Sushi and hygiene issue

It's been taken so many years for becoming a proper sushi chef 「板前 Itamaei」in Japan, traditionally. 
Yes, off course, you can make some tasty nice sushi at your home maybe after you attended a couple of sushi classes. The sushi is so popular in the western countries nowadays, isn't it? The quality of those sushi ,,,,,?

The hygiene issue, it would be the core of the sushi making. Did you know that? Especially for the professionals, when you offer the raw fish or fresh dish to your customers at your restaurant, the hygiene would be very important. I think that even at your home, it is a must to keep the good hygiene. 
Sushi restaurant in Japan, an apprentice have to learn to clean the restaurant every day for years and years, until the sushi master permit to touch the rice or some ingredients, but still not fish yet!! (Actually even in most of schools, we do clean the whole school every day!!)
You wonder why, because the sushi use some fresh raw fishes, so you have to very careful for the health and safety. All the process of making sushi basically in the strict hygiene environment. And also treating all the ingredients properly is the key to succeed to make the good sushi to eat safely. So you have to learn this issue before you start to make sushi.



 Te-zu

Sushi chef and cooks don't use any gloves in the process of making sushi at a sushi bar or restaurant in Japan. But here, you see at a food stand in this country.
Most people believe that using gloves for preparing food would be very hygienic. The fact is not. If you're using gloves more than 10 minutes, the bacteria will grown very quickly! Instead, sushi bars and fishmongers in Japan use a lot of water all the time in their kitchen and before and after their work again use a lot of water to clean. And using「手酢 Te-zu」a half water and a half vinegar for making nigiri and sushi every single piece. That's the way to keep the good standard hygiene level.  　   



This site is my sushi catering company just has lounched recently, but still in the middle of the establishment. Taking off is quite slow, but it'll be fine.
Chew Valley TAKUMI Sushi  
If you're interested in the sushi business, please contact me. 
I'll try to use the local ingredients as possible as I can and inevitably some from Japan or Asia.

Japanese Buffet Party

I was asked to arrange a Japanese Buffet diner for 10 people the other day. 

I made sushi platters as usual, but cooked some family fishes.


Picture left (left to right); Hoso-maki - cucumber, tamago-yaki, tuna-mayonnaise, Nigiri - herring mop, tamago-yaki, Zuke-mozzarella, (centre) Temari-zushi - kinshi-egg, prosciutto, smaked salmon.  + Gari ginger.

This picture; basically the same as above but they are teriyaki chicken-maki here.

Honestly, it is not easy to find a very fresh fish for sushi in this country. I mean, the very very fresh fish that you can eat row as sashimi. Unless you work at a restaurant or live near a fishing village.
Of course, you cant get some frozen fish from Japan or somewhere else in the world. 
But I really want to use the local products as possible as I can. I do my best. 





Other dishes on my menu;
Chicken, Salmon fillets and Tofu marinated in the teriyaki sauce. Each dished are slightly different taste. Sesame beans, Tamago-yaki (egg rolls).
Not to forget, the gari ginger and wasabi for the sushi. Sake as well.



I made the website for my catering business the other day. Actually it's hasn't completed yet. I'm doing only sushi catering at the moment, but the other cuisine, like south African food, mainly Mozambequan, will be launch in the future.  

If you're interested in my site, please click 「Chew Valley Takumi Sushi」here.
And if you have any question, just ask me!!! Or comment, please.

gsjskfl

Moyashi - Bean sprout

Have you tried to cook "moyashi「もやし」 bean sprouts" before? Actually you can eat this vegetable row in a salad. 

Your answer would be "YES", if you cook an Asian dinner. Chinese and Korean cuisines use a lot of moyashi. Some Japanese dishes cook with moyashi as well. 

I don't think that many people cook moyashi regularly, unless you're a lover of the Asian food or just love cooking.

So do you think you prepare this oriental vegetable properly? 

I'm going to show how to prepare moyashi properly or the Japanese way. (I don't know how other people in another Asian countries to prepare moyashi like this.)

What do you need to do first, fill the water in a big bowl after take out the moyashi from the package and then soak them in the water. 

You can see the brownish roots in the end of moyashi (1st pic). You don't need this part. You have to pluck them with your fingers one by one. This job is very important process cooking moyashi in the Japanese cuisine. It's quite taking time for doing this. So you can do other things simultaneously. Yes, you need patience.

Rid of the roots, but not the top end, "Germs", which is the most nutritious part (3rd pic). Keep them as possible as you can. Now it's beautifully clean(2nd pic).

This will be taste much better. And kept moyashi in the container with the water in the refrigerator will keep moyashi fresh and much longer. It's similar to keep Tofu in the water. In both cases, you have to change the water every day or twice a day. 

I've been constructing the Sushi catering business website, so if you're interested in, log on my site. Just have a look and leave your opinion, if you have. 

Then If you have a plan of Sushi a party or Japanese dinner for your family and friends soon, I can arrange the meals for you. You can enjoy an authentic and actually proper Japanese cuisine at your home. In the South West area only, mainly Bristol and Bath, at the moment.

Chew Valley Takumi Sushi 「匠すし」Your local Sushi expert!

  

Shoyu - Soy sauce

Shoyu（しょうゆ、醤油）, soy sauce in English, is very popular nowadays, isn't it?

Kikkoman bland is now very famous, even in a Chinese restaurant have some bottles of Kikkoman shoyu on their tables.

I use for my cooking a green-top Kikkoman shoyu which is less salt than the red-top one. 

Kikkoman green-top shoyu; my 1l and small table bottle. Sometimes I buy a ordinary red-top bottle but I prefer the green-top one.

You can buy a table bottle in almost every supermarket, but the big one was sold in the oriental superstores. It isn't cheep, though. It will cost you £ 7 to £ 8 per bottle. But if you're Japanese food lover and cooking an oriental food regularly, it worth to buy the big bottle. If you're new to the Japanese food, buy the small bottle. (less than £ 3)

Mackerel with the butter and shoyu.

Shoyu is very versatile. This is a must in your kitchen. You can cook the Japanese cuisine with it, of course, but also add shoyu to any dish. Just a dash of shoyu would be enhanced the aroma of your dish.

And then add the butter!!! It really good to get together so well. 

But, but, be careful, not too much, though, because there's quite lot of salt in it!

Get things in the UK

I'm so glad that the Waitress store have opened near my house last April. It only takes for 15 minutes to the shop by car. Actually the nearest superstore is Asda, Whitchurch. Only 10 minutes. 

And I found that the Waitrose price is not such expensive as quite many people say or believe. Of course, there are many products are quite/very expensive, but very very good quality and the daily stuff I need the most don't cost me a lot. Especially the Essential series products are very reasonable price, but kept the quality, though.

Some people decided thinking only of the image, like Apple hatred. I think that you can only say things are good or not, when you actually tried them once. 

The cheap products have the reasons to be cheap, for example the company don't pay enough price to the producers and wages to their stuff then use the crap materials and ingredients. Cheap = bad quality!! Cheap = greedy company sometimes!!

I would prefer to pay for the quality.

So, I found some nice stuff at Waitress in Kaynsham, B&NES. 

Dashi is a stock of Konbu, shiitake-mashroom and bonito flakes (in general). 

Panko is a breadcrumb, Tenpura Batter is the batter for tempura as you read.
All Japanese ingredients.  

Some of the big superstores also have the corner for the oriental food. It's worth to try one of those products. For me, the size/quantity of the most products are too small for the daily cooking.

Sainsbury's

Asda

Sorry for I didn't know about Tesco, because I stopped going to Tesco for years ago.

If you are a bread lover like me, Waitrose's breads are the best. The second is both M&S and Morrisons.  Lidle would be good for continental stuff. I don't like Aldi and hate Tesco.

I only buy meats and fish at Waitrose and M&S or Co-op.

Unfortunately, there's no small local shops near my house. So as a result, Waitrose is the best choice for the daily shopping for me. 

Sushi starter

It's a good idea offering a Sushi plate for the starter at your dinner or party. 

I made some variety of sushi for our family Christmas dinner last year. Put them into a kind of Japanese bento boxes called jubako （重箱)．
One of our guests have never ever tried any sushi before. He said he didn't eat anything, before he join us, because he and his family had a big Christmas dinner later.  However although he was quite skeptical before he ate one of sushi. Then he became a sushi lover in the end. He asked me some questions about Sushi and Japanese culture. He had no clue of Japan at all. As a result, my relatives and friends really loved my sushi starter!!! We had a very traditional Christmas dinner later, except using the Charcoal kettle BBQ for the roast Turkey. 

Hoso-maki（細巻き）Smoked Salmon, Egg, Carrot/Shiitake, Tuna mayo and Cucumber
Temari-zushi（手毬寿司）Smoked Salmon, Egg sheet, Italian ham

Hoso-maki, Temari-zushi and Nigiri（にぎり）jubaco box

Sushi making needs some techniques, but not so difficult. And fun too!! So if you lived near Bristol, I can offer a plate of the sushi starter plate or box for your dinner or party. Most of the ingredients are from the UK and you don't need to use any raw ingredient. Total vegetarian sushi plate is not very difficult to make.  

And also I'll start a Sushi making classes very soon. I will come to your home, if you wish. You can have a sushi night for your friends. 
If you really interested in making sushi and can't wait for the classes open, just let me know, I'll arrange the private class or a sushi night for you.

   
Contact: masuyo.newman@gmail.com  Copy and paste then send me your message, pls.

Basic table setting

This is the very basic Japanese table setting. 

When you are looking for a nice Japanese restaurant in your town, you can easily see that this restaurant would be offered the authentic and traditional meal or not. Just examine the display of the tale setting. 

The display of the chopsticks is the key to think of good meals they would offer you or not. 

If the chopsticks were displayed vertically, I don't think it's good restaurant for Japanese cuisine.

A bit shorter chopsticks with pointed in the picking side are displayed horizontally in front of you, this is what I expect in the authentic and traditional Japanese restaurant. 

Korean use a pair of metal chopsticks and a spoon, whilst Chinese use very long chopsticks, which quite slippery for picking up the food for me, so they display the chopsticks vertically. But NO WAY in the Japanese culture, we never ever do this way. In my opinion, if you called yourself a chef of the Japanee cuisine, you should know the cluture well. 

When you are in Japan and go to the Chinese or Korean restaurant, they would be displayed them in the Japanese way. Different approach in a different country, isn't it?

Very important part of the Japanese cuisine would be the RICE. It's very very different to the other Aisin cuisines. They use non sticky long grain rice, but the very sticky short grain rice called "Japonica rice" for the Japanese meal. also the quality of the rice is very important, especially for Sushi. 

When you had the long grain rice, might be dry, in your meal, I don't think you can get the quality Japanese food there.

Those two points would be the huge success to have the quality dinner in a Japanese restaurant or if you think of establishing the Japanese restaurant in the future. 

Anyone want to own a Japanese restauran, which is the proper, authentic and traditional one, I'll be able to help you? Actually I can't find any good Japanese restaurant in Bristol area. Sad, isn't it?

very Happy New Year, 2015!

My blogs (in Japanese language),

「英国通信」http;//ids-mnewman.blogspot.com

「英国歳時記」http;//masuyo-no-eikokusaijiki.blog.jp

「マスヨのキッチン」http;//masuyo-no-kitchen.blog.jp

Facebook page  -  Masuyo

It'll be a very very good year this year for all of you, my friends!xxxx