Our family loves sushi rolls so my wife and I took a sushi class on a recent cruise. Cue my new obsession (thanks ADHD!). I dove head-first down the YouTube rabbit hole, spent way too much on supplies and ingredients at my local Asian market, and we had our first home sushi meal last night.
It was… not as easy at home as it was on the ship.
Issue #1 – I made 1 cup of rice expecting it to make 5 to 6 rolls (based purely on Google). It barely made 2. It seemed like I was using a lot more rice than we did on the ship. We used a full sheet or nori for both so idk what the deal was. I just know on the ship the sushi chef kept telling everyone they had too much rice. And yet I used almost half of my 1 cup of rice for 1 roll.
Issue #2 – my rice was WAY too sticky. I'm talking super glue sticky. I washed itultiple times before cooking (until water was running clear) but it still came out like rat trap glue. That may be what contributed to issue 1 above since I had a difficult time spreading it due to the stickiness. I kept my fingers & hands damp but it didn't matter.
Issue #3 & #4 – the shrimp. Oh my gosh the shrimp. 😡 I bought fresh shrimp (I think they were labeled like 12-15 size) from a local market and went to skewer them (right under the back "spine", where the vein runs) in order to boil them and keep them straight, but that's when I noticed they were not deveined. In order to devein them I had to cut the backs open, which meant I could no longer skewer them for cooking.
Which leads me to the real issue #3 – How the crap do you devein the shrimp without mutilating them? Cutting the back open often times cut the vein open as well, leaving me with a lot of cleanup under cold water.
Issue #4 is a result of #3 – cooking them straight. I resorted to peeling them, cutting slits in the bellies, and cracking the spine in order to flatten them. A couple of them just split it half. The rest of them still curled up when cooking. And they got tough and kind of rubbery. Maybe this is caused from over-cooking them?
Even with all my issues, the family still said it was the best meal I've ever cooked. I'll wear that badge with honor. Taste still ended up amazing.
Prep – 2/10
Presentation – 6/10
Taste – 8/10
How can I improve on my issues above? Is it just practice and experience or is it a procedure and preparation issue?
by cmcfalls2