Published: August 14, 2008 11:17 pm      

Sushi

Popular Japanese cuisine is pleasing Southern palates

ibrown@themeridianstar.com



Just mentioning the word "sushi" causes many people to grimace or squinch up their eyes and noses, and say, "Uh-uh" or belt out an emphatic "Noooooo!"

Such dramatic responses are often due to the common misconception that sushi is made with raw fish (actually, dishes made with raw fish are called "sashimi.")

"'Sushi' actually refers to the rice," said Marisa Baggett, a Memphis sushi chef who also teaches sushi classes at various gourmet food markets and private homes.

"Sushi is a type of cuisine made from vinegared rice or vinegared dressed rice," she said.

Baggett will share other interesting facts about sushi, as well as teach local residents how to prepare the popular Japanese cuisine at the upcoming cooking class "Sushi – Discover It with Marisa Baggett." The hands-on cooking session is presented by Cartmell Gallery, Cater's Market and Meridian Community College.

Sushi has evolved from an ancient Japanese method for preserving fish to a favorite food fare. Sushi restaurants, once frequented almost exclusively by Asian Americans, are now increasing in numbers among American establishments.

"People are looking for something different and healthier to eat," said Jamie Cater of Cater's Market. Cater has noticed an increase in demand for sushi making ingredients from her customers.

"They are looking for healthy alternatives and unique food; everybody gets tired of the same ol' thing. Asian food not only is healthy, but it also tastes good," she said.

Driven by Americans' appetite for exotic flavors and Japanese cuisine's reputation for healthfulness, sushi bars in the U.S. quintupled between 1988 and 1998, according to Freshnews.com. And, the trend shows no sign of ebbing.

"When sushi first started becoming popular in bigger cities, it was kind of a novelty," Baggett said. "But like other Asian-style foods – like Chinese and Thai – it became one of these things that really became accessible to people."

Meridian has caught on to the growing popularity of sushi, which is offered at several restaurants – including Sake Sushi, which recently opened at Meridian Crossroads.

"A lot of Southerners are very well traveled. And so when you go to a place and then you come back home, it's just a natural progression for people to take things that see in other places and kinda make it their own and regionalize it," Baggett said.



History



Although in today’s society you will find sushi served most often in a Japanese restaurant, it actually dates back to 7th Century China. As a way of preserving fish, the Chinese people started making sushi but without modern day refrigerators, they used the natural process of fermentation. To complete the sushi-making process, only rice and salt were needed. The result was delicious fish, causing sushi to grow in popularity.

In the 1800s, sushi was made using a process that involved pressing fish in between layers of salt and leaving it for months to ferment. This process is known as narezushi, or “edomaezushi,” which is still used in some restaurants in Japan. The name narezushi was originally called “Edomae” and shortened to Edo. This name translates to “in front of Edo” which is a reference to fish caught in front of Edo city and used for the making of sushi. Unlike the sushi eaten today, Edo was formed in a ball of rice with a slice of the fish. When it came time to eat narezushi, the rice ball was thrown out and only the fish eaten. Today, narezushi is very difficult to find outside of Japan in that it has a unique taste not usually appreciated by Westerners.

As time passed and many of the Japanese and Chinese cultures crossed, sushi became a popular food choice in both countries. Throughout the cities, you would find food stands where various types of sushi were sold. In fact, during intermission at the various theaters, sushi was sold as a snack much like the popcorn sold in today’s theaters. Since sushi was easy and quick to make, it became a staple for most households in the 19th century to accommodate the busy lifestyles of the Japanese people.

Eventually, a food shortage in Japan changed the way in which sushi was made. Rather than throw the rice out, it was now eaten along with the fish. Additionally, the fermentation process was shortened so the fish although still safe to eat, was a little on the raw side. Because the fermentation process was shortened, the sushi had a slightly sour taste, which people loved. As people began experimenting, they discovered that by making the rice with a little vinegar the same sour taste was produced and better yet, the fermentation time was dramatically reduced to one or two days.



Types of sushi,

cooking class



The common ingredient across all the different kinds of sushi is sushi rice. The variety in sushi is from different fillings and toppings, condiments and how these ingredients are combined.

"Sushi is usually wrapped in a type of seaweed paper, and the ingredients vary – depending on what you want to put inside: vegetables, cooked seafood such as shrimp and crawfish, meats such as bacon; pretty much anything you want," Baggett said.

There are also different styles of sushi, rolls are the most common. But rolls are just a small part of sushi making, she said.

"There's sushi stuffed inside of fried tofu packets; sushi pressed into a box and cut into smaller pieces; sushi that is started off with a bowl of rice and ingredients are added on top – sort of like a sushi salad," she said.

For the cooking class, Baggett plans to focus on rolls – and even with rolls, there are several kinds, she said. There are rolls that have the rice on the outside, called 'inside/outside rolls;' rolls with the rice and ingredients on the inside; and the hand roll, which is like a little sushi ice cream cone.

"We'll make the kind with the rice on the outside, the seaweed on the outside and the cones," she said.

Baggett said because the 2 1/2 hour class is hands-on, it will allow her to offer participants more one-on-one, detailed instruction.

"I really want people to see that this is something that they can do at home," she said.

The focus will be on ingredients that can be found in a local grocery store.

"When you go to a sushi bar, they have a lot of exotic seafoods and lots of interesting fresh fish. But unless you have access to that, you really can't do that at home," she said. "I focus on more of the creative side of sushi so that people can see, 'Oh, I have some shrimp or some crawfish or this' – things that they can find, because I really want people to make sushi at home."







su•shi (soo-she)



In Japanese cuisine, sushi is vinegared rice, usually topped with other ingredients, including fish, various meats and vegetables. Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes.

In Japan, sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi and is distinct from sushi, as sashimi is the raw fish component, not the rice component. The word sushi itself comes from an archaic grammatical form of a word that is no longer used in other contexts; literally, sushi means "it's sour."