Saturday night was our sushi-making fest chez R. and B. (To read about our shopping trip to Japantown for supplies, click here.) I was a natural at rolling but I can't prove it since the photos didn't turn out (my poor little iBook doesn't know what a .crw file is, and neither do I. Drat!)
Mr. Food Musings and I arrived with a bottle of mango-infused sake in tow. We immediately broke it out for a taste. It was refreshing and sweet and redolent of lush mango, really great for sipping.
Turns out you can drink a lot of mango sake! Those little sake cups are deceiving - R. kept refilling them and by the end of the night, I have no idea how much I'd had. (Less than she did, apparently. I called her the next morning and she answered in a hoarse whisper, jagged pain evident in her few words: "B. went out to get us some food. Let me call you when I'm feeling better." Me, I felt great.)
Though B. had planned to marinate black cod for two days, there was no black cod to be found and so he went with Plan B: salmon fillets marinated in orange juice, lime juice, teriyaki sauce, scallions, ginger and garlic and then grilled or, on a blustery San Francisco night, broiled in the warm safe haven of the kitchen.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once N. and B. arrived, the six of us jumped in, sushi-making virgins all. Fearless and immune to embarrassment, Mr. Food Musings and I went first. My first roll was a Philadelphia: salmon, cream cheese, avocado and shiso. I used the wrong side of the nori sheet (shiny side should go down) and didn't leave a margin for a line of rice vinegar to help seal it, but it turned out so perfect I almost didn't want to eat it! Pleasingly plump without losing any bits out the sides, my little roll tasted great, too.
Mr. Food Musings didn't fare as well - esthetically speaking, anyway. He hadn't quite mastered the rolling technique so the nori kept sticking to the bamboo and the ingredients flopped all about and fell out and it ended up fat and squat and full of air pockets. But the combination of tuna, salmon, avocado and carrot was a crowd pleaser.
After the first two rolls were done, everyone jumped in. R.'s first attempt was a little lopsided, but it provided the right contrast of textures. Then someone suggested we name all the rolls; N.'s, pathetically thin and understuffed, was dubbed something very un-PC (which I will not repeat here). But it got the ball rolling and soon gave way to the High-tekka maki (tuna and cucumber), the Huli-Huli roll (B. doesn't do raw fish, so he combined grilled chicken that had been marinated in soy sauce, ginger and garlic with pineapple, avocado and sesame seeds) and the Mad Dog (inside-out roll with ebi - sweet shrimp - avocado and cream cheese, and sesame seeds sprinkled on the outside).
And then B. introduced us to the Amish Samurai. I have no idea what was in it but I remember that he drizzled it with teriyaki sauce when he was done. It was the prettiest by far. Fueled by the aforementioned evil mango sake and a 2002 Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling (typical of Australia, dry with a floral nose) the boys were soon crafting a folk hero based on the roll. The Amish Samurai carries a wooden sword, they said, whittled by his own hand and wears a long coat made of quilts. He rides a rickshaw, battling evil (when he can catch up to it).
Our sushi-making done, we let our tummies digest before sitting down to the perfectly done salmon, sweet and smoky, and a tangle of crunchy seaweed salad. Dessert was mochi, balls of green tea ice cream covered in a layer of dough. The dough grossed me out - it was mushy and tasteless - so I picked it off and gobbled up the ice cream beneath.
If you want to try making sushi on your own, here are a few tips:
1. Buy less fish than you think you'll need. A little goes a long way. R. and B. will be eating sushi for days. Weeks, maybe, if it doesn't kill them first.
2. Fill a bowl with vinegared water and dip your hands in it frequently. It prevents the rice from sticking to your fingers.
3. Place your nori shiny side down so that the rice is on the dull side.
4. Don't overdo it on the rice - remember that you'll be rolling this up and it will seem to multiply.
5. Don't overfill the roll or let the fillings get too close to the end of the roll. You may end up throwing out the first cuts on either end if they're all rice, but that's okay.
6. To roll, use the bamboo like a tractor tire: it keeps going forward, allowing the nori to roll over on itself. While rolling, push down firmly.
7. Let the roll rest a minute or two before cutting it.
8. Dip your knife in the vinegared water before each cut so the knife doesn't stick to the nori.
Mango-infused Sake
Yield: 750 mL sake
Choose a sake with a high acidity so the mango doesn't mask all the flavor. The infused sake will keep in the fridge up to once week once you remove the fruit. Try substituting pineapple or lychee for mango.
1 750-mL bottle sake
1 ripe mango, pitted and cut into chunks
Pour sake into a pitcher. Add mango, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 5 days. Remove mango and serve cold.
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