Grab Instantly The Story Of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga Of Raw Fish And Rice By Trevor Corson Presented As Ebook

writing is not great, The information makes this a fun read, though, if you enjoy sushi and Japanese culture, I gave it an extra star for that, while the writing itself I'd give ", "

If you're on the fence about sushi and Japanese food, you may want to wait till you're hooked to read this, Believe me when I say you don't want to know all there is to know about nori, miso, and dashi, Yet.


At times fascinating and insightful, other times annoyingly shallow in its presentation of the sushi phenomenon, Much of the science and history of sushi is spot on and a joy to read about, but where Corson falls short is his examination of the realities of sushi culture in Japan today.
Understanding that his focus was on the California Sushi Academy, but to title your work “The Story of Sushi” one has to at least examine how the modern Japanese experience it.
Corson gives very little accurate insight in this regard, Some of what he describes about sushi in Japan is just plain wrong, If you ever spent anytime in Japan, and you love sushi like I do, some of these falsehoods and characteristics of Japanese sushi need to be addressed.


. Throughout the book Corson makes it seem as though sushi chefs are some kind of fish bartender/psychologist, The sushi chefs at the California academy yuk it up with customers, tell jokes, and drink with them, In fact, quite a few pages of this book are filled with exchanges of “Kanpai!” between chef and customer, Well that might fly in America where we have come to expect a show thanks Benihana and want every restaurant to be a episode of “Cheers”, but in Japan it aint happening.
Waitstaff, chefs, and anyone working at a restaurant in Japan keep a fair bit of distance between themselves and the customer, Friendly, diligent, and ready to fill the customers needs sure, but slapping them on the back and downing shots of sake with them, even with regular customers, is a real nono.
This is due to the culture of Japan and especially due to the fact that chefs/waitstaff dont have to impress for tips in Japan,

The last thing I would want anyone to think after reading this book is that that those kind of wild revelries are what the Japanese sushi experience is all about.
Please dont buy your sushi chef drinks in Japan, period,

. Corson also seems to imply that most Japanese enjoy visiting their neighborhood sushi chef, some tiny five seat bar where everybody knows your name, That might have held true at an earlier time, but for better or worse, Japans modern sushi experience is built upon chain sushi restaurants, Some of these are massive, like Sushi Zanmai, some are regional like Hokkaidos Toriton, some are chains of only a few locations, You can find them in most cities and they draw a huge following, Usually they are of the kaitenzushi variety, The chefs at these places are very competent, not some twenty year old woman afraid to gut a fish, a la Kate from the book, In fact, near Tsukiji fish market some of the best sushi can be found at Sushi Zanmai and numerous smaller shops close to the inner market area.


Those two points being said, the book does do an excellent job of relating the history of sushi from the early days as a fish preserved for many months in rice to its more modern incarnation in the lates as a street stall snack.
Corson also delves into the making of soy sauce, dashi, seaweed farming, and rice cultivation, revealing the very rich tapestry of Japanese flavors necessary for sushi, This part of the book is wonderful, its a shame that more time could have been spent behind the Japanese sushi bar to give better context to the story.


Because of this omission, a better title might have been “Sushi in America”, That would have given to whole book more credence than the overtly bold “The Story of Sushi”, and would have given it three instead of two.
Maybe I'm reading too many books about food, but I'm getting slightly tired of reading books where, in the Acknowledgements section, the first thing the authors do is thank Harold McGee.
Maybe I should just be rereading Harold McGee,

The parts of Zen of Fish about the scientific composition about fish and the tradition of sushi are interesting, but the storyline that attempts to hold the book together is not.
Especially when the main protagonist is an Ally McBeallike woman whose greatest skills are that she can talk to the restaurant's American customers and decorate her sushi with little hearts.
I was especially irritated that the author didn't explain why the sushi restaurant he featured in his book failed all we hear is that they have night after night of full houses and then they have to close.
Contrast this with Michael Ruhlman's Reach of a Chef, which gives much greater insight into the nature of the modern restaurant industry, and Zen of Fish comes up short.
One of the best food books I have ever read, As good as Kitchen Confidential, Heat and Fast Food Nation, I read this book because, . . sushi. In all seriousness, I quite enjoyed "The Secret Life of Lobsters" by the same author and thought this would be an entertaining read as well, It is a very easy, very entertaining read, Yet at the same time, the author teaches the reader how to better enjoy traditional sushi, sushi mistakes to avoid, and the whole hidden history of sushi.
For anyone who likes books about food, history, culture, or simply wants to have a better appreciation for the fish you eat, this book is for you.
Wow, this is a wealth of information,

Basically, it toggles between two things: first, following one class of the California Sushi Academy focusing on three students in particular: Kate a Midwestern girl, Takumi a shy former Japanese pop star, and Marcos ayo guy who thinks making sushi will get him laid and second, a history of sushi.
It was very skillfully done,

Somehow, even though the author was shadowing the class formonths and also appears to jump in their cars and follow them to lunch, because some conversations happen in those scenarios the author is almost entirely absent from the story.
Yet even in his absence, we dont lack for interesting people, Or interesting facts. Or sushimaking tips I was inspired to make my own after reading this, and thanks to the explanations in the book, it went astonishingly smoothly,

SUSHI HISTORY

sushi became affordable ins when it was sold by food stands for workers rebuilding Edo after earthquake

Sushi began as follows.
To preserve fish in the first millenium A, D. , people would cover the fish with rice which would break down into sugar through fermentation, which kills bacteria, Then months later, theyd scrape the nasty smelly rice off and eat the fish “aged sushi”, But as time went on, and class systems became more robust and travel was more efficient, wealthy people began to eat the fish earlier and earlier in the fermentation phase, until they were eating it when the fish was still quite fresh and the rice was still good to eat.
They realized the rice tasted good, a little vinegary, and began to eat it with the fish, They called this “ready raw sushi, ” Eventually, rice vinegar was invented, and they realized they could just add rice vinegar to fresh rice and get the same taste, Enter sushi as we know it,

RANDOM SUSHI FACTS

sushirolling bamboo mats look like window blinds because thats what were originally used

“nigiri” means to squeeze the rectangle of rice together

rice on the outside, seaweed nori on the inside is purely an American style.
Its called an “inside out” roll, Traditional sushi has nori on the outside, rice inside,

cucumber maki is called kappa maki after “kappas” which are mythological creatures that live in ponds and eat children you may recognize them from therd Harry Potter book.
The only thing they love more than eating children is eating cucumber,

“nobody” who is authentically Japanese drinks sake with their sushi since sake is made from rice, it clashes with sushi,

"Raw" fish in sushi isn't actually raw or at least, its not totally unprepared, Traditionally, all of it should either be blanched or else marinated overnight in salt and vinegar both are employed to make the fish last longer and inhibit bacteria grwoth.
Salmon, in particular, should ALWAYS be frozen, Nearly all salmon carry tapeworm or anisakis parasites,

traditionally, there are two main kinds of sushi: kappa cucumber maki and tuna maki, Theyre called “thin rolls” theyre simple, only one ingredient,

So there, everyone who, when I say “I love sushi,” interject with “Isn't vegetarian sushi an oxymoron"

No, you're an oxymoron, See, one of the two traditional kinds of sushi is vegetarian,

And while were on the subject: the term sushi "refers not to fish, but to rice rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt, Any food made with this seasoned rice can be called sushi, whether it involves fish or not, "

RANDOM OTHER FACTS

that

fishy smell, the “smell of the ocean,” comes from algae which fish eat, The compounds that give it that smell are bromophenols

Mackeral, in Japanese, is referred to as “hikari mono” “shinyskinned fish, ” The phrase is used today to describe women who wear glitter and shiny clothes, Its the same reason calling someone a “mackeral” in England meant they were a dandy, a man who dresses in a flashy way, In France, calling someone a mackeral meant they were a pimp for similar reasons which is where we get the term “mack daddy” by the way, I know you want to whip out that fun fact every day,

Freshwater eels might be the weirdest fucking animals, Ever.

First, nobody had any idea how they bred, They didnt even realize “glass eels” these tiny, transparent eels are actually the same species, just baby freshwater eels, It wasnt untilthat it was discovered that ALL FRESHWATER EELS COME FROM THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE, Okay, all freshwater eels in the Western Hemisphere, The freshwater eels in the Eastern Hemisphere come from this one particular place in the Philippine Sea, They then swim through the ocean and end up either in Europe or in North America, The eel you find in German rivers came from the EXACT same place as the eel you find in Iowa, How fucking wild is that

Then after living their life in freshwater rivers, they swim back out to sea presumably to the Bermuda Triangle, though nobodys seen eels spawn, spawn, and die.
Like the reverse of salmon, who are born in rivers, live in the ocean, and return to the river, But like, salmon come from lots of different rivers, whereas all eels come from the Bermuda Triangle,

God is definitely fucking with us, Excellent book about sushi and masters who make it, Great information about story of the sushi, toppings on it and other stuff related to sushi and Japanese food, .