I've never had beef sushi in Japan, but one or two places in Northern
California serve it occasionally.

One place uses what they claim to be Kobe beef (me thinks Wagyu of some
sort). Another place had one offering of this recently and for some
reason tasted rather gamey, like mutton. What was nice was that they
did some sort of marination and light searing ahead of time, then all
was needed was a quick cook/sear (aburi?). The creme brulee or heavy
duty blow torch seemed to work.

Any idea what goes in that beef pre-marination? It had a hint of
similar flavors of maguro zuke, but was more subtle. Gyu niku sushi is
pretty tasty if done right. One time in one of the shota no sushi
episodes, one of the sushi chef apprentices made a hosomaki with gyu
niku and added julienned ginger and garlic, pre-marinated in soy/sugar
and something else. Is there a Japanese name for this preparation?

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I've never had beef sushi in Japan, but one or two places in Northern
California serve it occasionally.

One place uses what they claim to be Kobe beef (me thinks Wagyu of some
sort). Another place had one offering of this recently and for some
reason tasted rather gamey, like mutton. What was nice was that they
did some sort of marination and light searing ahead of time, then all
was needed was a quick cook/sear (aburi?). The creme brulee or heavy
duty blow torch seemed to work.

Any idea what goes in that beef pre-marination? It had a hint of
similar flavors of maguro zuke, but was more subtle. Gyu niku sushi is
pretty tasty if done right. One time in one of the shota no sushi
episodes, one of the sushi chef apprentices made a hosomaki with gyu
niku and added julienned ginger and garlic, pre-marinated in soy/sugar
and something else. Is there a Japanese name for this preparation?


I've had beef (gyuuniku) sushi once in Japan but I don't remember it being
marinated. I've had Sakura niku (basashi) as sushi also and that wasn't
marinated
either. So I really can't say if marinating is traditional or not. Actually
there are plenty
of people who will say that using meat isn't traditional in the first place.
However use of strong yakumi, like shouga (ginger), ninniku (garlic) and
nira
(chives?) is common with raw meat dishes to offset the "meaty" taste and/or
aroma.
A mixture of ginger and shoyu is simply called shougajouyu. But not sure if
there
is a specific name for thje mixture you describe above. It's a rather common
marinade
often just referred to as "shita-aji" (under taste, the taste beneath) that
is used in several dishes
such as Japanese fried chicken... Kara-age (aka Tatsuta age).
M

wrote:
I've never had beef sushi in Japan, but one or two places in Northern
California serve it occasionally.
*snip*

I haven't seen gyu niku sushi in Japan yet. The meat-based neta that
I have seen used are smoked duck and kakuni, which is stewed
pork. These are offered at kaiten places and other lower level sushi
restaurants such as the Bikkuri Sushi chain.

glenn