On 2008-01-13 15:00:33 -0800, barry said:

There are many other non-sushi items that I've gotten fixed on, but
sticking only with the sushi for thread's sake: recently I was delivered
ama-ebit in sushi format and it came with a little slice of lemon and it
had been pre-sprinkled with some sea-salt. I put two drops of lemon on
it, per the itamae's instructions and It blew me away! Man oh man,
that's the way to eat ama-ebi!

I had Japanese Tai served that way, a couple of drops of fresh squeezed
lemon juice and a light sprinkle of sea-salt. The chef said not to dip
in soy sauce since it already had the sea-salt.

was it lemon or yuzu? lemon is a bit too astringent IMO. but i
defintely prefer sea salt & yuzu on my whitefish.

For the most part I've gotten to where I don't really like anything on
my white fish with the possible exception of wiping a slice of lemon
against it, no drops, just a swipe. Yuzu we have seen more frequently
around here, but I've never seen it delivered with white fish.

Over the years there have been a number of great times I've been
delivered some really good salt, sometimes blended with green tea or
muddled with nori, and some kind deep fried item, a shrimp cake or
tempura or something One sublime time it was fresh ginnan in Autumn
(ginko nuts), hot in their shells. This stuff with a little of this salt
is a delight.

I've had a few freebies the chef was testing.. spicy tuna/salmon maki that
is deep fried with light tempura batter. Its ok, but I think its a waste
of good tuna and salmon when its deep fried.

i suspect that it's cooked for that very reason - one of my favorite
chefs gets rid of older abalone & mirugai by cuting it into slivers
and griling it with spicy salt and serving it as a complimentary
appetizer.

Well last night. at Taka Sushi in Costa Mesa I realized the sushi chef
is no big fan of shoyu, I guess. We were doing omakase, and he was
bringing sushi, all pre-dressed. We had Japanese Tai with a little
salt, and aoyagi ("round clam") with lemon and shiso. I began to realize
that I enjoy a little salt on these sushi items rather than soy sauce.
It kind of opened up my eyes anew to sushi proper since it a little rice
there really supports it all.

and sea salts aren't all the same either. i'm not sure that many susi
chefs make that kind of distinction though.

I don't know if it was sea salt in my case. We have about 8 different
kinds of salt at the house we've been trying over the years, and I find
that they are pretty similar with minor distinctions. Nonetheless all
of them can screw up anything if you get over-excited. Anybody who
soaks nigiri-sushi in soy sauce and/or drapes ginger over it, would
probably be cutting back on the "shriek" factor of their food by a
mini-pinch of salt instead.
--
///---

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:57:35 -0500, Dan Logcher
wrote:

barry wrote:

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:54:57 -0500, Dan Logcher
wrote:

I always ask the chef if the uni is fresh. That way the chef knows I'll
know good from bad. I've been told no a few times, since they don't want
to serve bad uni. Once after I asked, the chef gave me a free sample uni.
It was quite good, and he topped it with freshly ground real wasabi.

i've uni served with yuzu kosho - the slippery/spicy combination works
for me (i had udon with yuzukosho last night as a matter of fact), but
i prefer uni unadorned when it's truly fresh.

It was only a tiny ball of real wasabi, which did not come off too strong.
I asked him afterwards if that was real wasabi, which also impressed him.
Its kind of hard to miss, kind of chunky, not as sharp..

I had Japanese Tai served that way, a couple of drops of fresh squeezed
lemon juice and a light sprinkle of sea-salt. The chef said not to dip
in soy sauce since it already had the sea-salt.


was it lemon or yuzu? lemon is a bit too astringent IMO. but i
defintely prefer sea salt & yuzu on my whitefish.

I believe the chef said it was lemon, maybe it was yuzu and he just said
that so I'd know what it was.

I've had a few freebies the chef was testing.. spicy tuna/salmon maki that
is deep fried with light tempura batter. Its ok, but I think its a waste
of good tuna and salmon when its deep fried.


i suspect that it's cooked for that very reason - one of my favorite
chefs gets rid of older abalone & mirugai by cuting it into slivers
and griling it with spicy salt and serving it as a complimentary
appetizer.

No, this wasn't old stuff. I watched him roll it and wondered what he
was doing. He went to the kitchen and came back with a deep fried roll.
He would often use us as test subjects for his creations, not that we
minded one bit. I just would prefer the fish had remained raw.

yeah. i had one "creation" that was a gunkan spicy tuna that had been
squirted with mayo and then grilled - he called it a "volcano" with
the cooked mayo resembling lava. it was more a visual triumph than a
culinary one IMO - but that's why we pay the price for R&D.

i have favorites, but they haven't necessarily been what i've enjoyed
the most. i've had fresh mackerel only once, it was really good, but
because it's so difficult to find it was that more memorable for me.

I had fresh mackerel a couple of times too.. was also very memorable.

sometimes circumstances and context matter, too - you're in boston,
aren't you? i once walked the freedom trail on a day where the temp
was probably about 10 degrees in december. i even went to the see the
constitution. anyways, i ended up over by the docks and a fish shop
was offering samples of chowder - fresh fish, real cream - it was the
best chowder i've ever had. but having spent the morning tramping
around boston had a lot to do with it.

and since sushi has such an array of contrasts, having just one
favorite would just leave out so many...

Indeed.. I have a top 5 usually.. the ones I really want or must have
when I go out. Oh and I've forgotton to mention ankimo. Our regular
place does ankimo gunkan, a drizzle of ponzu and some scallions on top.
I wish they had it all year round.. but I understand why they don't.

the best ankimo i ever had was fresh out of the pot - in its cooking
liquid. another mouthgasm. i can't prove this, but i suspect that
ankimo retains its creaminess after refrigeration better if it's
steamed instead of boiled - kinda like hard cooking an egg in water
that's just brought up to to a simmer and then taken off the heat and
left to slowly cook for about 20 minutes.

--------
"any words spelled incorrectly are probably typing errors"

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:55:36 -0800, Gerry
wrote:

On 2008-01-13 15:00:33 -0800, barry said:

There are many other non-sushi items that I've gotten fixed on, but
sticking only with the sushi for thread's sake: recently I was delivered
ama-ebit in sushi format and it came with a little slice of lemon and it
had been pre-sprinkled with some sea-salt. I put two drops of lemon on
it, per the itamae's instructions and It blew me away! Man oh man,
that's the way to eat ama-ebi!

I had Japanese Tai served that way, a couple of drops of fresh squeezed
lemon juice and a light sprinkle of sea-salt. The chef said not to dip
in soy sauce since it already had the sea-salt.

was it lemon or yuzu? lemon is a bit too astringent IMO. but i
defintely prefer sea salt & yuzu on my whitefish.

For the most part I've gotten to where I don't really like anything on
my white fish with the possible exception of wiping a slice of lemon
against it, no drops, just a swipe. Yuzu we have seen more frequently
around here, but I've never seen it delivered with white fish.

Over the years there have been a number of great times I've been
delivered some really good salt, sometimes blended with green tea or
muddled with nori, and some kind deep fried item, a shrimp cake or
tempura or something One sublime time it was fresh ginnan in Autumn
(ginko nuts), hot in their shells. This stuff with a little of this salt
is a delight.

I've had a few freebies the chef was testing.. spicy tuna/salmon maki that
is deep fried with light tempura batter. Its ok, but I think its a waste
of good tuna and salmon when its deep fried.

i suspect that it's cooked for that very reason - one of my favorite
chefs gets rid of older abalone & mirugai by cuting it into slivers
and griling it with spicy salt and serving it as a complimentary
appetizer.

Well last night. at Taka Sushi in Costa Mesa I realized the sushi chef
is no big fan of shoyu, I guess. We were doing omakase, and he was
bringing sushi, all pre-dressed. We had Japanese Tai with a little
salt, and aoyagi ("round clam") with lemon and shiso. I began to realize
that I enjoy a little salt on these sushi items rather than soy sauce.
It kind of opened up my eyes anew to sushi proper since it a little rice
there really supports it all.

and sea salts aren't all the same either. i'm not sure that many susi
chefs make that kind of distinction though.

I don't know if it was sea salt in my case. We have about 8 different
kinds of salt at the house we've been trying over the years, and I find
that they are pretty similar with minor distinctions. Nonetheless all
of them can screw up anything if you get over-excited. Anybody who
soaks nigiri-sushi in soy sauce and/or drapes ginger over it, would
probably be cutting back on the "shriek" factor of their food by a
mini-pinch of salt instead.

LOL

--------
"any words spelled incorrectly are probably typing errors"

On Jan 13, 4:29 pm, Ken Blake
wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:25:45 -0800 (PST), Eugene in Likesushi Dot Com

wrote:
My own choice would be Uni and Otoro. They both have the Unami

That's "umami," if you believe it exists. I'm skeptical, myself.

(freshness) taste that comes with it and is not something you can find
in other food.

Second picks would be hokkigai and Akigai clams. Just marvellous.

I have many favorites. The following, in no particular order, come
quickly to mind, but I'm sure I'm leaving some out:

mirugai
torigai
tako
ika
unagi
toro
hamachi
sake
uni

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Yes I made a typo on the word umami - it is corrected in the later
Umami post that I have written later in the website.

On Jan 13, 12:33 pm, wrote:
In article
,

wrote:
I agree with that, tho I've never had raw quail egg, but that sounds
good, too.

"I have heard that the best uni is red in colour"

The orange, Maine uni that I used to get fresh was by far the best,
but you can't get it any more, at least I can't. But here's a photo
of one at the Koi restaurant in Manhattan (and doesn't that place look
awesome!) - and I never found one with nearly as much roe in it as the
one in this picture! Mostly the ones I used to get had no, or hardly
any, roe in them, with some exceptions - but not like that!

The raw quail egg on top changes/adds to the flavor some. You still
taste the Uni fine, the egg just adds a little change of pace. It's
mostly the yolk that adds to the flavor. I definitely get some strange
looks from folks sitting by me at the sushi bar when enjoying my Uni
this way. Maybe I'm just a strange looking guy anyway.

http://www.geocities.com/asahitoro/uni.jpg

I've read that Uni from colder waters is best. Does anyone know this to
be true?


From my limited experience with Maine sea urchins, I'd bet it is true.

Those uni & quail egg sushis look awesome! Where was that picture
taken?

I think I forgot to post the link to the Kanoyama, NY, NY uni above.
Here it is:

http://www.geocities.com/asahitoro/uni.jpg

At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

One sushi bar nearby occasionally has live scallops. I also get that
when he has it. He serves it sliced in the shell with a sprinkle of
black tobiko on top.

______________________________

I like raw scallops, too. I remember going fishing many years ago at
Orchard Beach I bought some scallops at a Bronx fish market to try to
use as bait, and I wound up eating the bait, and found out the bait
tasted better than the fish I was hoping to catch! I've eaten sweet
raw scallops from fish markets since then, too, but I guess the
practice is fraught with danger.

One of the temporary sushi chefs at S10 served me raw scallops, just
before S10 went totally over to the dark side. That was the only time
I had raw scallops at a sushi joint.

Warning: Kids, do not eat stuff from the fish market raw without
adult supervision!

"Eugene in Likesushi Dot Com" wrote in message
...
My own choice would be Uni and Otoro. They both have the Unami
(freshness) taste that comes with it and is not something you can find
in other food.

Second picks would be hokkigai and Akigai clams. Just marvellous.

http://www.likesushi.com/uni.html


Very pretty site.
As a friendly gesture, some Japanese words and their meaning:
Shinsen.......................... Fresh
Sendo............................ Freshness. Literally degree of freshness.
Umami........................... Literally "tastiness". From the verb "Umai"
meaning Tasty.
Now determined to be a taste sensation often created by the formation of
amino acids
when certain foods are combined. In the case of sushi, the Umami comes from
the vinegar
in the shari (sushi meshi) combining with the neta (tane) protein on top.

Musashi

Dan Logcher wrote:
wrote:

In article ,
Dan Logcher wrote:


Agreed! And bad uni will ruin the entire meal.



The first time I had Uni it was bad and I thought I'd never try it
again. Very nasty stuff. I'm glad I tried some fresh Uni a month or
two later. I was totally hooked at that time and always wanting it.
I've eaten 16 pieces (nigiri) in one sitting before and that was with
a few other nigiri items as well. Yum!

I had ok uni when I first started eating sushi, but I really didn't like
it.
It was part of the sushi deluxe we'd order, one piece. I'd eat it anyways,
since I know its expensive. Didn't do anything for me. We moved away from
that place, so I stopped eating uni.. Then after a discussion here I
started
trying it again. A few tries later and I was hooked.

I had tried it a few times and was only marginally interested until one
day someone shipped me about 30 live urchins from Maine, just caught. I
spent an evening opening them up and sucking them down and was forever
hooked. There is nothing like uni fresh from the shell, wow.....

--
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/ The Sushi FAQ
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/sushiotaku/ The Sushi Otaku Blog
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/sushiyapedia/ Sushi-Ya-Pedia Restaurant Finder
HTTP://www.theteafaq.com/ The Tea FAQ
HTTP://www.jerkyfaq.com/ The Jerky FAQ
HTTP://www.omega3faq.com/ The Omega 3 Fatty Acids FAQ

On Jan 14, 12:08 pm, "Musashi" wrote:
"Eugene in Likesushi Dot Com" wrote in ...

My own choice would be Uni and Otoro. They both have the Unami
(freshness) taste that comes with it and is not something you can find
in other food.

Second picks would be hokkigai and Akigai clams. Just marvellous.

http://www.likesushi.com/uni.html

Very pretty site.
As a friendly gesture, some Japanese words and their meaning:
Shinsen.......................... Fresh
Sendo............................ Freshness. Literally degree of freshness.
Umami........................... Literally "tastiness". From the verb "Umai"
meaning Tasty.
Now determined to be a taste sensation often created by the formation of
amino acids
when certain foods are combined. In the case of sushi, the Umami comes from
the vinegar
in the shari (sushi meshi) combining with the neta (tane) protein on top.

Musashi

Thanks Musashi!
The server is down right now but hopefully its going back up soon as I
have to upload some new stuff in there.
Come back often to check out new stuff!

wrote:
At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to take
two bites to eat it.

--
Dan

On Jan 14, 2:59 pm, Dan Logcher wrote:
wrote:
At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to take
two bites to eat it.

--
Dan

So true Dan, but I'll have two bites just for the flavor!

On Jan 16, 1:23 am, parrotheada1a wrote:
On Jan 14, 2:59 pm, Dan Logcher wrote:

wrote:
At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to take
two bites to eat it.

--
Dan

So true Dan, but I'll have two bites just for the flavor!

And do anyone know why you would want to eat uni with quail egg?
Because of the additional umami? I am always curious about that.

"Eugene in Likesushi Dot Com" wrote in message
...
On Jan 16, 1:23 am, parrotheada1a wrote:
On Jan 14, 2:59 pm, Dan Logcher wrote:

wrote:
At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see
now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in
one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical
gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are
used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to
take
two bites to eat it.

--
Dan

So true Dan, but I'll have two bites just for the flavor!

And do anyone know why you would want to eat uni with quail egg?
Because of the additional umami? I am always curious about that.

I am of the belief that the practice of putting a quail egg on a Uni gunkan
is
an overseas abberation of the practice applied sometimes to Ikura.
In the case of Ikura which is very salty to start with, the addition of a
quail egg yolk
will smooth out the flavor. Additionally Ikura when kept will become saltier
in time
from loss of moisture so the quail egg becomes all the more useful.
While I've seen quail egg on Ikura gunkan in Japan, I've never seen it on
Uni.
Musashi

parrotheada1a wrote:
On Jan 14, 2:59 pm, Dan Logcher wrote:

wrote:

At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to take
two bites to eat it.

So true Dan, but I'll have two bites just for the flavor!

Not as easily done for gunkan than nigiri.. but yeah, sometimes I do for
the flavor.

--
Dan

Eugene in Likesushi Dot Com wrote:

On Jan 16, 1:23 am, parrotheada1a wrote:

On Jan 14, 2:59 pm, Dan Logcher wrote:


wrote:

At first I thought that was one superstuffed sea urchin, but I see now
that they've taken the uni from a lot of sea urchins and put it in one
shell (I think).

Maine and Japanese uni are smaller than California uni. A typical gunkan
maki will have 3-5 pieces of Maine uni. I don't know how many are used
for California uni, but its usually huge and overstuff.. I have to take
two bites to eat it.

--
Dan

So true Dan, but I'll have two bites just for the flavor!


And do anyone know why you would want to eat uni with quail egg?
Because of the additional umami? I am always curious about that.

The yolk of the raw quail egg adds an additional salty, creamy texture
and flavor that can be so good.. had to describe further than that. You can
also have a quail egg served on ikura, tobiko, and masago. If you haven't
tried it and you like uni, ikura, or tobiko.. you should try it.

--
Dan