Sushi Class

For my birthday, Theresa bought me a couple of classes at Cook's Street School of Fine Cooking.

I decided to take the Sushi and Sake Class. It fit perfectly with the whole sushi section of project Dashi.

First, I should note that this was more of a sushi with a side of sake class because not much time was spent on the sake portion. Some information about sake was presented, but it was washed away with the third glass. I'll have to do a sake tasting for the blog sometime.

The majority of the class focused on sushi, but with a healthy base of Japanese cuisine. We made dashi as a base of miso soup. We made rice to be turned into sushi rice. I was actually impressed by how much about Japanese cuisine I already know. I'm not nearly half way through the book and I felt like I could have taught the first quarter of the class.

And then, the new stuff. We spent about half an hour learning how to break down a fish. Starting with how to buy fresh fish and ending with "cut out the blood line from the butchered fish". It was interesting, but I'm not sure I'm ready to be a fish butcher since Costco and H-mart both provide good quality pre-cut up fish at reasonable prices.

The fun part was making the different sushi pieces: maki, nigiri, battera. They had a whole spread of several types of fish along with vegetables sliced perfectly for all types of rolls.

My biggest struggle was in making the rolls small enough to be bite sized. A few of the pieces were so big, I couldn't eat them in three bites, much less one.

I was most excited by the fact that I can fine shiso leaves and yuzu juice. The instructor said he had found both at Pacific Mercantile, downtown. I have looked all over H-mart with no luck, so I'm glad to know that I have a source for some obscure ingredients.

The other interesting thing was watching the other students.

One was a psychology student who was taking cooking classes for all of his electives. He was telling me he had made mozzarella at the house the day before. I should really draw this out to give you a full image: Imagine John Belushi, in his "College" sweater and an apron, in the kitchen at the Delta Tau Chi house, making mozzarella from scratch. Yeah.... that was this guy.

Another was this super nice couple. They were so friendly and eager to learn. They were very precise in their sushi making and they spent a lot of time tasting the sake. I think they were wine connoisseurs and may have been disappointed that there wasn't more about the sake during the class.

In the end, I made so much sushi, I couldn't even bring it all home. It was ridiculous how much good sushi went to waste that night. Next time I'll bring my own doggie bag!

I'm excited for my next class, but I think I'm going to bring Theresa along and do one of their "Culinary Date Nights".

The Project Defined

I always think it is important for the first post of a blog to lay out the path it's is going to take. What are its rules? Its customs? What can you expect? What is the tone going to be?

From that introduction, you may think that my blog is going to involve many strings of questions. It may, but that is not the reason for this blog.

I'm blogging because I am shamelessly stealing an idea from that popular movie "Julie and Julia". I am going to cook my way through a cookbook. Specifically, I'm going to cook all of the recipes in "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art", by Shizuo Tsuji.

Why? Because I am interested in Japanese food and culture. Because this, as best I can tell, is the Japanese equivalent of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Because I thought Julie Powell's idea for the Julie/Julia project was smart and a good idea demands to be imitated. And finally... why not!?!

I have a few rules of this enterprise. They are:

1. I will try to prepare all 200+ recipes in Tsuji's book. I do have a few reasons I may exempt myself from a recipe. See below.

2. I will blog about the experience, with a few inputs from my willing wife.

3. I will try to prepare everything without purchasing any new equipment. I do believe that a cook should have the right tools for the right job; however, this is an east meets west affair. There are things in a Japanese kitchen which are not common in an American kitchen. Since Tsuji's book was written to introduce Japanese cooking to the anglophone world, I think I should be able to cook most everything in a typical American house.

4. This is the first exemption. I will try to cook all of the recipes in the book; however, I may be limited by the availability of ingredients. Denver, my hometown, has a number of pretty good Asian groceries and specialty stores. Even the local megamarts seem to carry a wide range of Asian ingredients. That does not mean that I can find everything. I will look to internet groceries for items that can be shipped. I will draw the line if something gets too expensive. You can have some of the best clam chowder from Pikes Market in Seattle shipped anywhere in the US, but do you want to pay $100 for a bowl of soup? I will come up with a firm dollar limit after I get some input from my wife.

5. This is the second and last exception. I haven't read through the whole book yet, but I will not be preparing natto under any circumstances.

So with that being said, I hope you enjoy this culinary adventure with me.