Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

[ezekiel55]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

And like Stumble said, real wasabi is very hard to find...the rehydrated powder that most places use today is not the real thing.

Since it is so difficult to find fresh wasabi, ask the sushi chef if he has any pickled wasabi...while its not as great as the fresh it is infinitely better than the rehydrated crap.

[ezekiel55]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

I envy you... I want to make a trip to Alaska at some point so that I can catch a salmon, yank its skin off, and just devour that mofo Grizzly-style. My life would be complete.

To this day, and I've eaten at some very prestigious places around the country and the world, probably my top culinary experience.

It doesnt get much better than eating something as fresh as that.

[Maxattax3]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

i agree freshness makes everything better. Hunting in Texas one year, my friend stabbed a wild hog to death. (it was so gnarly... would be a youtube phenom if we had a camcorder) and my other friend shot a couple of doves.

Bacon wrapped dove FTW....so delicious. so fresh. and there is something to be said about being out in nature, harvesting/cooking your ingredients manually... very satisfying.

[totalownership]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Co-sign everything Stumbleweed just said. Wish I hadn't come to this thread. Wife just called and asked what I wanted from the city and I said Indian and now you got me wishing I said Sushi instead. I just had it last week so I'm good sorta.

Great thing about sushi also is it goes with anything. Soda, no problem. Wine , sure. Beer, sure thing. Sake, obvious. Even just plain water.

[p_rushing]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Try some eel rolls. Its cooked and I've never had a bad roll with eel in it. Don't be put off by the fact that it is eel, it looks just like the fish meat.

[slickdtc]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

If you were given Unagi and didn't know it was eel, nearly everyone would like it... absolutely delicious, especially when it's fresh from the broiler. Most people have eaten calamari at some point or another, so squid shouldn't be too scary these days. Most of the "weird" stuff is exclusive to traditional Japanese sushi places or in Japan itself -- the craziest stuff you normally find in US sushi bars are various roes (meaning eggs, normally from the Flying Fish, salmon, or Sea Urchin roe), eel (which as I said tastes incredible and not like you would expect an eel to taste), and octopus. You have to look pretty hard for something that would qualify as "disgusting" to the American palette for the most part... the Chinese are more adept at using the crazy parts of animals.

Sashimi gets a bad wrap because it's the most simple, bare preparation of anything ever, basically. There are few food cultures as minimalistic as the Japanese, and sashimi is the epitome of that minimalist mindset. And yeah, if you don't like raw fish, ANY sashimi will not sit well with you, because there's no rice, rolls, or sauces to really distract from the taste and texture of the fish itself. It's definitely the most "advanced" type of sushi for a diner, even though it's the most basic for the chef.

Wasabi (the stuff that you get in the US anyway) is basically just horseradish with green food dye. REAL wasabi is grated off the root itself and provides a slight spiciness but is mostly just floral and subtle (i.e. the total opposite of the lime green wasabi that most places have). Real wasabi is very expensive/rare and you normally have to ask for it and pay extra to even get a look at it, as 99% of places will only put out the crappy green horseradish stuff.

My view on wasabi is that it's totally unnecessary for 95% of sushi, and if it were necessary, it would've been put on by the chef. It's such a strong, overpowering flavor that it's basically "bull in a china chop" among the subtle flavors of sushi and serves to wreck the whole point of sushi, which is the taste and quality of the fish itself. If you drown stuff in wasabi and soy, you may as well buy the cheapest cuts of fish you can find, because it's essentially ruining the good fish's flavor -- I'd smack someone that I saw rubbing wasabi all over a piece of Toro on general principle.

And wasabi isn't even close to the spiciest thing in the world... it's just as spicy as eating raw horseradish, since that's all it is. Any pepper worth its salt is spicier than that.. wasabi's overwhelming taste is just due to the feeling it gives you in your nose, which is from the horseradish.

Ha, you seem to be the expert on this. I'm more a casual sushi/sashimi guy and was mostly just giving impressions. Sorry if I came off as an expert, because I'm farrrrr from that.

I still think wasabi (it probably was just dyed horseradish) is still extremely spicy. I've had habanero peppers, which are generally one of the spiciest peppers around. But you're right... it's a different type of spicy. The wasabi/horseradish gives you that feeling in your nose sometimes, while the habanero pepper gives you more of a burning feeling wherever it has touched. Reminds me when I got some in my eye once. Good time... not.

But when I eat sushi I don't like to put too much wasabi on, like you said. It makes eating the sushi pointless as it'll just be drowned out by the wasabi. I just put a little pinch on there and I'm set.

I figured the sushi from buffet type places is lower grade, which isn't good when it comes to something as delicate as sushi. But I can't resist!

[boomhauertjs]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Well Nivek, what'd ya think?

[Candyman5]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Holy Crap....I never had sushi and never really wanted any until I came in here and read some of the descriptions.....Now my mouth is drooling and I an hungry...Lmao. The crab one sounds delicious and I am not turned off by eel. I remember my first time trying Squid, I was a little nervous but now its one of my favorite foods.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Yeah, I really do not empathize with people who are scared to try new things. That's probably one of the personality traits that drives me most up the wall, especially regarding food. I'll eat anything twice -- I say "twice" because there's always the chance that the first time was badly-prepared, etc. Trying new things is the spice of life, basically...

If you really want to expand your palette, go to a traditional Hong Kong restaurant and order some of the wacky **** they sell... THAT will break you in to eating anything and everything, mostly because it's all pretty damn good. After you've sucked the skin off of some duck's feet and eaten a pile of beef tripe, anything a sushi bar has seems downright normal haha.. By the way, both of those things are delicious... the duck feet are just like eating nothing but that good crispy duck skin (which is what makes duck great) and the tripe (called "omasum") has a great sauce and isn't tough if it's prepared right.

Eel (unagi if freshwater eel, unago is sea eel) is one of my favorite things, especially prepared Japanese style. Also great (you Northwest people know the deal) is Geoduck -- trust me, it's far more delicious than it looks:


heh @ the picture

[MassNole]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

To me it tastes like

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

Heh, maybe that's why I like it so much.

[totalownership]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

The "Gooey"Duck lol is the one thing I haven't tried yet. Just heard about it last year.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

It tastes like the best clam you've ever had, basically. It's not tough at all like most clams tend to be (especially when they're overcooked, it's like eating a rubber hose), and the size of it makes it nicer to eat because you get uniformly-sized pieces of meat instead of random gnarled-up pieces. The best preparation I've had was at a sushi spot in Seattle (blanking on the name, started with an S I think, but I don't think it was Shiro's.. pretty sure it was Saito's), but they served it lightly sauteed in half of its shell on a bed of lemons and it was delicious and tender.

The Chinese place I go to that makes it normally does it in XO sauce, which is also good -- the Japanese preparation was just awesome because it was so clean and you could really appreciate the geoduck's texture and flavor.

[totalownership]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

I'll definitely put it on my radar then. I wasn't thinking because just yesterday I told the wife to bring some sushi and didn't even think about getting the clam. Maybe I'll make up a reason to go to one of the Nobu restaurants in NY. One thing about sushi is you can find quality anywhere though (maybe except Benihanas lol, shouldn't say that. they do have some good pieces). I got a local spot here in NJ where the prices are RIIIIIGHT and the sushi is good and of good quality.

[stewaat]

Re: Can someone describe the taste of sushi?

I've liked all my sushi experiences except the last time. The gf got something and I tried it...tasted like armpit. That was the first thought right when it entered my mouth.

All others have been decent to good. Nothing has been great to me.