Cookaholics Bulletin Board

A friend of mine talked me into going to a new Sushi Restaurant in Midland last night. He invited his two nephews along. We ended up getting the Dinner for 4 along with 2 extra Rolls. Needless to say it was too much food. My question is how thick should the fish be sliced and how much Salmon should be featured vs the Tunas etc? The main plate had a lot of Salmon and some of it was sliced almost 1/2" thick. Also, I was dissapointed because there was only about 8 pieces that were served over rice. The rest was just sitting on the plate or on stacks of julienned cucumber. I am not a big fan of Sushi so I really don't know what's the norm.

Todd,

As far as I'm concerned sushi is a food group right up there with bacon. I could happily eat sushi twice a day, every day.

I know people who could easily put away what you described and still have ordered more. I find sushi to be extremely filling, so I can't eat that much at one sitting.

It doesn't surprise me there'd be more salmon than tuna, unless it were a premium priced restaurant. Sushi grade tuna is damned expensive, and salmon is not. The thickness you describe is unusual. It is normally cut closer to between 1/8" and 1/4". (Depends on the quality of the restaurant typically, and to some extent the quality of the fish.) When slices of rice are served on sushi rice it's called nigiri, when served as individual slices on no rice then it's sashimi. I personally prefer sashimi...it's all about the fish. The rolls are maki. That's generally the only time I eat sushi rice.

So, if you eat sushi in the future, just don't order sashimi.

Amy

Amy,
Thanks. I didn't realize the difference between Sushi and Sashimi. It's funny, because I won't eat Salmon of Tuna cooked, but I will eat it at a Sushi Restaurant.

Todd:

Nigiri Sushi = pieces of fish over little rice cakes.

Nori Sushi = sushi rolls wrapped in nori seaweed.

Sashimi = raw fish, served sliced with accompaniments.

Useless Sushi Factoid: what makes something "sushi" is the rice, not the fish.

More Useful Sushi Factoid: it's a bad idea to eat raw salmon sushi or sashimi, because salmon is freshwater (half its life, anyway) and can care human-communicable parasites. Fortunately, most salmon served for sushi is lightly brined or smoked.

Heh, I really really love sushi. It is one of the things I most love about visiting hawaii, where it is usually fabulous. I even love supermarket take out sushi, which I habitually get and eat in my car in the car wash.... or other snack times.

A lot of sashimi though, that I love but I get a kind of protein buzz, and later crash....