Speaker 1: Good morning everyone, Happy Saturday. We're gonna take you back
Speaker 1: in time this week to July fourteen, the little episode
Speaker 1: that we like to call How Sushi Works. This is
Speaker 1: making me hungry just thinking about it, and I remember
Speaker 1: eating sushi for probably like three or four days straight
Speaker 1: after we recorded this one. It's a good one because
Speaker 1: Josh and I are both big at sushi fans, and
Speaker 1: it was really cool to learn the history and sort
Speaker 1: of the ins and outs of how sushi works. So
Speaker 1: here we go everyone with How Sushi Works. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Stuff you should know, a production of My Heart Radios
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh
Speaker 1: Clark with me as always is the dour Charles w
Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant, and Jerry, who's snortling over there, which is
Speaker 1: kind of like a like a laughing through your nose. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what I thought that were? I thought it meant like
Speaker 1: I'm gloomy or something. Yeah, you seem a little gloomy today. No,
Speaker 1: do you think the smile is fake? Yeah? That one
Speaker 1: man always I had a picture of that. We can
Speaker 1: put that on a T shirt and then I could
Speaker 1: wear that T shirt and then you could get a
Speaker 1: picture of me wearing that T shirt and put that
Speaker 1: on a T shirt and wear that T shirt and
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. It would be like Ryan
Speaker 1: Gosling and um, yeah, who do you do that? Mcaulay culkin, right, yep,
Speaker 1: that's get to McAuley culkin this time though. This time. Yeah, alright, alright,
Speaker 1: you're always making me be Ryan Gosling. Who wants that? Nobody?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm good man, I gotta tell you. So,
Speaker 1: we're about to do sushi. By the way, this thing
Speaker 1: made me really hungry. Oh my god. I want sushi
Speaker 1: so bad now and have for days now. Just remember
Speaker 1: the Yawning episode and people are like, oh, I listen
Speaker 1: to this and I you all in the entire time. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: prepared to want sushi everybody. Even if you don't like
Speaker 1: sushi or never had sushi, I guarantee you you will
Speaker 1: want sushi by the end of this or we will
Speaker 1: give you your money back for this episode. That's right.
Speaker 1: So you've had sushi? Yeah, I mean it's one. It's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite foods. I could live in Japan
Speaker 1: and eat sushi every day. Yes, I'm going to Japan
Speaker 1: next year and I plan on eating sushi every day
Speaker 1: I would have I would not get sick of it. No, No,
Speaker 1: it'd be really tough to Yeah, especially with the variety
Speaker 1: of Sure. Do you know everybody thinks sushi is basically like, um,
Speaker 1: a little bite of rice with a bunch of ingredients
Speaker 1: tucked in it or on top of it. Yeah, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's like a little little lump of rice with
Speaker 1: some you know, fish on it or something. There's a
Speaker 1: whole galaxy of sushi out there, especially when you go
Speaker 1: to Japan. I mean, just prepared to have your mind blown.
Speaker 1: I mean you've had it before. But yeah, my buddy
Speaker 1: Jason lives up it there, and it's like, it's not
Speaker 1: like sushi Avenue here, Indicator Georgia. Does he ever mail
Speaker 1: you sushi? It probably wouldn't stay very well. Um, but
Speaker 1: if you figured out a way to stick it into
Speaker 1: one of those live organ courier things, it would be great. Uh.
Speaker 1: I don't think so well. You know, if you eat
Speaker 1: raw sushi here, with the exception of tuna, and by
Speaker 1: here I mean the United States, Um, it's not fresh.
Speaker 1: It's been frozen by law, except for tuna. And I
Speaker 1: couldn't find out why tuna was the only exception, but
Speaker 1: all fish that's intended to be served raw has to
Speaker 1: be frozen. Flash frozen is fine, and then of course
Speaker 1: thought back out. But it can't just be from the
Speaker 1: ocean to your plate. Yeah, and before the pedantic ones
Speaker 1: among you start emailing, Josh said sushi when he was
Speaker 1: talking about raw fish and infects. Sushi is rice and
Speaker 1: that is sushimi using the colloquial Exactly when people say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's go out for sushi, it's like a h a
Speaker 1: genre of food, like hey, let's go out for Italian
Speaker 1: and you don't go and they say, actually, that's a
Speaker 1: Sicilian item of food. Yeah. If this is ringing true
Speaker 1: to you and it's reminding you of yourself, take a take.
Speaker 1: You need to do some personality changes. If this is
Speaker 1: your friend, then you should surround yourself with higher quality
Speaker 1: people in that. Yeah, I mean go out for sushi.
Speaker 1: That means you can have me so soup, and that
Speaker 1: means going out for sushi and you can have uh
Speaker 1: like at a mamma and a seaweed salad. And that's
Speaker 1: all part of the experience that's going out for sushi. Yes,
Speaker 1: in this country, it basically is shorthand for Japanese. You're
Speaker 1: going out for Japanese, Yes, sort of, but not habach
Speaker 1: Habachi is not Japanese. Is strictly a Rocky Aoki American
Speaker 1: Oh is it? Yes? I mean they do have habaschi
Speaker 1: girls and stuff like that, but they experience the benni
Speaker 1: hana version. Totally American invention. I've never been to one
Speaker 1: of those places. Oh yeah, I mean it's like there's
Speaker 1: a guy like chopping and cooking and toss and stuff
Speaker 1: into his hat and everything. Alright, So chuck um, thank
Speaker 1: you for pointing out the sushi thing, because I am
Speaker 1: going to do that a lot. Yeah, and we should
Speaker 1: say when if you are specifically talking about sushi in Japan,
Speaker 1: you're talking about um. Vinegard rice is roughly what the
Speaker 1: word means, medium or short grain good rice. The stuff
Speaker 1: that's on top um the neta, which is a fish
Speaker 1: seafood topping that you put on sushi is actually that
Speaker 1: raw fish is called sushimi. Like you said, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can eat that by itself as well. If it's fried stuff,
Speaker 1: it's called tempura. Yeah. Different types of sushi have different
Speaker 1: kinds of names. But um, let's get into this, shall we.
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about the history, because this whole thing
Speaker 1: didn't even start in Japan. Yeah, it's pretty interesting, uh.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at sushi, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of folklore surrounding it, um, a lot of mysterious origins. Um.
Speaker 1: One of the old wives tales from Japan is that fine,
Speaker 1: it just appeared out of no wear one day mysteriously.
Speaker 1: Uh No, it just means it can't been there. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm just teasing. You're joshing, I am joshing the chuck.
Speaker 1: That's right. Uh. There's an old Japanese wive style about
Speaker 1: an elderly lady who would hide her rice from thieves
Speaker 1: and osprey nests, and she would forget where they were,
Speaker 1: and they would ferment the rice wood and then the
Speaker 1: seafood that the osprey would eat would fall down in
Speaker 1: there and waila, that was the first sushi. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: a great story, but but it's a lie. Not necessarily
Speaker 1: it's no, it's not a lies folklore wi her lies.
Speaker 1: I guess it's told by old ladies. Very harsh way
Speaker 1: to say it. Um. So there's the the earliest sushi
Speaker 1: supposedly was around in in Southeast Asia in I don't
Speaker 1: know years ago. They were taking cooked rice which does ferment,
Speaker 1: and packing fish in it, and then the fermentation of
Speaker 1: the rice, yeah, I kept it long before refrigeration, but
Speaker 1: it also kind of pickled the fish. But then once
Speaker 1: the fish was pickled over the course of like weeks,
Speaker 1: and they would place it under like a heavy stone
Speaker 1: or something like that to basically compress it. And once
Speaker 1: the once the fish was pickled, they throw the rice
Speaker 1: out and to seat the fish. Yes, and in fact,
Speaker 1: a sushi kitchen can be called a suki bar or
Speaker 1: a pickling place. Yeah, that's bam. The original version of
Speaker 1: sushi was basically fermented fish that was fermented with rice,
Speaker 1: pickled fish fermented with rice. Then they threw the rice out.
Speaker 1: Somebody said, well, wait a minute, does this rice taste like,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is delicious. And what would it
Speaker 1: taste like if I put this fermented fish on the rice?
Speaker 1: And they went, oh my god, this is even better.
Speaker 1: So they said, well, let's try this a different way.
Speaker 1: If we're not gonna throw the fish or throw the
Speaker 1: rice out, let's actually gut the fish. And this is
Speaker 1: the tenth century, by the way, and by now this
Speaker 1: is in Japan. Um let's get the fish, soak it
Speaker 1: in saki, which is Japanese rice wine, and then pack
Speaker 1: that thing full of rice and like that from it.
Speaker 1: And then after a few weeks we'll just slice it
Speaker 1: and then eat that. Yeah, And each each of these
Speaker 1: steps basically is speeding the process up a lot. Like
Speaker 1: the very first process took about a year and a half,
Speaker 1: did it And it was only for like the uber wealthy.
Speaker 1: Once they added sake though, that speeded that up. That
Speaker 1: speeded that up, and that stuff still around. It's called
Speaker 1: nara sushi or rice sushi. Yeah, I'm sorry, ripe sushi,
Speaker 1: and apparently you can still get that. And it's a
Speaker 1: little like for your American taste buds, it might taste
Speaker 1: a little funny, but I'll bet once you get used
Speaker 1: to it, you're like, this is I have to have
Speaker 1: us all the time. Probably so uh So. Then in
Speaker 1: the sixteen hundreds, early sixteen hundreds of Japanese military leader
Speaker 1: name Tokugawa a Yasu. We're gonna do our best with
Speaker 1: these Japanese pronunciations. Yes, give us a break. Uh He
Speaker 1: moved the capitol from Kyoto to Itto, which would later
Speaker 1: become Tokyo, and by the nineteenth century it was a
Speaker 1: Hoppin city, and in the mid seventeen undreds they sped
Speaker 1: up that process a little bit more by skipping the
Speaker 1: saki and using rice vinegar, yeah, which made it like
Speaker 1: a matter of days after that, uh, for just a
Speaker 1: couple of hours, right, which was what I was following
Speaker 1: up with, Yeah, which is I mean that's super quick.
Speaker 1: And then you would slice it into pieces and uh
Speaker 1: again just cutting that preparation time. Yeah. And then in
Speaker 1: um Kyoto, which was the former UH seat of power
Speaker 1: in Japan before it was moved to Ato or Tokyo,
Speaker 1: um they would take that vinegar and some ingredients, maybe
Speaker 1: a little cucumber, a little dried seaweed which is known
Speaker 1: as nori, and they put it in a box and
Speaker 1: press it together, and you'd have oshi sushi, which is
Speaker 1: osaka style sushi. It's it's like a square of sushi. Right.
Speaker 1: And there was a guy who lived in Ato in
Speaker 1: Tokyo in the eight twenties, and his name was Yohi Hanaya,
Speaker 1: and he had a little cart where he was making
Speaker 1: oshi sushi and everybody he liked it and all that.
Speaker 1: But apparently, as the story goes, some of his customers
Speaker 1: were like I'm very busy and important, and I don't
Speaker 1: have time for you to press this into a Box's
Speaker 1: hurry up, make it snappy. So he took some of
Speaker 1: that rice, that vinegar flavored rice, and rolled it up
Speaker 1: in his hand a little bit, and then he would
Speaker 1: take some fish that was taken out of Tokyo bay
Speaker 1: or Edo may I mean he was set up right
Speaker 1: there on the water exactly, and he cut off a
Speaker 1: little bit of slice and put it in there, maybe
Speaker 1: with the streak of was sabi, and handed it to
Speaker 1: the He said, here, jerk, is that fast enough? That
Speaker 1: took me like three minutes exactly. And they said, well,
Speaker 1: by god, this is Japanese street food. That is fast
Speaker 1: food that we can use our hands for and eating
Speaker 1: two bites and nigiri sushi. Uh, what a lot of
Speaker 1: people think of as sushi was born. The modern sushi
Speaker 1: was born right there in that food stall, that's right.
Speaker 1: And then the Great Canto earthquake hit Tokyo and land
Speaker 1: prices went down, and all of a sudden there was
Speaker 1: a lot of retail space, and so the sushi cart said, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe we should move these things inside and start a
Speaker 1: legit restaurant. And it happened all over the place, and
Speaker 1: by the nineteen fifties it was the sushi restaurant was
Speaker 1: where it was at. Yes, basically in the nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: next to refrigeration, you could chip fish. By the seventies
Speaker 1: and the post war economy, people were loving the stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So it started to boom in other like all over
Speaker 1: Japan and then started to spread to other parts of
Speaker 1: the world. It did, and in the United States it
Speaker 1: was first adopted in the sixties in Los Angeles. Of
Speaker 1: course it was Los Angeles. There was a place called
Speaker 1: Kawa Fuku and that was the first big American embraced
Speaker 1: um sushi restaurant in the United States. And and then
Speaker 1: the yuppies came and you think, like eighties in sushi, right,
Speaker 1: do you? I do? I always have, Yeah, But apparently
Speaker 1: it wasn't until like the nineties that sushi really hit
Speaker 1: New York And it was because of a unknown man
Speaker 1: named Robert de Niro who who talked this the chef
Speaker 1: of Nobu, whose name is uh Nobu Yuki Matsu. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be in so much trouble when I get home.
Speaker 1: So de Niro talked the chef of Nobu Nobu Yuki Matsushisa.
Speaker 1: I think that's it. Yeah, it's really close, if not
Speaker 1: to open Nobu, which was already in l a Icon
Speaker 1: in New York in So apparently sushi didn't hit New
Speaker 1: York big time until the nineties, even though I think
Speaker 1: of it as like total American psycho fodder. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it was around. I think it probably the explosion
Speaker 1: didn't hit. I mean it was very much a California thing. Um,
Speaker 1: that first restaurant was in Little Tokyo in l A
Speaker 1: And then in the seventies they opened one in Hollywood
Speaker 1: called Oshow in nineteen seventy and that was you know,
Speaker 1: that was when the celebrity started going and they was like, oh,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is so exotic and delicious and
Speaker 1: I could eat it every day. And um, something really
Speaker 1: really big happened in nineteen seventy three. Um, there was
Speaker 1: a place in Los Angeles, uh, and there was a
Speaker 1: sushi chef there. His name was Manashita, and Manashita created
Speaker 1: an inside out roll a maki, which is maki sushi
Speaker 1: is a hand roll or no, it's a role that
Speaker 1: use a bamboo mat for We'll get into it. So
Speaker 1: was it inside out, a regular inside out maki roll
Speaker 1: with avocado, crab and cucumber. That's right, yes, okay, And
Speaker 1: he made the California role and that became the entree.
Speaker 1: Like that's the gateway drug to sushi for a lot
Speaker 1: of Americans. Yeah, because it doesn't have the raw fish
Speaker 1: in there. If you're creeped out by that, it's you
Speaker 1: can start on the California roll and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is just sort of like a salad, all right,
Speaker 1: and then once you go and eat California rolls enough times,
Speaker 1: you're like, well, maybe I will try a bite of that,
Speaker 1: and once you do, you're never going back. It's like
Speaker 1: I can still eat a California roll, like a bite
Speaker 1: of it or something like that. But I'm more like,
Speaker 1: that's a waste of sushi, Like I want I want
Speaker 1: good nagiri here. Yeah, if I've got that, I'll put
Speaker 1: that six dollars towards something else in the h but
Speaker 1: I'll make a California roll at home because it's uh,
Speaker 1: oh you make it my home. Yeah. Nice, And well
Speaker 1: we'll get it. We'll get to all that. So Chuck,
Speaker 1: that's the history of sushi up to right now. Now, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about fish in a second. Let's take
Speaker 1: a message break first. Okay, so we're talking about fish.
Speaker 1: Raw Fish is a common ingredient when you go to
Speaker 1: a sushi restaurant. But if you're not into that, there
Speaker 1: are plenty of other offerings. You've talked about tempora, We
Speaker 1: talked about the California California roll You can there can
Speaker 1: be uh, you can use veggies. This article says virtually
Speaker 1: any type of vegetable, but I completely disagree with that. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna roll up broccoli or cauliflower and sushi,
Speaker 1: are you? No? But man, I am crazy for ground
Speaker 1: up cauliflower as like a rice substitute or something like that,
Speaker 1: or like mashed potatoes substue, like collie tatos like purede
Speaker 1: califlowers so good. Yeah. I've been making collie tatoes for years, dude.
Speaker 1: I spend my entire life up until like a couple
Speaker 1: of months ago, hating cauliflower. I never told you about
Speaker 1: collie tatos. No, I've heard of it before. I just
Speaker 1: never really tried it. But you mean, and I like
Speaker 1: started making it, and I'm like, wow, this is good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, I hate it when people say
Speaker 1: it tastes just like something. It doesn't taste just but
Speaker 1: it it's got its consistency, then it's good. Right. It
Speaker 1: mimics the consistency, not the taste. Yeah, but the taste
Speaker 1: isn't too far off. I mean, yeah, it doesn't taste
Speaker 1: like rotted horsemeat compared to like mashed potatoes or something.
Speaker 1: But I think it's like it's its own distinct thing.
Speaker 1: It is. So that's my treatise on cauliflower. You won't
Speaker 1: put cauliflower in your sushi, though, but you can find
Speaker 1: asparagus and sushi fairly frequently. Yeah, cucumber. Uh, well, I
Speaker 1: guess that's it. No, there's some more stuff. Mushrooms. Oh yeah, mushrooms.
Speaker 1: It's a big staple of a lot of sushi. That
Speaker 1: was the third one. Yeah, it's some nice shitakis boom.
Speaker 1: Have you been to Umi Sushi yet? Uh? Now, it
Speaker 1: is amazing. Yeah. The one I've been on lately is
Speaker 1: um shoot. I can't think of the name of it now. Uh.
Speaker 1: Mis I think is the name of it in the
Speaker 1: old fourth ward And it's good, little pricey, but you know,
Speaker 1: oh yeah Misosakaya. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be
Speaker 1: really good. It's good stuff. It's more um, it's like
Speaker 1: now vou sushi, which I guess Umi sushi is kind of.
Speaker 1: But they have like a like an old traditional sushi
Speaker 1: chef running the place there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: in America, you're gonna find some variations. And in fact,
Speaker 1: the inside out roll apparently is a totally American thing,
Speaker 1: even though it has now since found its way over
Speaker 1: to Japan. But it did not originate in Japan, right, No,
Speaker 1: the reverse roll or inside out it was like an
Speaker 1: echo that came back by storm. And if you don't
Speaker 1: know what we're talking about, that's when the rice is
Speaker 1: on the outside of the roll and the nori is
Speaker 1: on the inside instead of the other way around. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, so Chuck, if you arguing use fish or
Speaker 1: you're ordering out of a sushi place, the most of
Speaker 1: the fish you're gonna see is um saltwater see see fish?
Speaker 1: Yeah you do. You don't want to trout roll? No,
Speaker 1: And the reason why it is because freshwater fish are
Speaker 1: much more prone to parasites the saltwater fish. Parasites don't
Speaker 1: like salt as much, right, yeah, um, But occasionally you
Speaker 1: will see a freshwater seafood. There's like a type of
Speaker 1: eel that's really good that's fresh water. Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: the eel. What is that? Always get the two eels confused,
Speaker 1: and I always get like, after all these years, I
Speaker 1: still can't commit it to memory, and about every third
Speaker 1: time order the wrong one. Oh really, I don't think
Speaker 1: I've ever had the saltwater eel. Yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: not bad, of course, but I like the like the
Speaker 1: freshwater more. Yeah, yeah, I do too. And you can
Speaker 1: buy I make that's one of the ones that make
Speaker 1: at home. You can there's a great Japanese market over
Speaker 1: by the cab Farmer's market and you can buy it
Speaker 1: and the refrigerator and they make it in the oven.
Speaker 1: And yeah, because that's the thing. If you order the
Speaker 1: freshwater eel like it does, it doesn't come raw like
Speaker 1: it's seared or something like that. Seared then like a
Speaker 1: karyaki sauce. So delicious it is. Man, you know what's okay?
Speaker 1: So you're gonna have freshwater fish um or freshwater seafood
Speaker 1: most of the time. Saltwater saltwater, thank you, man, and
Speaker 1: um one of the most highly prized seafood that you're
Speaker 1: going to find in sushi of any type is tuna.
Speaker 1: So and there's different types of tuna. Um. They they'll
Speaker 1: they'll use a yellow fin, big guy, blue fine, and
Speaker 1: blue fin is the most expensive one. Yeah, And apparently
Speaker 1: it wasn't until the fifties that the Japanese came to
Speaker 1: prize blue fin, like before they used it for calf food.
Speaker 1: Like they wouldn't even eat that stuff. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: I heard, Like the belly is was originally and now
Speaker 1: it's like the prize and the belly now or used
Speaker 1: to be, like they wouldn't eat it. Yeah. The actually
Speaker 1: the record for the highest priced fish ever sold I
Speaker 1: believe anywhere um was sold at the Tokyo Fish Market
Speaker 1: last year. It was a four ninety pound blue fin tuna.
Speaker 1: How much at one point eight million dollars toly crap
Speaker 1: for just that tuna, and I guarantee they made their money.
Speaker 1: And then some man, yeah it's a big tuna. I
Speaker 1: feel kind of bad for that guy, even though I
Speaker 1: love to eat him so much. The tuna, you know, well,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a moral thread that runs through tuna or
Speaker 1: not sushi, like apparently yellow fin tuna, farm raised tuna
Speaker 1: or raised a lot like veal and fatten until their
Speaker 1: muscles deteriorate alive um and and then of course there's
Speaker 1: the have you seen the raw or live frog video?
Speaker 1: There is a type of sushi that is it's called
Speaker 1: um iki zukuri, which is live sushi. And there's an
Speaker 1: iki zukuri video. And if you have a light stomach
Speaker 1: at all or anything like that, are bothered by animals
Speaker 1: being killed, like you should not watch this. But the
Speaker 1: point is you eat the thing while it's basically part
Speaker 1: of it is still alive on the plate looking at you,
Speaker 1: like this frog is sitting there blinking. It's a frog.
Speaker 1: There's a frog, and I can't remember what the other
Speaker 1: one is, but there's They showed two things being prepared.
Speaker 1: It's not have you have you seen Old Boy the original?
Speaker 1: Remember he eats that squid live. That's a that's live sushi.
Speaker 1: Like that was real? Yeah, not for me. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: get pretty adventurous. That would you do that? Probably just
Speaker 1: to try it? Yeah, I mean, it's just like, I
Speaker 1: know everything is killed that we eat, but it's just like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, being confronted with it, who knows that.
Speaker 1: I can imagine some of the people who are into
Speaker 1: like that slow food movement are like, well, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the way you should do it. You should have to
Speaker 1: confront the death while you eat. No. I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of people would say it's hypocritical to not do that,
Speaker 1: you know, right, but a lot of but a hypocrite,
Speaker 1: A lot of people are comfortable with that. Emily won't
Speaker 1: eat anything that reminds her of an animal, Like she
Speaker 1: didn't even like bones in her chicken. Yeah. Uh. And
Speaker 1: like if someone served her a fish with a head
Speaker 1: on it, like fully cooked, she would just be like, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: that fish is looking at me. It's like the duck
Speaker 1: and a Christmas story. Yeah, he's smiling. Uh. Okay, So
Speaker 1: we're talking about tuna. Tuna is delicious, Salmon is delicious,
Speaker 1: yellowtail and hamachi and surf clam, and there's all sorts
Speaker 1: of delicious seafood that you can get on your sushi
Speaker 1: or in your rolls, and then you just spread out
Speaker 1: from there. If there's a fried chicken in there, it
Speaker 1: might be a little too americanized, Although if that's what
Speaker 1: you're into, then great, well they'd be considered temporal chicken
Speaker 1: in that case. Yeah. But if there's fried chicken and
Speaker 1: mayonnaise rolled up in rice. Then this sounds kind of good.
Speaker 1: Well no, but it's is it sushi? Well, Kenny Rogers Roasters.
Speaker 1: I feel like there's been kind of you know, there's
Speaker 1: definitely a traditional thread of sushi, right, yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: mind mixing it up a little bit, and there's like
Speaker 1: traditional preparations and then there's traditional ingredients. But then it's
Speaker 1: like you said, you know, in the seventies, when the
Speaker 1: California roll was made here in America, it was sent
Speaker 1: back and now you can get a California role pretty
Speaker 1: much anywhere in Japan, and it's expanded from there. So
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think sushi is kind of this
Speaker 1: evolving thing. I've seen cereals added. Have you seen that
Speaker 1: corn flakes or rice crispies on top? Yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: into that, either for crunch yea or or or squirting
Speaker 1: a bunch of sauce on top. I'm not a big
Speaker 1: fan of that either. Yeah. Well, that's another thing that
Speaker 1: we'll talk about when we talk about how to eat sushi.
Speaker 1: But really there's a lot of sushi that's prepared that
Speaker 1: you're not supposed to do anything to except eat. Yeah. True,
Speaker 1: So I guess we should finish what can be in
Speaker 1: sushi thing by mentioning row and tomago. Row is the
Speaker 1: fish eggs, like the little delicious orange. It's almost like caviar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there can be a little tiny ones and larger ones.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a difference in the name. Do you know.
Speaker 1: I didn't look that up. No, Jerry's nodding. Is there
Speaker 1: a difference in the name. I'm sure it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: by size, but probably by fish. Yeah. I think the
Speaker 1: smelt row is the smaller I think so. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: little little tiny beads. Yeah, and that's usually added with
Speaker 1: a roll or on top of something, and the other
Speaker 1: larger ones. A lot of times that's just wrapped in
Speaker 1: the nori and that's all you're eating. Yeah, Or there's
Speaker 1: just like one on top of the thing. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like a little bead for presentation. Yeah, I want to say,
Speaker 1: a coil egg on top of a legs. Yesterday, this
Speaker 1: was raw. Okay, I didn't realize it was going to
Speaker 1: be raw. I ate it anyway, Like you said, I'm adventurous,
Speaker 1: but man, I was like, I'm never ordering that again.
Speaker 1: Was it not good? No? I'm not too big gun
Speaker 1: raw eggs um except strangely in like a tataki or
Speaker 1: um carpaccio or something like that. Yeah, yeah, I that's weird.
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess I'll just have to keep ordering
Speaker 1: it then, whether I like it or not. All right,
Speaker 1: Tomago is egg in sushi. But it is cooked and
Speaker 1: it's like it's an it's an omelet. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: made by adding little layers of egg. I've seen some
Speaker 1: people like bake it in a pan. It's probably the
Speaker 1: shortcut method. There's probably more traditional method. But um, it's
Speaker 1: almost like because it's sweet ish umelets, it's almost like
Speaker 1: a dessert sushi. Yeah. And that's it's like an inch
Speaker 1: stick and a slice and you put it on some
Speaker 1: sushi rice with a little band of nori tied around it,
Speaker 1: and that's delicious as well. Avocado, so you say it avocado? Uh,
Speaker 1: that is very popular and that means tuna of the
Speaker 1: land in Japan. Yeah, that's their The word for avocado
Speaker 1: means tuna of the land. It's pretty cool. Yeah, avocado
Speaker 1: is like a great addition to any thing. Yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: and very good for you too. It really is the
Speaker 1: good fat, yes, yeah, good for your heart and your brain. Um,
Speaker 1: what else goes along with sushi? The soy sauce the
Speaker 1: show you Yeah, it's the type of soy sauce and
Speaker 1: like you can. You can dip your sushi and soy
Speaker 1: sauce if you prefer, but you're supposed to use it
Speaker 1: very sparingly. Yea. And supposedly you're not supposed to dip
Speaker 1: the rice either. No, I drown it. I'm just you
Speaker 1: want to talk about how to eat sushi the proper way? Uh? Sure, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't do it, that's fine. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: people eat it with chopsticks. Yeah. Supposedly it's an insult
Speaker 1: to the sushi chef, um to drown your sushi and
Speaker 1: rice drown it and that soy sauce you mean? Yes? Um?
Speaker 1: And where would I be without you just saying wrong
Speaker 1: stuff here and there? No big deal? Um. So basically,
Speaker 1: let's say you have a piece of nagiri, which is
Speaker 1: just a little lump of sushi with um, like some
Speaker 1: some topping on it. Yeah, say tuna, okay, Uh, you
Speaker 1: kind of lightly grab the nagiri on one side with
Speaker 1: your on both sides with your fingers yes, you don't
Speaker 1: need to use chopsticks. Sushi was originally a finger food,
Speaker 1: and um, you can feel free to eat it the
Speaker 1: traditional way using your hands. Um, So you grab the
Speaker 1: sides kind of lightly but firmly. You tilt it over.
Speaker 1: You tilt this out, you tilt the nagori over, and
Speaker 1: then you just basically have it. So you're grabbing your
Speaker 1: holding onto the tuna and holding it almost like a basket,
Speaker 1: so the rice is on top and the tune is
Speaker 1: on the bottom. You just flipped your sushi over. If
Speaker 1: you want a little bit to show you, you can
Speaker 1: just kinda just barely like pass it through to show
Speaker 1: you the soy sauce. Yes, of just the seafood. You're
Speaker 1: not supposed to touch the rice to it. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: what you take. Um, one bite. Depending on the size,
Speaker 1: you can put the whole thing in your mouth and
Speaker 1: eat it. But you want to put it the topping
Speaker 1: side down, and then if if it's a big piece
Speaker 1: of nagiri, then um, you and bite it and then
Speaker 1: eat it in two pieces. All right, here's Chuck's method.
Speaker 1: I take it and I dumped the entire thing and
Speaker 1: a big bowl of soy sauce and then I pull
Speaker 1: it out and I stick it in my mouth and
Speaker 1: chew it up and eat it all, and then I
Speaker 1: wash it down with the SUPPORTO. Well that's customary, and
Speaker 1: I'm a happy guy. You would probably like chi rashi sushi,
Speaker 1: which is basically a bowl of rice with sushi toppings. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I could. I could be down with that suc Is
Speaker 1: there the nori in there? Though? Because I love the nori?
Speaker 1: I think everything you want in there, Okay, whatever kind
Speaker 1: of sushi you want, it's just like in a bowl.
Speaker 1: It's just like a KFC bowl, but with sushi. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Or oh man, what are those awful beef ball places
Speaker 1: out west? Yoshi Naki or something beef bowl like in
Speaker 1: the shopping malls. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of them. Are they not good? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean you get you tell me, you get like
Speaker 1: a three pound beef and rice bowl for like three dollars.
Speaker 1: Oh that sounds good. I don't think it's They're known
Speaker 1: of their high quality meats and so by beef, U
Speaker 1: mean cat yoshinor what is it called. It's a chain.
Speaker 1: They're all over l A. Yeah, I know you t
Speaker 1: I'm talking about I don't think they have them here
Speaker 1: in Georgia. Uh we sabi. I don't do the wasabi
Speaker 1: just because I don't like the taste. Um. I know,
Speaker 1: most people like to put it in their soy sauce
Speaker 1: and mix it up. Apparently that is an insult as well. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's abnormal. That's what Yumi does though. Yea, she
Speaker 1: puts in his soy sauce, puts a lot of it
Speaker 1: in there. Yeah, so does Emily. She loves that stuff.
Speaker 1: But the thing is is most sushi is going to
Speaker 1: already have a little streak of wasabi on top of
Speaker 1: the rice, beneath the topping, so you don't necessarily need any.
Speaker 1: And if you've ever wondered why your nostrils are suddenly
Speaker 1: clear and you're breathing very easily even though you didn't
Speaker 1: use any with sabi, it's because it was already on there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And here in the United States, you're not eating with
Speaker 1: sabi anyway. Nope, although you can get it at Umi Sushi,
Speaker 1: oh really, but it's gonna cost you. Yeah. So that's
Speaker 1: the fact of the podcast. For me. What you're eating
Speaker 1: is horse radish and mustard paste. That's dyed green, and
Speaker 1: they call it was sabi was sabi. When people say
Speaker 1: it's Japanese horse radish, it actually isn't even horse radish.
Speaker 1: It's it's in that fan. It's like a cousin of
Speaker 1: horse radish. And it is expensive. It goes by the
Speaker 1: river and you're eating the root. It lives in a
Speaker 1: van down by the river. But uh, yeah, apparently it's
Speaker 1: so pricey. Like you, you're you've probably never had real
Speaker 1: was sabi unless you're like high salutin like you and
Speaker 1: go to fancy sushi places. Yes, I'm sure noboo has
Speaker 1: real with sabi. Just like a little gentleman, I wear
Speaker 1: a velvet jacket and velvet shorts with knee socks, which
Speaker 1: is a little hat, and they sing, well they served me,
Speaker 1: it's wonderful. Well, that's funny that you mentioned that, because
Speaker 1: being a sushi chef in Japan you're also supposed to
Speaker 1: be kind of part performer. It's very social thing to
Speaker 1: sit at the sushi bar. Yeah, you're you're not necessarily
Speaker 1: performing like at a habachi play. It's not like that.
Speaker 1: You're performing, not a clown, You're you're you're just you're friendly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're helpful. You want the person to feel like they
Speaker 1: are welcome and that they they are being led in
Speaker 1: on your expertise. Yeah, like ask if you've never been
Speaker 1: and you want to try it out, sit at the
Speaker 1: sushi bar and ask I like it anyway, just because
Speaker 1: I like to watch it. But um asked the chef, like,
Speaker 1: hey man, what's what's good today? And I say, hey man,
Speaker 1: because there's still a lot of discrimination, um in Japan,
Speaker 1: even with women becoming sushi chefs. Oh yeah, it's still
Speaker 1: a thing. Yes, it is, chuck, Yeah, which is no good. Um.
Speaker 1: And apparently regardless of your gender, if you're a sushi chef, um,
Speaker 1: you are required to work at least two years if
Speaker 1: you're working at a decent sushi place. Yeah. It sounds
Speaker 1: like a lot, but it used to be ten. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: two years just to learn to make the rice and
Speaker 1: then another year of training with a knife. Yes, and
Speaker 1: that's in Japan. Here in America they're turning them out
Speaker 1: because there's just such a need. Right. But once you're
Speaker 1: a trained sushi chef, like you can become a journeyman
Speaker 1: and like, go anywhere in the world these days and
Speaker 1: open your own place. Man, I'm sorry. Um, have you
Speaker 1: seen Gero Dreams of Sushi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's highly recommended.
Speaker 1: I think that's streaming on Netflix too. Is um and
Speaker 1: you recommended that, I think to me for the first time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we went and saw in the theaters. It was good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was really good. I mean this it's about wanting sushi. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to like sushi. If you just
Speaker 1: appreciate art and craftsmanship and being the best at something,
Speaker 1: you should written that movie. And family too. It's cute
Speaker 1: like it's it's the man and his two sons. I
Speaker 1: think Giro has been making sushi for like seventy years
Speaker 1: or something like that, and his two sons are following
Speaker 1: in his footsteps. And it's really um uh intimate documentary
Speaker 1: about that family totally. Uh So we talked a little
Speaker 1: bit or I mentioned drinking a nice cold supporto. Um people,
Speaker 1: I don't like sak myself. Um, I just don't dig
Speaker 1: the rice wine. But that is a big thing for
Speaker 1: a lot of people when they go out to eat sushi,
Speaker 1: is to drink sake. But apparently because it is rice
Speaker 1: basted and that your sushi is rice based, it doesn't
Speaker 1: compliment one another. So you technically shouldn't be drinking sake
Speaker 1: as you eat the sushi. I think it's a lot
Speaker 1: like putting with sabi in the soy sauce. What like,
Speaker 1: just do what you want. Yeah, well, all this stuff is,
Speaker 1: of course, as long as you're not insulting the sushi
Speaker 1: chef overtly yea and calling him things like sense and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, really buttering them up. I think you're doing. Okay,
Speaker 1: do people do that? I'm sure they do. I haven't yet,
Speaker 1: but it's probably a good idea. All right. Um, they
Speaker 1: recommend like green tea, light beer, even water, but again,
Speaker 1: drink whatever you want. But if you're drinking sake, supposedly
Speaker 1: you're not supposed to pour your own. You're supposed to
Speaker 1: pour your buddies and then they pour yours. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: this is if you're going, you know, if you want
Speaker 1: to be traditional. Sure, but it makes saki for sharing
Speaker 1: by definition, by that um one more a oh yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: Like if you can't pour your own sake, you're up
Speaker 1: the creek. If you're just drinking it by yourself, what
Speaker 1: are you gonna ask like a stranger? Sure, make a buddy,
Speaker 1: make a new friend on Japan now, all right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk a little bit about how to make sushi
Speaker 1: right after this message break. All right, so you've never
Speaker 1: made sushi, I'm surprised you guys haven't tried it. I've
Speaker 1: never made sushi. No, well I have, I haven't done
Speaker 1: it in a while. But you can get your norri
Speaker 1: sheets and grocery stores. I eat that stuff like a snack. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course. Uh, you can find your little crabsticks and cucumber.
Speaker 1: And where it gets a little tricky is um is
Speaker 1: the fish itself. Like, if you live in a big city,
Speaker 1: there's probably a place where you can get sushi grade fish.
Speaker 1: If you live out in the sticks, you might have
Speaker 1: a harder time. Um, But you definitely want to get
Speaker 1: sushi or sashimi grade fish. Um, and ask if it
Speaker 1: is sashimi grade um. Like we said, no fresh water.
Speaker 1: You don't want to trout roll No. And you want
Speaker 1: it to be nice and vibrant color. Yeah. You don't
Speaker 1: want there to be any weird like dark or soft spots, No,
Speaker 1: that's rot. Yeah. The tuna should be like really bright
Speaker 1: red um or pink yeah, like dark pink. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean you can if you know how to spot it.
Speaker 1: You know the difference like if you get a little practice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you're not like Emily and you're buying the
Speaker 1: whole fish, you want the eyes to be like not
Speaker 1: sunken in. You want them to be like still just
Speaker 1: kind of popping out, like, oh my gosh, I'm I
Speaker 1: can't believe this is happening kind of eyes, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't smell too fishy either. If it smells super fishy,
Speaker 1: that means it's probably not super fresh. But once you
Speaker 1: have have your fish and you bought your nori, you
Speaker 1: want to buy your rice. That's the first key ingredient
Speaker 1: you need to master. And like we said, in Japan,
Speaker 1: they spent two years learning how to make the rice properly.
Speaker 1: So don't beat yourself up if it doesn't go well
Speaker 1: at first. No, um, but the the the rice you're making,
Speaker 1: you want to start with sushi rice, which is a
Speaker 1: short or medium grain rice. And if you go to
Speaker 1: the store to buy rice, like you go to a
Speaker 1: um Asian food market or something like that, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have rice that says sushi rice, and it's gonna come
Speaker 1: out like like you want it. You're gonna be clumpy,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be like mushy. It's gonna be nice
Speaker 1: and sticky white rice. Well, if you make it right right,
Speaker 1: you can mess it up pretty bad. And I've learned, Um,
Speaker 1: I use cal Rose. That's something here in the United States.
Speaker 1: You can look for that stuff. Yeah, it's a real
Speaker 1: popular I think that started in California. Um it's another
Speaker 1: one when we eat all the time, is I think, um, oh,
Speaker 1: it's like nishe I believe. Is that like the bread brand? Yeah,
Speaker 1: cal Rose is a variety, so it may be a Calrow. Still, oh,
Speaker 1: it's not a brand. I thought it was a brand.
Speaker 1: Now that's a rice variety, medium rain, medium range, medium grain.
Speaker 1: So the key here when you're making the rice, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of keys, but the first big key is
Speaker 1: you don't just throw it in the pot and cook it.
Speaker 1: You have to rinse it. And what I do what
Speaker 1: my friend John, you know, chef John he um, he
Speaker 1: taught me to just put the rice, the dry uncooked
Speaker 1: rice in a pot and start just a cold water,
Speaker 1: like a slow cold water, um run and just let
Speaker 1: it go like walk away, and the rice will kind
Speaker 1: of stay at the bottom and the water will just
Speaker 1: kind of overflow, but it'll that continuous water movement and
Speaker 1: it's a little bit wasteful, you know, if you don't
Speaker 1: like to leave your sink running or your water running.
Speaker 1: But what you want to do is just rinse the
Speaker 1: rice until the water is almost clear. Um, and you'll
Speaker 1: see it. It's real, real cloudy and kind of grainy.
Speaker 1: And as you keep washing it, it'll clear up. And
Speaker 1: you want to do it with your hands and be
Speaker 1: gentle with it. You don't want to mash it up.
Speaker 1: Don't use a strainer because that can beat up the
Speaker 1: rice pretty bad. Just treat it, treat it respectfully and
Speaker 1: sort of wash it with your hands until the water
Speaker 1: is clear. So that's step one. Then you got to
Speaker 1: soak it for an additional half an hour in cold water.
Speaker 1: Just walk away and leave it there. Then you're gonna
Speaker 1: add uh half hours elapsed. Okay, we should just sit
Speaker 1: here for half hour. Um. After the half hour has elapse,
Speaker 1: you if you want, you can add a little sake
Speaker 1: to it. If you want, you can add something called
Speaker 1: dashi kanbu. It's a dried kelp. I've never done that,
Speaker 1: but you can. It makes it pop, doesn't sure? Okay? Uh.
Speaker 1: Then you're gonna cook you know, I mean they will
Speaker 1: probably say on the package, but then you're gonna cook
Speaker 1: it a lot like traditional rice. You boil it, cook
Speaker 1: it on a medium heat with a pot on for
Speaker 1: about fifteen minutes, then simmer for about twenty minutes over
Speaker 1: low heat. And then they recommend here I've never heard
Speaker 1: of this, to turn the heat up too high for
Speaker 1: a few seconds at the end. I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: that does. I think it maybe just like burns off
Speaker 1: any excess moisture. That's what I would guess it does,
Speaker 1: all right, And then leave the lid on and let
Speaker 1: it sit for about fifteen minutes, completely off the heat
Speaker 1: after that. All right, So now the vinegar, right, you
Speaker 1: want to start with rice vinegar. That's the kind you
Speaker 1: have to use. Is rice vinegar appropriately enough, and no
Speaker 1: other don't think like, oh, can you use apple cider
Speaker 1: vinegar or white vinegar. You could use sushi vinegar, which
Speaker 1: is prepared rice vinegar, but it's gotta be rice vinegar, right,
Speaker 1: But if you want to make it yourself, you use
Speaker 1: a little rice vinegar um about a quarter cup to
Speaker 1: a table spoon of sugar and one and a half
Speaker 1: teaspoons of salt. Yeah, and that's for five cups of rice, right,
Speaker 1: and you mix all that stuff up until the mixture
Speaker 1: is clear and you've got yourself some homemade sushi vinegar.
Speaker 1: Once you're um, your rice is is ready, you want
Speaker 1: to turn it out into a bowl. Is what it's called.
Speaker 1: You dump it out into a bowl. Yeah, And what
Speaker 1: you should get is and you probably bought if you're
Speaker 1: trying to make sushi, probably bought a couple of things
Speaker 1: like your little bamboo rolling mat and a little wooden
Speaker 1: paddle they call it. It's, you know, basically a big
Speaker 1: flat spoon, and that is what you use to turn it,
Speaker 1: um traditionally into a wooden bowl. You can use anything
Speaker 1: but metal. Don't use metal, no, because it'll react with
Speaker 1: the vinegar. Yeah, that's no good. You turn it out
Speaker 1: with this sushi paddle or rice padal which, by the way,
Speaker 1: you me and I have seen the world's largest rice paddle.
Speaker 1: How big was it? It was big, bigger than me, uh,
Speaker 1: like as big as this table. No, it was like
Speaker 1: the size of like a long canoe. Oh, I said,
Speaker 1: the world's biggest rice paddle. Well I didn't that, Like
Speaker 1: I was trying to the flat part was it as
Speaker 1: big as this table easily? Okay, in which for everybody
Speaker 1: who's not in the room with us right now, the
Speaker 1: table is probably about three across three in diameter. Well
Speaker 1: did they use the thing? I don't see how you could.
Speaker 1: Was just one of the silly things, like the world's
Speaker 1: biggest batchel of it it was. It was far from silly,
Speaker 1: but it was big. It was on Miajima, which is
Speaker 1: a neat little island off of Hiroshima, and they have
Speaker 1: the world's largest rice paddle on display. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: use that rice paddle to pry the rice out of
Speaker 1: the pot into your wooden bowl. Uh, and you know
Speaker 1: it will come out kind of like a like a
Speaker 1: cake almost before you, you know, start messing with it.
Speaker 1: And then here's the thing. You don't just dump this
Speaker 1: the vinegar that you've made all over the rice. You
Speaker 1: want to pour it over the paddle and then spread
Speaker 1: the paddle around over the rice so it sort of
Speaker 1: gently falls and distributes evenly. And then you want to
Speaker 1: fold it in and mix it together gently again, make
Speaker 1: sure everything's coated pretty well, and then cool it down
Speaker 1: to you're supposed to be fanning it while you're doing
Speaker 1: this and then cool it down to room temperature and
Speaker 1: then you're all set to go. And then you want
Speaker 1: to take your hands and rinse them in vinegar to
Speaker 1: prevent the rice from sticking, just kind of lightly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you should have the paddle as well. Um, when you're
Speaker 1: spreading it, you you need to soak that as well.
Speaker 1: Really it works well, right um. And then you're ready
Speaker 1: to start making the geri sushi, which is the easiest
Speaker 1: sushi to make. Um, it's just basically finger sushi. You
Speaker 1: take a little lump of rice and just kind of
Speaker 1: roll it into an oblong shape in your hand. Uh,
Speaker 1: press down one side on one side with the finger,
Speaker 1: and that's the side that's going to be the bottom.
Speaker 1: So basically you're adding stability. Yeah, and you don't want
Speaker 1: it super firm, um, but you don't want it falling
Speaker 1: apart either, right uh. And then um, you take a
Speaker 1: little bit of a save, smear it on the top,
Speaker 1: and then top it with whatever ingredients you want, say tuna, yum.
Speaker 1: And they have little molds by the way, if you
Speaker 1: don't feel like you should try and make it in
Speaker 1: the palm of your hand, but they do have little
Speaker 1: prefab molds. That you spoon the rice into and like
Speaker 1: you press a little thing on top and then pop
Speaker 1: them out, which would make it basically oshi sushi that
Speaker 1: Osaka style. Remember they have the press mold. Oh is
Speaker 1: that what that is? Yeah, but there's a strictly like
Speaker 1: a box. Yeah. Yeah, this is like eight little individual compartments. Yeah.
Speaker 1: There's shaped like flowers and hearts and stuff like that too.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that. Oh yeah, oh yeah, mine's just rectangular.
Speaker 1: But I don't use it. I did it first, and
Speaker 1: then I was like, no, I'm gonna try in the
Speaker 1: palm of the hand. Have you ever made a nigii
Speaker 1: um sushi with like that? You were just like, this
Speaker 1: is perfect? No, no, yeah, I guess it's just practice
Speaker 1: ten years at least. Yeah. I mean it tastes fine,
Speaker 1: and they even point out on this article it'll take
Speaker 1: some practice before it looks as good as it tastes.
Speaker 1: The taste will be there, but it's not what you're
Speaker 1: seeing the restaurant properly. You know, those guys are prosy um.
Speaker 1: That was Nigeri sushi. I just mentioned the little hand
Speaker 1: hand rolled finger sized pieces and sushi. Yes, you can
Speaker 1: also make maki, yeah, and that's when you take the
Speaker 1: full that's a sushi roll. That's when you have the
Speaker 1: full sheet. Uh, you want to spread about a third
Speaker 1: of it with a thin coating of rice, and you
Speaker 1: want the nori shiny side down onto the mat, the
Speaker 1: bamboo mat. Yeah, And so you spread your rice. You
Speaker 1: don't want it super thick, yeah, on top of the
Speaker 1: north And you know this is a little bit of
Speaker 1: h if it's your first time, there'll be some trial
Speaker 1: and air involved, you know, Like I put way too
Speaker 1: much rice at first, and then it was hard to
Speaker 1: roll and it looked like this big burrito essentially, So
Speaker 1: you're gonna want the rice a little thinner than you
Speaker 1: think even And then you uh put it on the sheet.
Speaker 1: It's on the mat, and you put your toppings across,
Speaker 1: kind of like you're making a burrito, and then you
Speaker 1: fold the bamboo mat over. You roll the nori into
Speaker 1: the toppings. Um And this description feels a little convoluted.
Speaker 1: You basically just want to roll it in the mat
Speaker 1: and I give it a good squeeze at the end
Speaker 1: to make sure it's all together and to let it
Speaker 1: know it's loved exactly. And you want to I imagine
Speaker 1: this is another thing that comes out with practice. You
Speaker 1: said it first it looks like a burrito. Um, but
Speaker 1: if you roll it, and I would guess your hands
Speaker 1: need to be kind of away from the center so
Speaker 1: that you're putting an equal amount of pressure around the roll,
Speaker 1: and you're lightly rolling it, being careful not to let
Speaker 1: the mat get rolled up into the sushi. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: done that, just rolling it over the top. But you're
Speaker 1: rolling the role together. And then you got a low
Speaker 1: roll squeezed at the end, as per chuck. And then
Speaker 1: you take a really sharp knife right and cut it
Speaker 1: in half. Then you cut that in half and so
Speaker 1: on until you have eight pieces and my friend, you
Speaker 1: have a moki sushi maki. Yeah, And like I said,
Speaker 1: it's a little hard to describe. The best way to
Speaker 1: do it is just to throw yourself in there and
Speaker 1: try it. And if you've ever seen sushi rolls, then
Speaker 1: your instinct will kind of tell you how to do
Speaker 1: it and just mess around. It's fun. Like, don't put
Speaker 1: pressure on yourself to don't plan a big sushi dinner
Speaker 1: party on your first dry Yeah, that's probably a good idea,
Speaker 1: you know, Just try it out yourself and then sorry,
Speaker 1: what we just described was footo maki. If you wanted
Speaker 1: to make an inside out roll like a California roll,
Speaker 1: you would be making what's called uromaki. And basically you
Speaker 1: follow the same steps but just reversed. You start with
Speaker 1: the rice and then you put the nori. You start
Speaker 1: with the bamboo mat, then put the rice on that,
Speaker 1: then nori, then your toppings, and then you roll that up.
Speaker 1: And did you say it was covered in plastic? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to put the the bamboo has plastic on it,
Speaker 1: and then the rice goes on the plastic like suran
Speaker 1: wrap or something. Yeah. Basically you just take suran wrap
Speaker 1: and and just cover both sides of your bamboo mat
Speaker 1: with that. Uh. And then of course there's the one
Speaker 1: of my favorite things to eat a sushi places is
Speaker 1: the hand roll. Yeah, the tim aki. It's like a
Speaker 1: nice cream cone of sushi. Yeah, and you can make those.
Speaker 1: I've never had a lot of success with making those.
Speaker 1: Um does seem like the easiest, aren't they not? For me?
Speaker 1: I never got it to come out right. But you
Speaker 1: make it in your hand. That's why it's called a
Speaker 1: hand roll. You hold the nori and you spread the
Speaker 1: ice on one end. Cover about a third of it,
Speaker 1: and then you put your topping diagonally. You're gonna fold
Speaker 1: your bottom corner up over the toppings and then roll
Speaker 1: it in the same direction. And just picture a waffle
Speaker 1: cone and that's what you're trying to emulate. And stick
Speaker 1: some soft shell crab in that mug and chow down.
Speaker 1: I want some sushi so bad? Do you like seft
Speaker 1: shell crab? You ever had that? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I like crab. I mean that's when it's the whole
Speaker 1: crab is just fried shell and all. Oh no, I've
Speaker 1: not had that. Yeah, it's good. In fact, when I
Speaker 1: was in d C, I went to uh a little
Speaker 1: far that farmer's market at eight then I they'll tell
Speaker 1: you about And they had this place that was someun
Speaker 1: like crab cakes and soft shell crabs, which is so good?
Speaker 1: Is it crab season now? I don't know it's crab
Speaker 1: season that day for me. I got one more thing
Speaker 1: from the book The Story of Sushi by Trevor Corson,
Speaker 1: just some surprising sushi facts. I think most of these
Speaker 1: we actually covered. Uh they said in Japan they eat
Speaker 1: me so at the end of the meal to aid digestions.
Speaker 1: They have an appetizer, the soup. Yeah, I've never knew that.
Speaker 1: I like the miso soup though. Yeah, that's good stuff. Um.
Speaker 1: And it says American chefs have probably never eaten a
Speaker 1: proper nagiri because sushi chef's packet too tightly on purpose,
Speaker 1: because Americans like it that way. Apparently it's a looser.
Speaker 1: And have you ever did you experience that was a
Speaker 1: looser in Japan? Um? I've had a looser here? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like the nice places. I mean, you can you can
Speaker 1: tell this by look. It's not you would never point
Speaker 1: to it and be like, that's a dense lump of rice,
Speaker 1: Like you can see like a few of the individual grain.
Speaker 1: You can see the detail in the rice a little more.
Speaker 1: You can find it here. Yeah. Uh. And his final
Speaker 1: little fact, he said that the knives used by sushi
Speaker 1: chefs are direct descendants of samurai swords A k A Katana.
Speaker 1: Did not know that. I didn't know that either. There's
Speaker 1: one more fact in there I thought was interesting. Of
Speaker 1: all of the blue fin tuna caught in the world
Speaker 1: is used for sushi, oh really yes? And the other
Speaker 1: is grilled rare and not on a salad. I don't
Speaker 1: know what they do with the other two million dollars
Speaker 1: per man, that's a lot per pound. Yeah, was it that?
Speaker 1: It had to have been the size of the fish
Speaker 1: and the quality of that fish too, I would guess yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: because I mean, the guys at the Tokyo fish market
Speaker 1: know what they're doing when it comes to fish, you know.
Speaker 1: I would imagine they don't just look at some aged
Speaker 1: rickety um tuna and say, like, how much do you
Speaker 1: want for that? You know what I mean? Yeah, So
Speaker 1: let's figure this out real quick, Chuck, are you dividing it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So one point eight million dollars, yeah, divided by four
Speaker 1: ninety pounds. Is that what you said? I remember, that's
Speaker 1: three thousands, six hundred and seventy three dollars and rounding
Speaker 1: up forty seven cents a pound, that must have been
Speaker 1: one special tuna. Yeah. Man, at the very least, he
Speaker 1: felt Ussel when they're crazy cut him up. I got
Speaker 1: nothing else. Well, we could probably sit here for five
Speaker 1: six hours and talk about this, but we're not going to. Instead,
Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about sushi, you can
Speaker 1: type that into the search bar at how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com. And I said, search parts means it's time
Speaker 1: for listener mail. I'm gonna call this amputation feedback. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I was interested in how amputation works and I thought
Speaker 1: i'd share an offshoot topic and one of my classes
Speaker 1: we studied a procedure called rotation plasty, which is an
Speaker 1: infrequent operation occurs when only part of the limb requires amputation,
Speaker 1: like a bone tumor in the lower part of the
Speaker 1: femur or upper fibia tibia excuse me. Traditionally it's done
Speaker 1: on lower extremities, although a few upper extremity cases exist.
Speaker 1: The operation consists of removing a portion of the leg,
Speaker 1: ranging anywhere along the femur into the tibia fibular region,
Speaker 1: ultimately removing the knee. Uh. The ankle joint is still functional,
Speaker 1: so the surgeon removes all the muscle and bone, keeping
Speaker 1: the nerves that connect the two regions intact. The foot
Speaker 1: and ankle are then turned around face backwards and reattached
Speaker 1: along the femur. I feel like we talked about that.
Speaker 1: I do too. Yeah, it may not have been in
Speaker 1: that one, or maybe maybe it was. But the reason
Speaker 1: the foots place backwards is because it didn't have the
Speaker 1: stability for it to be it adds more stability. Now,
Speaker 1: is that what it is? Yeah, she said, the ankle
Speaker 1: becomes the new knee joint and results in a high
Speaker 1: range of movement, which helps many patients continue active lifestyles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we definitely talked about that. Well, this isn't news to
Speaker 1: us then. Uh. The end result is it looks really
Speaker 1: strange but gives a huge opportunity for the patient at
Speaker 1: least check out some of the crazy images. So Kelly
Speaker 1: Kravitz of the Colorado School of Minds go forty nine
Speaker 1: or apparently we we discussed that, but at any rate,
Speaker 1: it's still interesting. Yeah, thanks a lot, Kelly, Yeah, Kelly,
Speaker 1: thanks Kelly. If you want to describe in greater details
Speaker 1: something we mentioned briefly, we are always happy for that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Indeed, you can tweet to us at
Speaker 1: s Y s K podcast, so you can join us
Speaker 1: on Facebook dot com slash Stuff you Should Know. You
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