Various Hand-Rolls
Every US sushi bar invents new ones; I won't try to keep up.
At lunch, or when sitting at a table, you will usually be able to order various pre-set boxes of sushi off the menu, especially in a Japanese restaurant that may not have a sushi bar. You'll get a platter -- or hopefully a nice round lacquerware box -- with a variety of sushi pieces, usually just one piece of each kind (not the normal two) -- with maybe a few slices of a California roll, tuna roll, or cucumber roll. This is a good way to get a sample of what sushi is like.In Japan, such sushi sets are usually ordered by one of two size systems, depending on the restaurant. If there are two choices, they will be Nami
= small, and Jo
= large. Sometimes a third, medium size, may be listed as Chu
, but if there are three sizes, they will usually be: Ume
= small, Take
= medium, and Matsu
= large. To order such a set in Japanese, you would say: "Sushi no JO", or "Sushi no Ume".
The last three are usually listed as Matsu-Take-Ume, meaning: Pine, Bamboo, and Plum, using characters which in their "Chinese readings" are pronounced "Sho-chiku-bai"
( -- the brand name of a common sake!)
Sashimi sets don't often come in sizes, but you may occasionally find them in Nami and Jo varieties. If you want a sashimi assortment, you would usually just order a Sashimi Moriawase
( moriawase ("mori-aWAse") means "assorted" or "a variety of". Similarly, you may also be able to order a Sushi Moriawase
);
( 
Another good way to get an assortment of raw fish is to order Chirashi Sushi, a lacquer bowl of sushi rice topped with lots of different sushi toppings, mostly raw fish. One is plenty for one person, but you could also share a chirashi as part of your meal.
De-mae: I might mention that -- like most local restaurants in Japan, sushi shops deliver right to your door! This service is called "de-mae". So, in Japan, 'sushi at home' mostly consists of sushi set boxes delivered from the local neighborhood sushi shop, staffed by professional sushi chefs! An hour or two later, the delivery guy returns to collect the dishes -- and the money! In the evenings -- and also at lunch time -- you may see the delivery bicycles and motorbikes of various local restaurants, with their special tray holders on the back, making their way through residential areas. (Make your own sushi?! Are you nuts?! ...not in Japan)One more thing... those little green plastic separators that come in sushi sets -- they look like little fences -- are called baran and are supposed to simulate the bamboo leaves that sushi used to come wrapped in very long ago.
Hey! For everybody -- including vegetarians -- there are lots and lots of really interesting sushi and appetizer combinations that a good sushi shop can prepare for you using some of these "exotic" vegetables! Check 'em out!
| Pickles | tsukeMOno | A general term for anything pickled (say: "ts'kay-MOno") While you may think of pickles only being made from cucumbers, the Japanese pickle a wide variety of vegetables and sprouts. |
| Pickle appetizer | tsukeMOno mori-aWAse | A great Japanese sushi bar will be able to present you with a little side-dish of 4 to 6 'assorted' pickled vegetables and (hopefully) wild sprouts; a mediocre one will give you a dish of pickled cabbage; others never heard of a 'pickle appetizer' |
| Japanese radish | daikon | Large long white 'Japanese' radish, is often shredded into a tangled white bed as a garnish for raw or cooked fish. It is also made into the yellow pickles called shinko. |
| Grated Daikon | Daikon oROshi | The daikon radish is fine-grated into a mound of soft white paste as a garnish with tempura and grilled fish; see the photo of Sanma. While no Japanese would eat tempura without mixing daikon oroshi into the tempura dipping sauce, alas, it seldom is served with tempura in the U.S. |
| Daikon sprouts | Kaiware | Tender little green leaves used as a slightly piquant garnish -- a bit like watercress -- and often stuck into hand-rolls. (photo below) |
| Pickled daikon | shinko, TakuAN | Yellow, crunchy round radish slices, served with almost any rice dish. |
| Pickled eggplant | nasu no tsukemono | (ts'kay-MOno) Purple and crunchy; also called naga-nasu tsukemono, the Japanese eggplant is long and narrow. |
| Broiled eggplant | NAsu yaki | Usually served with a little sauce and curly dried bonito flakes on top! |
| Perilla leaf | SHIso, 'Oba' | Mint's cousin, a broad green leaf often garnishes sushi shop dishes, and in the U.S. is sometimes under squid or halibut sushi. Try a shiso and shinko roll: cheap, light, tasty. Sometimes called the 'beefsteak plant', occasionally called "happa" ('leaf'), and -- in a sushi bar (only) -- it's called Oba. (photo below) |
| Spinach | hoREN-so | Horenso is often cooked as a side dish, such as o-shiTAshi (with shaved bonito flakes), or hoRENso goma-AE (spinach with a sesame dressing) |
| Fresh soy beans | eda-MAme | Boiled green soybeans served cold in the salted pod, EdaMAme is a salty summer beer snack in Japan. They are served year-round in the U.S. where they are sometimes served hot(!). Pull the beans out of the pod with your teeth (& leave the pods). |
| Fermented soy beans | natTO | Natto is a stringy, sticky, mass of little brown beans often eaten in some (northern) parts of Japan for breakfast -- and hated in most other parts! Can be hand-rolled, alone or mixed with squid ("ika-natto"), mountain potato ("yama-natto") -- or why not both?! |
| @ Tofu, cold | hiya-YAko | Usually pronounced "hee'YAko"; onion and ginger on top. Add a dash of soy sauce. Tofu is made from soy beans. |
| * Tofu in hot water | yu-DOfu | YuDOfu is a Kyoto specialty. |
| @ Mountain vegetables | san-sai | Various mountain ferns and sprouts (such as those listed just below), marinated or pickled, sometimes with a miso paste or bonito flakes. Also sansai nitsuke: such vegies simmered down in soy & wine (mirin) |
| @ Ferns | warabi, shida | Several kinds of edible fern / fiddlehead sprouts |
| @ Wild mountain sprouts | fuki | Butterburr or coltsfoot sprouts, once used in herbal medicines. Marinated; possibly garnished with katsuo bushi (bonito flakes). |
| @ 'Stem Lettuce' or Celtuce | yama-kuRAge | Yamakurage (Lactuca sativa) is another wild mountain green, often pickled in a mild chile sauce, or boiled. The plant has a yellow flower. Some say its odd-sounding name -- meaning 'mountain jellyfish' -- is related to its texture(!) |
| @ Osmunda | Zenmai | Another wild mountain sprout, typically Osmunda Japnoica. Other varieties of Osmunda include Cinnamon Fern and Royal Fern, all sometimes called Zenmai. Marinated/pickled |
| @ Mustard Leaf | Takana | A broad-leafed type of wild mustard, the green leaves are often pickled with a spicy seasoning. |
|
@ Trefoil, or Wild Parsley |
mitsuba | A wild mountain green with three parsley-like leaves per thin stalk have a mild herby taste. Seldom served alone: a garnish in many soups or salads, and a standard ingredient in Suki-yaki and Chawan-mushi |
| Wild mushrooms | matsutake | ("matsu-TAH-kay") A specialty mountain mushroom, collected in early fall in Japan and the Northwest U.S. So called because they grow under pine (matsu) trees. |
| Mushrooms | kinoko | "ki-no-ko" (literally 'tree children') is the general word for mushrooms in Japanese. Many varieties are used as ingredients or garnishes in Japanese cooked foods, including: shii-take, nameko, enoki, hira-take (oyster mushrooms), shimeji, mai-take |
| Burdock root | gobo | Gobo (Arctium lappa) is usually marinated and sliced. It is an off-white colored root 'between a carrot and a potato'. Burdock is a cousin of the thistle; its root has long been used in herbal medicines. |
| Carrot and burdock root | kimPIra | The two vegetables sliced, marinated, slightly pickled, as a side-dish; usually a little spicy. Also called "kimpira gobo" Carrot is ninjin. |
| Pumpkin or squash | kabocha | Steamed, in sauce |
| @ Gourd shavings | kampyo | Dried gourd shavings, usually marinated. |
| @ Konjak root jelly | konnYAku | Very strange mottled-gray rubbery cake/jelly of the pasted root of the konjak (or konjac = amorphophallus konjak), a cousin of the arum family; also called "Devil's tongue" or "Snake palm". Sometimes called "arum root paste". Seldom served alone; an ingredient in Ni-mono, soups, and Oden (bottom left in the photo of Oden). Konnyaku is also used to make the "yam noodles" for Suki-yaki! |
| Yam or sweet potato | Imo | Often baked as yaki imo; Japanese street food. |
| (white) Potato | JAga-imo | Usually boiled; niku-jaga is a bowl of beef and potato stew. |
| Mountain potato | yama-Imo | Sliced sticky, crunchy white root (similar to taro, which is used in Hawaii to make poi). When grated into an equally sticky paste, yamaImo is called toROro. (see Yama-kake) |
| Plum and mountain potato | yama-Imo Ume | The sticky taro-like root, sliced, and topped with a sweet-sour paste of pickled plum. As a side-dish or a nice hand-roll. |
| Plum and Shiso-leaf | Ume-jiso | Another traditional combination; the mint-like perilla leaf (shiso) mixed with pickled plum, usually in a roll or hand-roll. |
| @ Lotus root | RENkon | Crunchy, with holes; steamed or marinated. Usually served in combinations with other vegetables. (Lotus is hasu) |
| @ Bamboo shoots | take-NO-ko | TakeNOko is fresh only in a short season; usually served lightly steamed in a broth. |
| Omelet (chicken egg) | taMAgo | Nigiri sushi with a big slice of special omelet. Often too sweet, but the best are not. Filling. |
| Simmered Vegetables | Yasai Ni-mono | Simple dish of vegetables slowly simmered in sake, mirin, and soy sauce until they are well cooked, but don't fall apart. In Japan, this nimono would often be called 'Yasai Nitsuke'. Typically uses konnyaku, yama imo, bamboo, lotus root, potato, carrot, pea pods. |
| Salad | saRAda | A green (lettuce) salad is also called "nama yasai" ('raw vegies') |
...Nothing raw here, but you can find them in sushi bars as well as many drinking houses (Izakaya)...
| @ Broiled smelt | shi-SHA-mo | Several whole, 4-inch fish, full of roe. Adventurous! These ShiSHAmo smelt (or capelin) are from Europe. Eat the whole thing! |
| @ Pacific Saury | san-MA | Sanma is a long narrow fish, salt-broiled (shio-yaki) and served whole, usually with grated daikon oroshi garnish. Rich flavor, mostly dense light meat with a few dark 'fishy' bits; big enough to share |
| @ Fried flounder | kaREi no kara-Age | Deep-fried till you can eat the bones! Tasty light white meat, often served with grated (white) daikon oroshi or (red) mentaiko garnish. Sometimes listed as 'Rex Sole'. |
| @ Grilled Hokke | hokKE yaki | Hokke is a greenling, sometimes called Arabesque Greenling, but most often called Atka Mackerel in English. But just call it Hokke (hok'kay). Usually grilled or deep fried whole, plenty of light flesh as well as bones. |
| Yellowtail 'collar' | HaMAchi no KAma | The yellowtail's 'collar' bone, broiled and salted, then often stewed; plenty of meat, with boiled vegetables. Also done with salmon (sake-kama). |
| Halibut cheeks | hiRAme no HO | The halibut's 'cheek' bone and flesh. Often prepared and served similarly to Hamachi-Kama, with a more delicate taste. But the flesh may be prepared in many ways: tempura, butter fried, etc. |
| Dried Filefish | kawaHAgi | Kawahagi is just one example of a dried fish (himono) that can be served as an appetizer, typically in a Japanese drinking house. It usually comes in short, light-colored strips, which may be briefly broiled then served plain with a side dipping sauce, which may just be mayonaise with some flavoring. Eat it like jerkey. |
| @ Fish in sake lees |
Sakana Kasu-zuke Gindara Kasuzuke |
Fish, often black cod (gindara or madara), marinated in the pungent lees of the sake brewing process -- called sake kasu -- for several days(!). Then rinsed and grilled, or simmered. This process is called Kasuzuke. Also done with ahi, salmon, etc. |
| @ Fish in miso paste |
Sakana Miso-zuke Sake Misozuke |
Very similar to Kasuzuke (see above), but the marinating is done in a miso paste (usually white miso) instead of kasu. Done with ahi, salmon, cod, etc. |
| @ Fried fish in vinegar marinade |
Aji Nanban-ZUke
Sake NanbanZUke |
Fish, often aji (horse mackerel) or sake (salmon), is deep-fried in flour, then added to a vinegar-soy marinade with peppers for several hours; served cold or simmered. Also spelled Namban-zuke |
| * Giant Prawn | kuRUma-ebi | Huge, salt-broiled "Tiger" prawn with head and tail. "Box-car shrimp" |
| * Spiny Lobster | Ise-ebi | AKA Rock Lobster, lacks the large claws of the (true) Atlantic Lobster. Ise ('EE-say') is an area of central Japan. You'll be lucky to find these in a sushi bar |
| Softshell crab |
|
Whole New England softshell crab, deep-fried, on a plate with a dipping sauce. (But more often found in a "Spider Roll".) Like shrimp heads, cooking in a light corn starch mixture is much nicer than being tempura'ed. |
| @ River Crabs | sawaGAni | Wee tiny little freshwater crabs (Japanese marsh crab: geothelphusa dehaani) served on a plate, deep-fried to a beautiful crunchy glaze, then eaten whole! Lovely. |
| * River Shrimp | kawaEbi karaAge | Small 1" to 2" freshwater river shrimp in their carapace, fried (usually unbattered) in oil and served in a basket with dipping sauce. Eat these crunchy little guys whole! A common beer snack in Japanese drinking houses, but rarely found in U.S. "Kara-Age" means deep-fried, sometimes in a batter -- as 'chicken kara-age'. |
| Squid Tentacles | (Ika no) Geso | Always cooked: Salt-broiled = geso shio-yaki (yum), cooked in a ginger sauce = geso shoga-yaki, deep-fried = geso kara-age |
| Grilled Squid | Ika Shoga-Yaki | A squid 'steak', scored and grilled in a ginger (shoga) sauce. Be careful of the pronunciation; you can also order salt-broiled squid = ika shio-yaki |
| Whole Broiled Squid | Ika Maru-Yaki | A whole squid body, broiled "in the round" (Maru = 'round') then sliced into 'rounds' with a long pickled ginger sprout garnish. Can be a tough street food, or a nice drinking-house plate. Best to share... |
| Fried Oysters | KAki fuRAI | Furai = 'fry'. A plate of oysters deep fried in pan-ko batter; often with some thick brown ton-katsu sauce on the side for dipping. Yum! A drinking-house snack available in some US sushi bars |
| Fried Shrimp | Ebi fuRAI | Furai = 'fry'. As an appetizer, several good-sized shrimp (e.g., tiger prawns) deep fried in pan-ko batter (not in tempura batter, which would be "ebi tempura"). Occassionally called "ebi katsu". |
| 'Steamer' Clams | aSAri no SAka-mushi | A bowl full of 1" Manilla (or 'short-necked') Asari clams in a sake-broth. Usually enough for 2 or more, with individual bowls. See also: Miso & Clam Soup, just below. |
| @ 'Hodgepodge' | o-DEN | Hot stew with unrecognizable stuff - konnyaku (AKA devil's tongue paste), lotus root, burdock root, fish-cake, kelp, boiled eggs and cabbage; or some sub-set. Oden is a drinking house snack and late-night street vendor food, served with a dab of hot mustard. |
Rice dishes are sometimes consumed at the end of an evening of drinking, especially since some Japanese will never eat rice while drinking. This goes way back to the fact that sake is made from rice (so is beer). Even in a sushi bar, there are a few people who will only eat sashimi (without rice) if drinking alcohol (while others just dig in, regardless). And yes, a hot soup is also considered a nice way to finish up an evening out. At sushi shops and drinking houses, the evening may end with big cups of hot tea and:
| Rice & 'tea' porridge |
O-cha ZUke |
OchaZUke is a bowl of rice in a special broth with seaweed and wasabi. The 'home recipe' just pours green tea over left-over rice; but chefs make a heartier broth (dashi), without tea. Ochazuke is served in a ceramic bowl with a cover; traditionally, there is a dab of wasabi stuck to the under side of the cover for you to mix in, if you wish. Image below |
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NOri-cha (zuke) | Ocha-zuke with just seaweed (nori) |
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Ume-cha (zuke) | Ocha-zuke with pickled plums (ume-boshi) |
|
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SHAke-cha | Ocha-zuke with cooked salmon chunks. Adding some nice fresh salmon roe (ikura) on top turns this into Oya-ko 'chazuke! |
| Miso soup | miso-SHIru | In a sushi bar, a traditional evening-ender, not a first course! |
| @ Miso & Clam soup | aSAri no miso-SHIru | Miso soup with 1" Manilla (or "short-necked") clams. Usually a good-sized bowl; no tofu. If the place serves Steamer Clams, they should be able to put together some in a big bowl of miso soup for you |
| * Miso soup with tiny clams | shiJImi misoSHIru | Miso soup with 1/2" (or smaller) dark little "shijimi" -- freshwater (corbicula) clams, no tofu; often uses red miso paste (not white). In sushi bars and drinking houses in Japan, your late night miso soup will probably come as Shijimi miso soup -- a vitamin-B12 boost for drinkers! Image below |
| @ 'Left-overs' stew |
ZO-sui
|
Zosui is a bowl of rice in thick broth with "left-over" fish, vegetables, etc. A winter drinking-house dish, (but I have seen this listed as "seafood risotto" on the English menu at a US sushi bar or two; that's quite a social promotion.) |
In Japan, "Specialty" fish, such as unagi (eels), fugu (blowfish), masu (trout), and namazu (catfish) may be found in specialty restaurants which serve multi-course meals of the same fish in various types of dishes (raw, broiled, soup, etc.). In an unagi-ya (unagi restaurant), even the deep-fried eel bones are served as a snack, and at the fugu-ya, the fin of the fugu is used to flavor hot sake.Which reminds me of another point about fugu. Fugu has a reputation of being very dangerous and very expensive. You can go to some pretty expensive places to get full-course fugu dinners -- including the fugu skin, soup, stew, sashimi, and fried. But my office mates and I in Tokyo used to go to a pretty ordinary fugu restaurant for lunches. It was not very expensive to get a set lunch with some fugu sashimi, fugu soup, rice, pickles, etc. The place was full of businessmen, office workers, and a few ladies out shopping. And it was in Shimbashi for Pete's sake -- an older business and shopping district. Here's a
article on fugu that mentions some fairly reasonable places to eat fugu. It is not unnusual to find fugu sashimi at the fish counter of a Japanese supermarket. Tokyo
A special license is required to cut fugu, so you won't usually find it in sushi bars in Japan. A few expensive East-Coast (US) restaurants now serve fugu; I'm told that the cleaned flesh is imported, not the whole fish. It is the liver, eggs, and ovaries that hold the toxins; these are routinely removed during (correct) cleaning. We never did see anyone keel over dead during those lunches, and no one seemed concerned about it.
| Sake ('rice wine') |
O-sake,
|
In Japan, 'Sake' (say 'saw-kay') means 'booze', including
whisky. So to get rice-wine, you order o-sake or niHON-shu ("Japan-sake"). "-shu" is the same word as "sake"  ), |
| Hot sake | o-sake, "atsu-KAN" | atsuKAN means "heat it up". Comes in a 'tokkuri' ceramic 'decanter' (photo below), with little wee cups called choko |
| Cool sake in a box | MAsu-zake | Room-temperature sake in a wooden 'masu' box ('masu' alone can also mean trout!) |
| Ice cold sake |
NAma sake Hiya-zake |
A western invention? A small bottle on ice; or a nice decanter with cold sake. |
| * Sake in bamboo |
ZUtsu-sake
|
In Japan, a few very quaint drinking houses (Toge in Kichijo-ji) serve hot sake in 3 to 4-foot bamboo 'poles'. The word for a bamboo section is take zutsu, where take = bamboo. Stand it up beside your table! Also called sake-zutsu. The 'cups' are often cut from bamboo sections. |
| Unfiltered sake | niGOri-zake | Opaque white sake, with some dregs, 'raw' taste |
| @ Home brew raw sake | dobuROku | (Or doboroku) White & soupy, full of bits of chaff and rice lumps. Pungent. Same as brewed 1,000 years ago. Not made commercially (by law!), but sometimes available at festivals, or from someone's uncle. One regular at a favorite US sushi bar made his own and brought in a couple of big bottles around the holidays to share "under the table". |
| @ Korean raw sake | MAKkoli | Just for interest, I'll mention Makkoli, the Korean version of Doburoku. Tends to be a little browner and sweeter, but the same raw stuff. In Korean drinking houses, it is served in the simple metal tea kettles (of varying sizes). Or you can bring your own kettle or bottle to get some "to go"! |
| @ (Fugu-) fin sake | HIre-zake | Or Hire-sake ('hee-day'): The fin of some small fish (traditionally fugu) is broiled, then steeped in a glass of hot sake for a few minutes. Makes very tasty sake! |
| @ Hard stuff, firewater | SHO-chu | Shochu is barley or potato liquor. 35%+ alcohol and clear in color. (Chu is a form of 'Shu'=Sake). It's called So-ju in Korea, where GI's have (very) long called it 'soul-juice' |
| Sho-chu cut with hot water | yuWAri | An acquired taste; better than straight but a very old-fashioned, country way to drink it. |
| Sho-chu 'high-ball' | CHU-hai | Add flavored soda to sho-chu, a twist, anything! |
| Plum wine | ume-shu | Akadama is the classic brand of this cheap-o stuff. Poured over an orange for dessert! Ume means plum |
| Wine | buDO-shu | Or uainu ("wine"); buDO is grape. There is a wine country in Japan and some is not bad; not exported. |
| Beer | BIIru | No box, no heat, just beer. Normally Japanese beers are made from rice, except Yebisu (made with barley). |
The wooden 'masu' box, for drinking room-temperature
sake, (photo, right) is really an old rice measure from feudal days;
one box of uncooked rice was probably a daily ration (or one-meal ration)
for many laborers. The little boxes were so common that they
were used for doling out sake, when availbale.
The standard volume of a masu box is 180 milliliters (5.5 oz.) and it measures about 3.25 inches (about 8.25cm) square. [I have seen some for sale that are somewhat smaller, and I think this is just a rip-off for the unsuspecting novice.] This is also the only beverage container I can think of in Japan that is ever filled anywhere near the top. And in this case, the box is traditionally filled to copious overflowing, with a saucer underneath catching the excess for you to pour back and drink later.
Some fancy places will place a small "pinch" of salt on the corner of the masu box. I've never seen this done in Japan, but maybe I haven't gone to fancy enough places! Several U.S. sushi bars use black "lacquer" (plastic) masu boxes, which do not impart the subtle "raw cedar" (usually pine) nuance to the flavor of the sake. Unfortunately, most U.S. sushi places don't even serve masu-zake.
By the way, sake is usually only available this way in the warmer summer months in Japan. But masu-zake is popular year round in the U.S., where some places will keep your personal masu-zake box, with your name on it!
This is just a cautionary note that not everything you see on the menu at a sushi bar will actually be available. Some U.S. sushi shops pack their menus with items they rarely (if ever) have; then they chuckle at you when you try to order them -- "Ho-ho, we never have that in Winter (or Spring, or Summer)". As a novice, you may not know that real toro, or aji, or katsuo are not often available, and then perhaps only in a short season. But many mediocre places will never have these delicacies in stock. Poorer places will not ever have sweet shrimp, or uni, or anago either, although they may be on the menu!
Really great places will actually have many of these special items on their menu, but others are honest enough to list them only on the "Specials" board, when they actually have some fresh in stock. In the above List of Fishes and Dishes, such "occasionally available" items are prefaced with this symbol: @ . If you see them on a menu, you should probably ask if they are really available or fresh. And if you see them on a "Specials" board, you may want to try them while you can.
Although this page is not about making sushi, some of you adventurous readers may be wondering where you can get ahold of some of these exotic (or yucky)-sounding ingredients. Below is a brief list of external web sites that sell some Japanese and sushi-related foodstuffs, including fish! Have fun.
Internet - Mail Order:
Specialty terms used only in a sushi bar:
English Japanese Sushi Bar Green tea O-cha aGAri ('finishing up') Pickled Ginger su-SHOga GAri Soy Sauce SHO-yu muraSAki ('purple') Japanese Horseradish waSAbi NAmida ('tears') Perilla leaf SHI-so Oba
| SaSHImi | Sashimi is just slices of raw fish, served by itself, without rice. This can be shortened to "-sashi" when following a fish name. It's colloquially called tsukuri ("ts'KUri") in the area around Osaka and Kyoto, or "tsuMAmi" in Tokyo. One order is a plate with several slices of fish, served with shredded radish, shiso, or wakame seaweed and a mound of wasabi. Add a dab of wasabi to your soy sauce dish for dipping. |
| Cuts of Sashimi | Depending on the fish and the way it is served, the raw sashimi may be cut in several different ways. Usu-zukuri means "thin cut"; this is the most common cut, although white fish may be cut even thinner than others, so you can see right through it! Hira-zukuri is a "thick" or "block-cut" making thicker brick-shaped pieces, as is often done with maguro. Kaku-zukuri is a 'square cut', cutting into cubes, sometimes done with tuna and others when mixing with other ingredients in a bowl. Ito-zukuri, literally 'thread-cut' is cutting into very thin strips, often done with squid, cuttlefish, jellyfish, or other very dense muscles; this is also called sen-giri -- 'a thousand slices' -- or -somen = noodles, as in ika-somen. Sugata-zukuri is a fish chopped up into smaller bits which are served in a mound on top of the fish's carcass. |
| NiGIri sushi |
Nigiri is the most common type of sushi, where the fish (or whatever)
is placed on top of a little mound of rice. One order is two pieces.
Wasabi is under the fish. Nigiri sushi is Tokyo-style, but now
the common sushi served all over the land. Hence the by-line "Edo-mae"
 ) |
| Neta | Any ingredient (fish, veg, etc.) that sits on top of Nigiri Sushi. The word "tane" means the same thing as "neta" (it's the same 2 characters reversed), and is used in different parts of Japan. |
| Tsuma | Any vegetable garnishes that accompany Sashimi |
| Kakomi sushi or Gunkan maki | Nigiri sushi wrapped all around with crispy nori seaweed to keep wet or loose ingredients inside. Also called funamori or gunkan maki (battle-ship!). Examples are uni, tobiko, ikura, and 'spicy mixes'. See the photo of Tobitama & Masago. |
| Maki (-sushi) | Sushi Rolls; raw fish (or whatever) rolled up with rice in seaweed. The little bamboo mat used to roll this up is called a MAkisu. One order is one roll, cut into five or six pieces. Also called nori maki, common examples are California Roll, Tuna Roll, Cucumber Roll. Ura-maki is just a maki-sushi roll with the rice on the outside -- 'reverse roll'. Isobe-Zukuri is a maki roll with just raw fish and no rice. |
| Te-maki | A hand-roll; one cone of sushi in seaweed for one person |
| ChiRAshi sushi | A bowl of (sweet) sushi rice with various raw fish and garnishes on top; Osaka-Kyoto style. |
| Hako sushi | Sushi made in an oblong box (hako) by pressing the rice in, then pressing the fish on top. You get 6 to 8 very square pieces. It's another Osaka style not often found in other places. Saba (mackerel) is the most common fish; sometimes shrimp. Also called Oshi-zushi (oshi means 'press'). When saba is used and accompanied by kombu kelp, it is called battera (-zushi). You won't find this in many sushi bars in the U.S. or outside of Osaka! |
| Inari-zushi | A particular variety of sushi that is almost never found in Japanese sushi shops; it is a plebeian picnic and street food. Vinagared rice and maybe a few vegetables wrapped in a 'bag' of fried tofu (aburage). A favorite of children, who call it o-inari-san. Inari is the god of rice, who often takes the form of a fox |
| Onigiri | O-Nigiri is another type of "sushi" that is almost never found in Japanese sushi shops and is a favorite with Japanese children. It's what their mothers put into their school lunch boxes, and take along on picnics or train journeys. Translated as "rice balls", Onigiri is just a ball of cooked rice with a small amount of filling -- usually pickled plum, cooked salmon, or some kind of pickle. This is molded, by hand, into a triangluar (or sometimes round) ball and wrapped in dried nori seaweed. (Click left to see a photo) You may occassionally find 'Grilled Rice Balls' -- Yaki-Onigiri -- on an appetizer menu... |
| GOhan | Cooked rice. Also called "raisu"! Sushi rice is different from regular rice. It is short-grained and a bit stickier. Rice is steamed fresh every day, and mixed with a little sweet vinegar (called awasezu). Forming those little sushi mounds may look easy, but it takes years to perfect. The hand sign for 'sushi' - accompanying "let's go for sushi", or "he's a sushi chef" - is the first two fingers of the right hand slapped twice into the cupped palm of the left, imitating the making of the rice mounds. Sushi rice is also called shari. Uncooked rice is "kome". Brown rice (seldom seen) is gen-mai. |
| waSAbi | Green, or Japanese horseradish. Wasabi is not the same plant as our white horseradish, but related. The wasabi root is grated, then made into a paste. The spicy kick goes right up your nose, but does not last long. Most wasabi paste today is made from powdered wasabi, or some other powdered mixture that may or may not have real wasabi in it. In Japan, some restaurants may serve a fresh wasabi root and a grater, in season; yum! In the US, a green mound of wasabi is placed on your sushi serving tray, to be mixed with soy sauce in the sauce dish. In Japan, this is only done for sashimi, since sushi already has wasabi in it. So you don't need to put any in the soy sauce dish for sushi, but for sashimi, mix a dab of wasabi in the dish. |
| kamaBOko |
"Kamaboko" is the generic name for Pressed Fish Cake --
fish 'bits' ground up and pressed together in some process which makes
a solid mass of firm chewy fish-flavored 'product'. A few slices
are often found in many soup and noodle dishes, often with a pink star
or swirl pattern in the white cake.
Special Kamaboko: Fish cake is also flavored with the water used to cook crabs, colored red on the outside, and pressed to make fake crab -- called "surimi" and spelled 'Krab' in the U.S. It is usually called kani-kamaboko -- or kanikama for short -- in Japan. This is often used in California rolls. "Chikuwa" is a round fish cake "log" with a hole through the center, and brown crinkly texture on the outside. (The name literally means 'bamboo ring'.) It tastes ok, but be aware that because this is the very cheapest form of kamaboko, it is mainly bought to feed cats in Japan! So best not to serve it to your special guests... |
| nyo-tai-MOri | Nyotaimori is "Naked Sushi". Yes, this occassionally happens from time to time in Japan -- someone arranges a naked woman on a table and serves fresh sushi on her body for (wealthy) patrons to enjoy. There is Saran-Wrap (plastic film) in between. ...and you thought you wouldn't learn anything new in here... |
Don't stop here, there's plenty more Sushi a la Carte on
the next pages...
Randy's Japan Page
Sushi Table of Contents
