In
the video below, produced by WocomoCOOK, Jiro and his son, Yoshikazu, talk
about their approach to sushi and what they think are the most important
factors in creating perfect sushi.
Jiro,
whose restaurant has three Michelin stars, goes to extreme lengths when
composing his sushi menus and hearing from a pro about what he believes to be
the best possible way to craft sushi is great to watch.
Jiro
and his son mention five particular points they focus on when trying to achieve
perfect sushi. Interestingly they don’t talk about cutting technique, rice
plays a much bigger role it seems.
Perfect
Sushi Points
1
- Rice must be cooked with vinegar for perfect sushi.
2
- The proportion of fish and rice must be just right.
3
- Only some fish works right with rice, other fish
should be used for sashimi and chefs must go to great lengths to make sure they
choose the right fish.
4
- The temperature the rice is cooked at and the
temperature of the sushi chef’s hands are both very important for making
perfect sushi.
5
- The size must be just right - eaten with the fingers
- to be consumed with just one bite.
JIRO ONO'S GUIDE ON
HOW TO EAT SUSHI.
Here
it is - you’ll always know how to eat sushi from now on.
1 - Pick it up with
your fingers - it’s fine!
Jiro
says that because his sushi is made with an extremely light touch and contains
a lot of air - it’s not easy to hold and should be gently lifted to help
maintain the shape.
2 - Using chopsticks
- also fine!
Jiro
says that if you wish to pick up the sushi placed on your tray with a pair of
chopsticks you can - but fingers are suggested first. If you are using sticks
he says you should think of the sushi as a “portable shrine” - the sticks are
the shrine’s “carrying poles”.
3 - Avoid spilling
the topping
Gentle,
gentle, gentle and always from the right angle - you don’t want to drop the
goodness on top of your sushi.
4 - Flavor it with
soy sauce
If
the sushi chef has not brushed nikiri shoyu on your sushi, pick up a small
amount of shoga (pickled ginger) and use it as a brush to apply soy sauce. Jiro
says you should “brush it across the top of the sushi topping.”
5 - Eat some shoga
Jiro
says you should eat just a pinch of the accompanying pickled ginger - it will
cleanse the palate - but never take too much.
6 - Drink tea
Jiro
says he believes that tea is the best drink for further palate cleansing.
7 - Don't dip sushi
rice into soy sauce
He
says this will spoil the flavour of the rice and the fish.
8 - Sweet tsume sauce
Jiro
says that if a piece of sushi has already been coated in tsume sauce, you
really don’t need to also add soy.
9 - Don't turn nigiri
sushi upside down
It
might sound a little picky but there’s actually a great reason for this rule.
As Jiro says, “If you turn sushi upside down when eating it, your mouth will
feel a strange sensation since the rice has a temperature different from your
tongue.”
10 - Don't separate
the sushi topping
As
Jiro says, “pulling off the topping is the greatest insult to the sushi chef”,
and we wouldn’t want to do that, would we?
11 - Don't break
sushi into two
A
piece of well made sushi should fit into the mouth in one bite, as Jiro says,
“it should be roughly 6 centimetres long.”
12 - Don't let sushi
sit
Sushi
should be eaten as soon as it hits your plate or the counter in front of you.
“There’s nothing more delicious than sushi that has just been placed on your
plate,” says the master.
By AFP