The history and properties of a sushi burger 

In Japanese cuisine sushi is a rice food cooked with rice vinegar, sugar and salt and combined with a filling or garnish of fish, seaweed, vegetables or eggs. The filling can be raw, cooked or marinated and can be served dispersed in a bowl of rice, rolled into a strip of seaweed or placed in rice rolls or placed in a small pocket of tofu. In Japan the word sushi refers to a wide range of foods prepared with rice. Outside Japan it is often understood as raw fish, or as a reference to a restricted kind of Japanese foods, such as maki or even sashimi.

The origins of sushi are as uncertain as they were at the time. The most widespread opinion is that it was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks in the seventh century. Very similar to sushi was a preparation that appeared in Japan already with the introduction of rice cultivation, around the fourth century BC, a variant of an ancient method for preserving fish widespread in Southeast Asia and China: raw fish was arranged in layers with salt alternating with rice and kept pressed for a few weeks; then it was left to ferment for months. This type of sushi is called naresushi, still very popular in the Tokyo area. In the seventeenth century rice vinegar began to be added to shorten the fermentation time of rice and the fish was marinated or cooked.

It was only around 1820 that the closest sushi recipe of our time appeared in Edo (today's Tokyo). Hanaia Yonei is the creator of nigirizushi; He was the first to serve on his counter chunks of rice flavored with vinegar with slices of raw fish on top. Since then the sale of sushi on the street became a widespread use. A curious thing was the white curtain attached to the stalls to which customers wiped their hands after consuming sushi. An infallible way to identify the best retailer was to look at the tent: the dirtier it was, the more frequented the place was and therefore the better the sushi that was served there. Since then, sushi has spread throughout Japan and around the world, giving rise to many variations.

SUSHI RICE

The most common ingredient in all the different types of sushi is sushi rice. The variety of the dish comes from the choice of fillings and toppings, in the choice of other condiments and in the way they are combined. The same ingredients can be assembled in completely different ways to achieve opposite effects. Sushi rice (sushi-meshi) is prepared with a white rice, sweet short grain, washed and cooked following a precise technique and then wet with rice vinegar in which sugar and salt are dissolved and lightly heated, konbu and sake. It is cooled to body temperature before being used. The rice used is the Japonica quality which has a different texture from those normally eaten outside of Japan. The essential requirement is the cohesion of the beans. If it is too sticky the taste is excessively sweetish, but if it is not too sticky it has a dry taste. Freshly harvested rice (shinmai) normally contains too much water and takes extra time to dry after washing. There are regional variations in sushi rice and of course individual chefs have their own methods. The Most variations are in vinegar dressing: the Tokyo version typically uses more salt, the Osaka version has more sugar. Sushi rice should typically be eaten shortly after being prepared.

SUSHI CHEF

Will and discipline are the indispensable qualities to become a sushi chef, completed by a strong personality. During the first two years, an apprentice can only observe his Shokunin and also perform tasks of dishwasher or floor cleaning. Later he will learn the technique of cooking rice (very important and difficult preparation) and only after four years will he be able to learn the art of cutting fish and composing sushi. In this same period he will also learn to buy fish at the market, which requires a lot of experience. That of the sushi chef has always been a male profession: traditionally it was believed that the female hands having on average a higher temperature, ruined the fish during handling. Today, however, you can find some women dedicated to the preparation of sushi.

SUSHI BAR

Entering a Sushi Bar worthy of the name, you will find a very warm and welcoming atmosphere and you are generally greeted by a scream "irashaimase", which is the word of welcome that you give in Japan to all new customers who enter a restaurant or bar. Sitting at the counter you can admire, arranged on display, varieties of fish and vegetables to check their freshness. There are mainly two different types of Sushi Bar: In some you have a classic menu with which to order from time to time the courses that are freshly prepared by the chef. Nigiri sushi is served in pairs, while maki-sushi generally in portions of six pieces. It is customary to order only one portion at a time. Then there are the kaiten-sushi, where on a conveyor belt pass all the dishes already prepared a few minutes before (and consequently very fresh) and can be taken directly without asking the chef. In many kaiten-sushi the cost is identical for each saucer, while in others, especially those located outside Japan, the color of the saucer indicates the relative cost. Some Japanese when they venture into a Sushi Bar that they do not know, to verify its goodness the first piece they taste is a nigiri-tamago, or a piece of nigiri with a kind of omelet on top. The reason for this choice is because it is the nigiri that costs less and tasting it you can immediately understand if the rice has been prepared with care or if it is appropriate to change restaurant. As per typical custom of Japanese restaurants, it is very common the custom of exposing outside some wax copies of the varieties of dishes (sushi in this case) available, produced by specialized artisans with such skill that they cannot be distinguished from edible ones.