Hochner Family Blog

This morning, I woke up, went to the Sushi shop, put on my uniform, drunk a cup of tea, prepared the knives, and somewhat felt like a real Ita san (Sushi Master). It was a good start.

We started the day with the preparation of the rice. We start by putting 30 kg of rice in the Sushi Oke (Bucket) and mix it with the Sushi Su (sweet Sushi vinegar).   

We then mix the rice right away without kneading it. We have to move fast before the rice gets cold otherwise the rice would taste too much the vinegar. We cool down the rice up to body temperature and then keep it in a warm jar.

A Sushi is made in 10 little steps or actions of the left and right hands and fingers.  For the practice, we only make the rice ball. Today, my score was 15 within 3 minutes (we note the results everyday) and at the end, we have to be able to make 18 Sushi (not only the Sushi ball) within 3 minutes.
By the way, our teacher won twice the National Sushi Championship — he can make 40 sushi per minute!

First fish of the day, the Sayori (Halfbeak). 

I encountered this guy several times while diving in the sea.  They have a very long chin and swim around near the surface of the water.  Their chin is useful to gather the little creatures near the surface and I've also heard that it can actually go through a diver’s wetsuit.

There isn’t much meat left in the case of the Sayori (Halfbeak) after cutting the filets, but we also eat the skin. 
We put the skin around a wooden stick, put some salt on it, and cooked it over the fire.  Yummy!

Today's special, Sake (Salmon). 

The intestines were already cleaned out in order to keep it fresh.

First, we start by cutting the right side of the head,
then we continue to cut toward the left side,
then we turn the head around and take it off.
We draw a line on the back of the body with the knife,
then we cut the body from this point toward the tail.
The right side of the body is then separated.
We slide a knife under the bone and cut off the central bone.
Here is the left side of the body.
Akiko cleaning the body and cutting it into half.
The skin is then peeled off.
Here are the filets,
and the rest of the fish.

Here is today's lunch, Salmon sushi, Ikura sushi, Sayori sushi, and Sayori sashimi.  It is too much, but it's so good.

In the afternoon, we fought with more squids. 
Yari ika and Surume Ika.  Surume Ika is the squid we see in streets baked with Shoyu (soja sauce) spread on the skin.

Tomorrow, we have our first written test.  I have to study....

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 2:33 PM