[food crunching]
[lively music]
- Hi, I'm John and I'm a level one chef.
- I'm Lorenzo and I'm a level two chef.
- HI, I'm Hideyo
I'm from Institute of Culinary Education
I am a level three chef.
[upbeat music]
- I think sushi is pretty hard to make,
lets be real, it's not something that
you can readily just whip
up at a moments notice.
- What I like about sushi is you can
interchange flavors.
You can use seafood, you could use meats,
just vegetables it's really up to you.
- Good sushi is rice it's body temperature
and the fish is cold.
So the combination of body temperature
and cold it's so nice in my mouth.
[words whooshing]
[whimsical music]
- First up, let's make the rice.
Here I have my sushi rice and
I let it soak for 30 minutes,
per the instructions
on the back of the bag.
- And this has been rinsed
about two or three times.
I see that the water in
the bowl is pretty clear
which means it's A-okay, ready to go.
- Then drain,
like that.
- For this particular rice cooker,
it actually calls for one part--
- [All] Rice.
- One part--
- Water.
- It's on sushi I just have to.
["Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"]
[Lorenzo laughing]
- And once this comes to a boil,
reduce it to a simmer
for about 20 minutes.
- So while rice is cooking,
let me make the sushi vinegar.
Please use that rice vinegar.
I like to make maple syrup,
and salt, sea salt here and mix very well.
Before you open the lid,
pray.
Good!
- So, now that my rice is fully cooked,
I'm gonna let it rest
so that the rice reconstitutes
and gets to that nice texture
to make the sushi rolls.
- Let me fluff it up.
- I personally like to
make a little garlic rice
before I make my sushi rolls.
Put a little bit of vegetable oil in.
Fry up a little bit of fresh garlic.
I'm simply gonna take the rice out of my
handy dandy rice cooker,
mix it around a bit.
- Now I'm gonna add.
[All] Rice wine vinegar
- Sugar and salt that has
been dissolved all together.
- And you can kinda see
when I move the rice
it has that, you know, sticky,
gelatinous quality to it.
- So, cover with damp towel
because rice will be dry.
- All right, now that my rice is done
let's move on to the fillings.
So, here I have my crab meat,
it is imitation style of crab.
I would say if you have crab,
great go get it, but this stuff is good.
- So these are nice big shrimp.
They have been deveined
and I leave the tail on.
Why?
Fancy schmancy.
But that's how they do it.
And what we're gonna do
here is make a marinade.
Lemon juice, rice wine
vinegar, salt, fresh garlic,
and a few turns of some ground pepper.
- My filling will be spicy tuna.
So, mix the mayonnaise, spicy sauce,
and, toasted sesame oil.
- Now, since it is Captain Hook,
we need to straighten this puppy out.
How you do that is you take the end
that has not been deveined
and you score it a few times.
And then you actually kind of break it.
And then it gets to be that typical
tempura length and straightened shrimp.
Marinade 10, 15 minutes.
- I'm using the lean tuna today.
I'm gonna cut the tuna
then mix with sauce.
- My shrimp have been marinating
for a good 20 minutes now.
Next step, I'm gonna make
the unbelievably easy tempura batter.
Let's ninja this egg.
Let's do my flour.
Cornstarch.
And now I'm doing my
final fizzy seltzer water.
I like to use a carbonated liquid
that way the batter is nice
and fluffy when it fries.
So, I have a pot here
full of vegetable oil.
We're just gonna dreg, dip and swim!
I'm just looking for a nice golden brown.
You'll see that it's nice
and crinkly and fluffy
the batter is doing it's magic around it.
- And next up, we're gonna cut our--
- [Both] Cucumber.
- I like them kind of toothpick thin.
- So, that's scallion.
I'm going to cut them into
super, super thin pieces.
Soak in ice water bath,
I also use radishes.
Then cut into thin pieces.
Then soak the radishes
in to ice water bath
to make them nice and crispy.
- So, next we have a nice pear.
This is a Bosc pear, nice and crispy.
- I also put--
- [Both] Avocado.
- Inside of sushi.
- So, I'm just gonna
go ahead and slice this
into very thin slices,
almost to match the consistency
of the matchstick cucumbers.
- I'm actually gonna the sesame seeds,
I just wanna toast it a little bit.
It's already turned a different color.
- Next is making wasabi from wasabi powder
Then, cover it to make the wasabi hot.
I also slice even more
tuna on top of the sushi.
So, when I slice the tuna on an angle,
I can make a bigger slice.
- All right folks, it's time to assemble.
- First wrap the bamboo
mat with plastic wrap
so that bamboo mat is not sticky.
- And then just a bowl of
water to wet your hands.
You'll find that it gets very sticky,
so the water just helps
keeps things nice and moist.
- So, this is your Nori,
which is actually algae.
- I'm gonna cut the Nori in half.
Like that.
Then place the Nori on bamboo mat.
Nori has two sides.
Shiny side and rough side.
Always rice on top of the rough side.
- So, I'm gonna put
just a nice hunk of rice
and I wanna have enough rice so that
I can completely fill the square.
- Spread the rice all over the Nori.
Like that.
- So, now I'm going to actually add
both of my sesame seeds, just for decor.
- So, now that my rice is fully
rolled out on the sushi mat,
gonna go ahead and add
our layer of Nori seaweed.
- And then we're gonna do a little flip.
- Fluff it up
- So now that I am on the
palin side of the Nori,
I like to put a little bit of wasabi.
You know, the more the merrier.
- So, I'm gonna go ahead,
lay in our lump crab meat.
- Spicy tuna mixture.
- I don't want it to be too too thick
because if it's really
fat when you roll it
it's just gonna be impossible
and then your roll will be like this.
Then, our--
- Cucumber.
- I'm also gonna do my
julienne pear, add it on.
- And then last but not least--
- [Both] Avocado.
- Hello tempura shrimp!
- Now, that my filling's are in,
time to roll this bad boy up.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and grab
everything from the bottom.
So, the sushi mat, plastic wrap
and then I'm just gonna
take it over the top,
hope to God this works out.
- Hold the bundle mat and Nori together,
roll to the end of the filling.
You need this kind of empty space
acts like glue to stick the log together.
Open it, then roll to the end of the Nori.
Then shape, but no squeeze.
- We're just trying to make
sure nothing's loose in there
and trying to make sure it
actually rolls properly.
- It looks like I overshot,
with the size of my Nori and rice.
That's okay.
We're just gonna trim that
we'll use it for later.
Oh my God, I hope there's
not plastic wrap in it.
- All right, I'm gonna top
my roll with an avocado.
Slice it up and I'm going to fan it out.
But I need to make sure
it's not going anywhere.
Just gently, just gently.
Then, voila!
The sushi is ready.
I'm going to put the
tuna on top of the sushi.
Diagonal, so that there
you can eat lots of fish.
And now, I'm gonna make a Ponzu sauce.
Very complicated folks.
Light soy, lemon juice, Ponzu sauce.
- There's my rolled sushi.
Looks pretty good.
Now the last task is to cut it up.
- Now I'm just using parchment paper
to make it easier for me to cut.
- Then cover with plastic wrap.
- Big trick that I learned
from the interwebs.
Because the rice is so sticky,
it will stick to the knife,
so I go ahead and moisten the knife
with a damp paper towel.
- So, when you cut the
roll, wet your knife.
Cut the roll into eight pieces.
- Oh, man!
Ah!
Nope, that didn't work.
Let's go from the middle,
maybe that'll help.
Nope, still falling apart.
- These are giganotosaurus.
Let's leave 'em giganotosaurus.
Good, oh, look at that, oh, that's nice.
Okey-dokey.
- Then, shape it again.
Then remove the plastic.
A sushi chef always show the cutting edge.
Now I'm going to add garnish.
Spicy sauce on top of the tuna
so that it works as glue.
Mix with the scallions and the radishes.
Then press on top of the sushi.
- Now to finish of my sushi,
I'm gonna top it off with a
little bit of sesame seeds.
Gives it a little color.
I don't think it adds that much taste,
but look how pretty that looks.
- I like to add the edible flower.
Then, don't forget to add the wasabi.
- And here's my sushi.
- And this is my sushi.
- This is my sushi.
[upbeat music]
The sushi it's finger food.
Pick up the sushi, then
dip on the soy sauce,
just a little bit.
Don't dip too much.
- Mm.
- Mm.
- Yum.
- Not bad!
- That's kind of good.
- I taste the rice, I taste the crab meat,
it tastes like a California roll.
So, I think job well done.
- Tuna, avocado and spicy sauce.
So good combination.
And there, that tuna is nice sushi quality
and very fresh.
- Absolutely delicious!
Honestly, I actually like this the best.
The best thing so far
that I've made! [laughing]
Try it you guys!
- Let's see how each of our chefs
made their version of the
delicious versatile dish, sushi.
Rice is a grain composed
of two starch fractions,
amylose and amylopectin.
Amylose is a linear polymere of glucose
and amylopectin is branched.
All three of our chefs used traditional
short grain sushi rice,
which is lower in amylose
and higher in amylopectin.
This gives us a rice that's more sticky,
since it's branched
molecules don't stack neatly
due to having more space
between the starch fractions.
Lorenzo and Hideyo rinsed their rice,
which removed some of the excess amylose
making theirs a bit
less sticky than John's.
John cooked his rice in a pot,
which offered less heating consistency
compared to other methods.
- Good point.
- Lorenzo used a rice
cooker which was convenient
since it regulated the
temperature for him.
- The easiest way to make rice.
- He followed this with a quick light fry
and then tossed his rice with
a vinegar and sugar mixture.
This all added a rich
sweet and sour crispiness.
Hideyo cooked her rice in a one part rice
to one part water ratio,
shocking it in cold
water prior to cooking.
This shocking of the rice
lowered the temperature very quickly,
making the starch granules
condensed and compact.
Limiting additional swelling.
She seasoned her rice
with rice vinegar, salt
and maple syrup, which added a sweetness
and mineral quality.
- Yummy.
[dramatic music]
- John's fillings included protein
in the form of imitation crab meat,
crunchy cucumber and rich smooth avocado.
Imitation crab is a blend of fish paste,
usually made from pollock with salt,
seasonings, starches and coloring.
- I'm guessing we use it
because it's cheaper and
more readily available
than lump crab meat.
- Lorenzo made a marinade for his shrimp,
adding a layer of acidity from the vinegar
and lemon juice and pungency
from garlic and black pepper.
He then dried his shrimp and sliced them,
which ultimately made
rolling the sushi easier.
He added the shrimp to a tempura batter
made from flour, cornstarch and seltzer.
The seltzer provides
pockets of carbon dioxide
that expand when heated,
making for a very light batter.
Cornstarch also makes a light tempura
because it doesn't contain gluten
and won't form stretchy networks
for trapping carbon dioxide
like you have with bread.
Lorenzo fried his shrimp
and added cucumber
for crunch and pear for sweetness.
- Pears to me are just a treat.
- Hideyo focused on her sushi grade tuna.
Sushi grade is not a regulated term
but it implies that the fish is safe
to consume when raw ,
according to the company
it was purchased from.
- Tuna makes me tough.
- She added sriracha mixed with mayonnaise
and a small amount of sesame oil.
- The mayonnaise acted as an emulsifier
between the sriracha and the sesame oil,
keeping the mixture smooth.
[dramatic music]
All three of our chefs used
a plastic covered sushi mat,
which prevented rice from sticking to it
and allowed for easier cleaning.
They also all used Nori.
Nori is a sheeted seaweed from red algae
and has a distinctive grassy,
minerally, salty taste.
John laid his rice down
first followed by Nori.
While Lorenzo and Hideyo
put their Nori down first,
topped it with rice
and then flipped it so the
rice was on the outside.
Hideyo cut her Nori in half
to ensure her roll didn't get too large
or out of balance, making her sushi
a much more manageable size
than John and Lorenzo's.
- You can use the whole piece of Nori
but the roll will be this jumbo.
- They all carefully added their fillings,
then rolled the edge of
their rice to form a roll,
squeezing to make the
sushi compact and firm.
John sprinkled his sushi
roll with sesame seeds,
which added some color and texture,
and served it with soy sauce.
He also served pickled ginger,
which is thinly sliced ginger root
cured in vinegar and sugar.
Lorenzo topped his sushi
with sliced avocado,
which provided a nice creaminess
along with pickled ginger and wasabi.
He also made a Ponzu sauce
by combining soy sauce and lemon juice.
This acidic and salty combination
enhanced the overall
flavor profile of his dish.
Hideyo put raw fresh tuna
on top of her sushi rolls.
She complimented her spicy mayonnaise
and sriracha mixture with wasabi,
which she made from scratch
by combining water with wasabi powder,
allowing her to control its spiciness.
- The wasabi is not hot enough.
So, after cover, our
wasabi became super hot.
- She also added edible flowers,
which are visually appealing,
but don't add much in terms of flavor.
No matter which way you roll it,
make sure you try out some of these tips
the next time you're preparing sushi.
[upbeat music]
