 and 18 g (no more no less!).  The minimum requirement is 10 perfect Sushi within 3 minutes.

For the fish, we first have to clean the scale, chop off the head of the fish, cut the bodies and take out the intestines, wash the bodies in salty water, cut them into fillets, take off the stomach bones, take off the rest of the bones, drop the fillets in water with vinegar, wipe the fillets and cut them for Sushi. From start to finish, we have to fully prepare two fish within 8 minutes.  Actually during the lesson, we were told to do it within 6 minutes, and two of us cut their finger because of the rush.

During the lunch break, we went to Seiyu (a local shop) to get some more fish for practice.  We found one pack of four Aji (horse mackerel) for Yen 200! (less than $2).

This morning, we also worked on Kurumaebi (shrimp).

Here is our lunch, Salmon, Aji (horse mackerel), Ika (squid), Amaebi (sweet shrimp), and Kurumaebi (shrimp). Goto san made pickled giant radish with the radish we practiced on to learn how to peel.
We also had a Miso soup (soup with soy bean paste) with Ebi (shrimp) head. The shrimp gives a really strong taste to the Miso and it was really excellent.

In the afternoon, we tried ourselves at some Rolled Sushis.  We already tried some of them last Friday, and I tried again alone at home as well.  I repeat it: the key point is the way to spread the rice on the Nori (seaweed sheet). 
Californian Rolls with avocado, crab, cucumber and egg.  As you can see, the Californian Roll is a Uramaki, or inside out roll.  It was invented by a Japanese fellow who was working in a restaurant in Los Angeles (little Tokyo) around 1975-1980. This is what triggered the Sushi boom in the United States.

Futomaki (thick roll) is a Japanese traditional roll. They include cucumber, Kampyo (ribbon-like strips of gourd), Takuan (pickled yellow color daikon), Shiitake (mushroom), spinach, Denbu (pink colored sweet cod fish) and egg.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 5:24 PM