Japanese - Sushi Terms
会えて良かった
Sushi is a typical Japanese food with over a thousand years of
history and tradition. It has become perhaps the most visible
example of Japanese cuisine in other countries.
Sushi actually began as a way of preserving fish. The raw, cleaned
fish was pressed between rice and salt by a heavy stone for a few
weeks. After a few weeks, the stone was removed and replaced with a
light cover. A few months after that, the fermented fish and
rice were considered ready to eat. Not until the 18th century did a
chef named Yohei decide to serve sushi in its present form and
forget about the fermentation process altogether. The use of vinegar
rice, however, probably harks back to the fermented taste of early
sushi.
In Osaka there is still an elaborate tradition of sushi pressed
with rice in wooden boxes. This type of sushi is called hako-zushi.
The sushi most commonly known among Westerners comes from Edo, the
old name for Tokyo, and consists of hand-rolled sushi specifically
called nigiri sushi.
Japanese have a deep-rooted fondness of nature and this is often
carried over to the arrangement of food. The pieces are arranged to
enhance their natural beauty. Often nature and the outdoors are
captured by using a plate resembling a fish in motion, a quiet river
nook, or a deep pool. The fish itself evokes an image of the
creature swimming through underwater weeds and roots.
Some
rules to remember:
Never
pass food to someone using chopsticks. This act parallels
passing cremated bones of a deceased relative at a Japanese funeral.
If you must share food, pass them the plate so that they can pick
from it instead.
If you take food from a shared plate (such as in the above
situation), use the reverse ends of your chopsticks rather than the
ends which go in your mouth.
Never bite into a piece of food and then replace the other half on
your plate.
Once you have picked something up you should eat all of it.
When not using your chopsticks, you should place them in front of
you, parallel to the edge of the sushi bar, with the narrow ends in
the provided hashi oki; never place them directly on the bar.
Never leave rice after a meal. Leaving any kind of food is
considered rude, but leaving rice is especially so.
Never smoke in a sushi bar, it obscures the delicate flavors of the
fish for everyone else. Ashtrays will likely be provided in many
sushi bars (especially in Europe and America) but to use them is
dismissive of the efforts of the chef.
Never expect the chef to handle money, another employee will settle
the bill for you. People who handle the food never touch the money.
Do not ask for knives. This would imply that the food is so tough
it can't be properly eaten without them.
Don't make wasabi soup with your soy sauce! Sushi Chef's cringe at
this spectacle that Americans often make. Wasabi paralyzes your
palette and will hide the subtle flavors that fish has when eaten
raw.
Most westerners eat sushi by dipping it rice-side-down into the
soy, and let the soy soak up into the rice. Then they wonder why the
sushi disintegrates on its way from the soy to their mouth, leaving
little black flecks of soy-stained rice all over the bar and their
clothing. Japanese people rarely have this problem, because they
know that the purpose of the soy is not to flavor the rice, but the
fish. As such, the sushi should be dipped rice-side-up in the soy
and then carried to the mouth.
Useful
sushi phrases
Ama
Ebi o kudasai - please give me sweet shrimp.
Anago o kudasai - please give me salt water eel.
Arigato - thank you (informal).
Arigato gozaimashita - thank you very much (at the end of the
evening).
Domo (DOH moh) - thank you.
Domo arigato (ah ri GAH toh) - thank you very much.
Dozo (DOH zoh) - please. Gochiso-sama [deshita], this phrase
traditionally closes a meal.
Hai (high)- yes. Spoken abruptly with a glottal stop at the end,
almost swallowing the last vowel.
Itamae-san - the sushi (or other Japanese) chef.
Kampai - to your health.
Konbanwa - good evening.
Konichiwa (koh NEECH ee wah) - a greeting, roughly "how are you" or
"how do you do?".
Okanjo - bill/check.
Omakase - asking the sushi chef to choose what you'll have next.
Slang
Gyoku (means jewel) - tamago.
Murasaki (means purple) - soy sauce.
Namida (means tears) - wasabi.
Oaso - the check.
Sabinuki - no wasabi.
Other
Sushi Terms
Aburage
- fried tofu pouches prepared by cooking in sweet cooking sake, soy
sauce, and water.
Chakin sushi - vinegared rice wrapped in a thin egg crepe.
Chirashi sushi - assorted raw fish and vegetables (usually nine,
nine being the Japanese lucky number) over rice.
Daikon - giant white radish, usu. served grated as garnish for
sashimi.
Edomae sushi - same as nigiri sushi.
Gari - vinegared ginger.
Kampyo - dried gourd that comes prepared in long, translucent brown
strips like fettuccine.
Maki sushi - vinegared rice with insertions, rolled up in Japanese
seaweed. Most maki places the nori on the outside, but some, like
the California roll, place the rice on the outside.
Nigiri sushi - pieces of fish, shellfish, or fish roe over vinegared
rice balls.
Odori-ebi - live "dancing" shrimp.
Oshibori - rolled up hot towel served to sushi bar customers.
Oshinko- Japanese pickles.
Sashimi - raw fish served chilled, sliced, and arranged without
rice.
Shoyu - soy sauce.
Tekka-don- pieces of raw tuna over rice.
Temaki sushi - hand rolled cones of sushi rice and/or vegetables
wrapped in seaweed.
Wasabi - Japanese horseradish.
Fish for sashimi is usually sliced into pieces about 1 inch wide by 1-1/2 inches long by 1/4 inch thick. A serving is four slices in a sushi bar, but at home you can indulge.
Here is a list of common types.
maguro,
tuna
toro,
fatty tuna belly
shiro maguro,
albacore
hamachi,
yellowtail
katsuo,
bonito
kohada,
Japanese shad
saba,
mackerel
sake,
salmon
tai,
porgy, red snapper
hirame,
halibut
suzuki,
sea bass
unagi,
freshwater eel
anago,
sea eel
tako,
octopus
ika,
squid
awabi,
abalone
mirugai,
geoduck clam
torigai,
Japanese cockle
aoyagi,
Japanese red clam
akagai,
pepitona clam
kobashira,
small scallops
kaibashira,
large scallops
kani,
crab
ebi,
cooked prawn
ama ebi,
raw prawn
ikura,
salmon roe
uni,
sea urchin roe
tobiko,
flying-fish roe
masago,
capelin roe
tamago,
hen's egg omelet