Soggy Seaweed? (Making Sushi)

[yuujirou]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

lol That's so far from the truth. I challenge you. How much experience do you have eating at high-end sushi places in Japan?

huh~ well what's ur take then?
and my experience is from watching my chef, lol~

[cranks]

I guess the argument is rather linguistic.

It doesn't sound right to me too that the rice should be "warm" and the fish "cold", but yuujirou said rice should be a bit over the room temperature which sounds right to me. 寿司の飯は人肌位で、ネタも冷たくはないけど暖かくも ないって感じでは？ I've never been to a $500 per person kind of Sushi restaurant, but I at least go to $150 per person places all the time.

And It seems like yuujiro has more hands on knowledge on how to make Maki which I don't really consider Sushi, but regardless, I sure can't make neat ones. I need to call my mom for that.

Anyway, if Nori is getting too wet, my guess will be that there is something wrong with the rice. It could be the amount of water (which you really should use a measuring cup) or the vinegar (you need to add just enough amount and fan like crazy while you are doing it) or the temperature, or the nori itself. Without seeing what's going on, it's hard to tell...

[steven]

Yea the sushi chefs that I've seen are great at 'measuring' the amount of rice. It's all done by eye and feel, but man it's very consistant.

I agree with cranks though-- at least my take on it is that "roll sushi" is not exactly in the 'upper end' of things. I'm sure you can find expensive stuff out there, but it doesn't seem to have that image to me (but I'm not a native so this is all by my eperience).

I also have never heard of a $500 a person sushi place around here . We have expensive places, but that would range in $100-$150 per person if you really got the good stuff. If you keep moderate you can do just fine at $50-60 per person. The most expensive places I've been to kind of fits the description of "not using cold rice" though... it's not exactly hot or even warm, but it's certainly warmer than the sushi I remember having in California.

[yuujirou]

Originally Posted by cranks

I guess the argument is rather linguistic.

It doesn't sound right to me too that the rice should be "warm" and the fish "cold", but yuujirou said rice should be a bit over the room temperature which sounds right to me. 寿司の飯は人肌位で、ネタも冷たくはないけど暖かくも ないって感じでは？ I've never been to a $500 per person kind of Sushi restaurant, but I at least go to $150 per person places all the time.

And It seems like yuujiro has more hands on knowledge on how to make Maki which I don't really consider Sushi, but regardless, I sure can't make neat ones. I need to call my mom for that.

Anyway, if Nori is getting too wet, my guess will be that there is something wrong with the rice. It could be the amount of water (which you really should use a measuring cup) or the vinegar (you need to add just enough amount and fan like crazy while you are doing it) or the temperature, or the nori itself. Without seeing what's going on, it's hard to tell...

Well this topic was entirely about maki-mono, and not so much about any other aspect of sushi. I was just trying to address all the potential issues that I could come up with based on what I had read. Perhaps I was a bit presumptuous in the way I went about it, but what can I say, my mood affects the way I write, lolz.

And the fish should be 'chilled' just for the sake of sanitary reasons.

The rule of thumb for leaving products at room temperature is to expose the product to such temperatures for no more than a cumulative total of 4 hours. Otherwise, the product becomes a health hazard and should be discarded.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by cranks

I guess the argument is rather linguistic.

It doesn't sound right to me too that the rice should be "warm" and the fish "cold", but yuujirou said rice should be a bit over the room temperature which sounds right to me.

Yeah, I mean, whenever i've had sushi (and good sushi, i mean) the rice has certainly never been refrigerated, so it's not 'cold' per se, but neither is it palpably 'warm' with residual cooking heat, it's just... neutral?

The other problem could be the rice itself; I've seen more than a couple of 'easy sushi' recipes in the uk that just specify short-grain rice. Typically though, the short-grain varieties available in supermarkets are european versions; cheap 'pudding' rice or risotto rice! So it doesn't stick right and makes more of a squishy roll, or falls apart easily. Makes your sushi really weird and harder to deal with.

[JustinRossTso]

Originally Posted by yuujirou

Eh.... =\

Your problem isn't the rice...
It's not because you put in too much vinegar, and it's not because you too much water, and it's not because the rice is hot.

If you add vinegar to the rice while it's still hot, some of the vinegar will evaporate; the only way you've added too much is if your rice is literally sitting in it.

If you cook the rice w/ too little water, then the rice is going to be too hard and terrible to eat. Too much water and your rice will turn to mush. Regardless, rice absorbs a lot of water for it's size. So there's going to be a 'lot' of water in it even if you cook it right.

The temperature of the rice does affect the nori. However, sushi is meant to be served while the neta [toppings] are cold and the shari [rice] is warm [a little above room temp]; cold sushi rice becomes hard and difficult to mold as well as being less tasteful.

Your problem is your seaweed. The seaweed you buy at your local market is just really cheap and will get soggy within 2-3 minutes. Really nothing you can do about it. If I remember right, a 10ct. box of Yuuka grade nori from Yamasho costs about $500. It's one of the best grades of nori you can buy in the us.

And the shape of your sushi? The problem there lies in two factors. Firstly, I'm assuming you're using a roller with very thin and rounded bamboo strips. This makes it kinda hard to shape it 'perfectly'. Secondly, you're not doing it right. While rolling the maki, press down on the middle of the roll to form a square shape. Maki-mono shouldn't be a perfect circle.

The reason why your maki are falling apart is because a) you're adding too many toppings or b) you're using too much rice or c) you're just not rolling it right.
To roll it correctly: when you're rolling the seaweed over your toppings, make sure the seaweed side connects with the rice and that you pull the seaweed towards you to further compact the fillings.
Nori sticks to rice; but not to nori.

As for cutting the roll, you don't necessarily need a razor sharp knife.
Just make sure you're coating your knife in a bit of water to prevent the rice from sticking and it should be all right; although, make sure your knife can at least cut through butter. Otherwise, you may as well try using a mallet to cut it.

Also, your filling; make sure they're as dry as possible. Water causes rice to separate.

Hope this helps.

This definitely helps, but I can see the problems through many sides now ;D maybe I'll have an idea of what's really wrong.

I'm making sushi again today, A LOT this time, so a lot of time for trial and error. I'll keep these in mind though... my technique is FAR from perfect I understand, but I'm still learning (from youtube videos LOL, I don't really have any other resource, so I'd probably never make restaurant level sushi)

Maybe I'll try the taco too ;P!

:S Sorry if I caused any argument... I'm just that bad at making sushi right now LOL.

Thanks again guys for the suggestions!

[steven]

Originally Posted by Columbine

The other problem could be the rice itself; I've seen more than a couple of 'easy sushi' recipes in the uk that just specify short-grain rice. Typically though, the short-grain varieties available in supermarkets are european versions; cheap 'pudding' rice or risotto rice! So it doesn't stick right and makes more of a squishy roll, or falls apart easily. Makes your sushi really weird and harder to deal with.

That sounds like a horrible experience! I think I'd just stick to long grain rice instead of going down that road.

I'd be willing to bet that a lot of "sushi" places in California use long-grain rice just for convenience. This whole topic makes me wonder what Japan did when they had rice-shortages (apparently there was one in my area 10 or so years ago... maybe more.) A lot of people bring up "カリフォルニア米" as though it's really good stuff. I doubt sushi chefs have the same opinion, but it's something to think about!

[yuujirou]

Originally Posted by JustinRossTso

This definitely helps, but I can see the problems through many sides now ;D maybe I'll have an idea of what's really wrong.

I'm making sushi again today, A LOT this time, so a lot of time for trial and error. I'll keep these in mind though... my technique is FAR from perfect I understand, but I'm still learning (from youtube videos LOL, I don't really have any other resource, so I'd probably never make restaurant level sushi)

Maybe I'll try the taco too ;P!

:S Sorry if I caused any argument... I'm just that bad at making sushi right now LOL.

Thanks again guys for the suggestions!

it's cool mate =D
just let us know how it turns out~

[JustinRossTso]

Originally Posted by yuujirou

it's cool mate =D
just let us know how it turns out~

Gah! Parents bought sushi, not the ingredients to make sushi -_-". We'll have to wait until another day.

[yuujirou]

lmao, epic fail xDD