Sushi Osaka style: Food of Japan

Mon, Aug 13th 2007, 00:00

When most people think of Japanese food, they think of Sushi.

Although Sushi is most commonly linked to the Japanese heritage, it actually began in China during the 7th Century.

At that time, fish had to be preserved in a fermentation process that took a couple of months. Over time they discovered that by rolling the fish in rice soaked in vinegar, it was preserved in a matter of days rather than months. The rice was then tossed out and the fish eaten.

However, in times of drought and food shortage, people began consuming the rice as well as the fish. And sushi as we know it today was born. In the 1800s, famous chef Yohei was planning a large dinner party. He did not have enough fish to serve his guests, so he took a piece of fish from the freezer that had not been fermented. The frozen fish had actually retained its flavour, and any bacterium was killed.

So Yohei created two styles of Sushi ... one called edomaezushi referring to fish caught near the city of Edo, and the second, Osaka, named after the city.

These days sushi refers to vinegared rice topped or mixed with various fresh ingredients, usually fish or seafood. It has taken the world by storm and today is a multibillion dollar industry.

There are different types of sushi:

Nigiri zushi: ingredients placed on top of a block of rice. Battera is a variant and direct descendant of primitive sushi. Battera originates in Osaka and has a unique square shape. In Osaka it is served not only in sushi restaurants, but also in take aways, department stores and station kiosks. Traditionally mackerel was placed on rice and squeezed very hard into a wooden box, then cut into pieces and served. In Tokyo they adapted the battera style and created the nigirizushi style of sushi.

Maki zushi: roll sushi ... ingredients are placed on a sheet of seaweed (nori) and rolled into a cylindrical shape on a bamboo mat, then cut into smaller pieces.

Temaki: a hand roll ... nori rolled into a cone shape with the ingredients placed inside.

Chirashi: scattered ... ingredients placed on top of sushi rice in a bowl or dish.

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