Biggest advice I have is to keep everything that touches the rice, and isn't supposed to stick to the rice, wet and clean. Like sowega said: Keep a bowl of water at your sushi station, rinse your hands often. Keep a towel or rag in that bowl, and wipe the blade often. Do NOT make your roll directly on the bamboo mat. Cover the mat with wax paper or saran-wrap, then lay the seaweed sheet on *that* and begin building your roll. You can cut the roll while it's still wrapped in wax paper, but I'd unwrap it first and cut it naked if you're using saran-wrap. Wiping your blade will become especially important when cutting your rolls, as a clean knife will go through them easily whereas a dirty knife will stick to the rice and pull the roll apart. The last thing I had to learn the hard way was not to put too much rice on when packing a sheet. They get unmanageably thick pretty easily; just a quarter inch of rice across an entire sheet will roll up to be about one and a half to two inches thick depending on how much other stuff you put in.
Every time I've tried it always turns into a mess, never tastes as good as properly made by a good chef and takes up more time than its worth. YMMV
Oh man, I've had the opposite experience. Sushi at home is usually much better than sushi out, unless I'm going to a really high-$$ place. It definitely always is a huge mess for me tho lol. Fave simple roll: Ahi, cream cheese, jalapeƱo, cilantro, cucumber.
Where's the puke emoji? I'm a purest when it comes to sushi. Cream cheese and even a heavy dip in soy are too strong a flavor to go with good fish.
We frequently make sushi on the boat when we're sailing. Nothing like fresh caught Tuna spicy rolls. King mackerel is surprisingly good too. No gadgets.....fancy rice cookers, spoons, knives etc. Just some sushi rice made on the stove, a mat and a sharp fillet knife.
You'd probably hate me, then. I put Wasabi in the soy sauce and dip the roll in that. My Japanese friend told me the chefs probably despise me lol.
Are you both right-handed? Traditional single-sided edge knives take a little getting used to (and if like me, left-handed, a bit of a unique approach). White steel is great for sharpening but is not a typical stainless/chromium steel, so care to prevent oxidation is required. That looks like a nice knife. Don't limit yourself to rolls, and while soy/wasabi I think are fine for tradition, the use of colored mayoniase needs to go away-o.
Good fish isn't stinky and nasty but it still needs to be cooked. This is a lot of effort to "not" cook fish.
It's art as much as food when done right. I really like the food part, don't care so much about the art part, too cheap for that.
I was a big wasabi and soy guy until I went to Japan and ate at a sushi bar. There the chef didn't put the glob of wasabi on the plate like I was used to seeing and when I asked for some he sort of rolled his eyes on my and dropped a hunk on my plate. Since then I make it a point to try the fish without soy first and only use it when needed - like when my girlfriend insists on getting the deep fried roll with cream cheese and jalapeno
My wife and I tried to make sushi a few years ago. The seaweed we used was really fishy tasting so it just ruined it. I don't if it was the brand we used or where we got it...or even if the seaweed needs to sit out for a while a rid itself of that fish taste. Any advice on that?
My wife dragged me to a sushi place once. Knowing how much work the chef's put into it, I feel kind of bad for refusing to eat it.