February 23, 2012

The owner and Chef of Sushi Fusion taught us the art of sushi making today. He is a proud chef and enjoys sharing his success and knowledge with others. Chef Sam came from a humble background, growing up on rice fields in China. A passion for art, nature and food, Chef Sam pursued a career in the art of sushi making by reading magazines and books and working in restaurants.  As a former math teacher, his analytical and numerical skills are apparent throughout his sushi making - hold your knife at 45 degrees and finish at 90 degrees.

Today was an exciting day and to make sushi looks much easier than it is.  It is all skill and skill that takes time and effort to learn.

Key Concepts:
Chef Sam told us there 8 components to being a good sushi chef
1. make sure you like it and want to pursue it
2. Fish -make sure all fish is fresh (Tuna) and cared for properly
3. Knife - use your knife, make sure to cut nice because it people can see if it is neat and nice. It must look good.
4. Presentation - colors are very important, think about how to match colors and think about natural colors and combinations
5. Design - must imagine how food should come out of the kitchen. Use objects around you as inspiration, nature, dessert design books etc.
6. Plate - need a good plate for good food, match the plate and food
7. Sauce - Every plate style needs a different sauce and sauce design.  The sauce can change the look of the dish
8. Rice - need perfect rice
Formula = 1 part water + 1 part Rice
Liquid Formula = 6 parts rice vinegar + 3 parts sugar + 1 part salt

6 cups of cooked rice mixture + 1 cup liquid mixture = sushi rice

-buy hard avocados and ripe them on counter at home. people squeeze avocados in the store and if you buy a ready to eat one, it will be bruised from all the squeezing.
-when handling sushi rice always use a damp hand
-cut fish against the grain

My first sushi roll!

My first sushi