What kind of sushi should I order for a friend who's never had it?

Question

I am taking a friend/co-worker to lunch tomorrow...she is trying sushi for the first time. I am pretty new to it, and I am not sure what to order (my boyfriend introduced it to me, I always get what he orders!!) I love the stuff, but she is hesitant. What would be a good choice to start her off with??

Answer 1

The tradition is to start with Medican sushi*....california roll is non-threatening and gets one used to the idea of how this stuff works.

Oh, one important thing. If you mix up a batch of soy and wasabi for dipping, a cut roll gets one bit of a corner dipped in the sauce. The regular sushi--nigirizushi--do not dip the rice in the sauce: turn it over and dip a little of the fish in the sauce.

Dipping the rice into the soy sauce is like ordering a hamburger and slathering ketchup all over the outside of the bun. Besides, the rice will fall apart and make a mess. Messiness is anathema to the zen of sushi. Go to a sushi bar, enjoy, but please do not act like a barbarian. I have little patience for Japanese peoples' sense of cultural superiority, but I like their food a great deal. Americans who act like boors in a sushi bar give the racist elements in Japanese society (that's the 90% who still regret losing the Second World War) the ammunition they need to maintain their butt-headed ways.

Sushi trivia: What does the word sushi mean?

Su-shi means "seasoned rice." In fact, there are many forms of sushi that do not contain fish at all. For example, kappamaki, which is rolled-up cucumber sushi (a terrific refesher in summer). Tamagozushi (egg custard). And there is a whole branch of sushi, kanpai sushi ("festival"), in which the chef combines pastel-colored batches of rice with layers of nori to produce astonishing works of art, edible cloissone like a stained glass window made with rice.

In terms of the relative daunting-ness of sushi dishes, one can see a spectrum. The easy sushi is the cooked sushi and the fish that are not cooked but not too raw, either :-)

1. Tuna. Usually a vivid red cut of yellowfin tuna, this is an easy to eat and easy to like treat. Even gaichin like to have their tuna steaks rare these days; this is just the logical extension. Tuna comes in three basic types: maguro, chutoro and ototo. Maguro is regular red tuna. Otoro, true toro, is the belly of a bluefin tuna of a particular (high) grade. Chutoto is supposed to be bluefin tuna of a lower grade (but because it's meatier, I prefer it), but some establishments serve an especially high grade cut of tuna from other parts of the bluefin tuna (oishii desu neh) or from other species entirely (ie, dame desu).
2. Ebi. Steamed shrimp.
3. Salmon. You can get smoked salmon, too, and some chefs even make a firimaki with cream cheese and lox. Fresh" salmon is a real treat, but don't try this at home: sushi bar "fresh" salmon is marinated before service, without which you're at risk as much as if eating raw chicken.
4. Hamachi. Yellowtail, a relative of tuna and one I (and many gaichin) prefer to maguro (ordinary tuna).
5. Hirame. Flounder, good eating, gaichin are familiar with the taste and texture.
6. Tamago, egg custard, is a favored way to end a meal, light and refreshing, slightly sweet.
7.Tai. No english equivalent. This is NOT red snapper. Many sushi bars serve red snapper and call it tai, so before ordering tai, ask if it's from Japan. If not, then don't bother.
8. Sea bass. Suzuki. Like hirame, except that there is a special sashimi dish, suzuki usu zukuri. Say that three times fast. "Usu zukuri" means "paper thin slice," and it's served with ponzu instead of soy. Ponzu is a citrus-based sauce, and this dish is a classic summertime treat.

Slightly more advanced are

Caviar, including ikura (salmon roe), tobiko (flying fish roe) and masago (smelt roe), kobashira (sea scallops), kaibashira (bay scallops), kohada (no english equivalent, it's beautiful but very fishy), saba (mackeral that will make you very popular with the cat population of the county), unagi (broiled eel; if your friend is Italian, move this to the easy category). Tako (octopus), a cut across an arm.

Ikura, squid. People either love this or hate it, it's a slab of raw squid mantle.

Then we come to the difficult items.

Uni. Uni is considered by Japanese people to be a caviar, but actually it's the gonads of a sea urchin. It has the most amazing nutty buttery taste and a texture that has been known to ... to .... to do unpleasant things. I just close my eyes and swallow slowly, I certainly DO NOT CHEW uni.

Odori, the most fresh shrimp sushi imaginable. Chef presents the live shrimp on the bar. Shrimp "dances" in discomfort at being out of the water. Chef prepares a pad of sushi rice and, in the blink of an eye, scoops up the shrimp, decapitates it, shells and devins it, places it on the pad and presents the dish. EAT IMMEDIATELY, and you will be treated to food still pulsating with not-quite-extinguished life.

This kind of food is quite simply tantric.

Answer 2

Depending on whether or not she can handle the whole idea of eating raw fish- i'd go for Maki, which is the cooked form of sushi. The California roll is a pretty popular maki, because the ingredients seem a little less risky to eat. And if she doesn't mind trying raw fish, then probally something with tuna in it.

Answer 3

Best Kind Of Sushi

Answer 4

I would suggest the spicy tuna roll to start off with. It's not real "fishy" tasting or scary looking. It's real simple, nothing outrageous...but delicious.

There is also what they call a spider roll (at least at the sushi place around here) and it has cooked crab meat in it. That's pretty good, too.

Answer 5

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I just started eating sushi a couple years ago and I LOVE it! My fiance and I go out to Japanese restaurants at least one a week now that we're comfortable trying new rolls. At first, we started by ordering the Bento Box at our local restaurant. The Bento box is like the Japanese version of a combo plate. It comes with rice, miso soup, edamame (boiled soybeans, YUM!), salad, and your choice of two (or sometimes one) entree. It's pretty cheap, usually $10-$12 for all the food you get. And the best part is it comes with 6 pieces of California roll, so you can try it out. This way if you don't like it, you don't feel as if you wasted money. The California Roll is one of the most simplest rolls on the menu, it has imitation crab meat, cucumber, and avocado. It is wrapped in seaweed and rolled in sushi rice. If you like the California roll and would like to try another simple roll I would recommend the Tempura Shrimp roll. It is a California roll with a deep fried tempura shrimp inside, usually they drizzle special teriyaki sauce over the top. It's one of my favorite rolls! After that, you can pretty much read the menu and find rolls similar to the California roll or the Tempura roll that you would like to try out. Last night we tried one called the Lion King roll, which was a Tempura roll that had baked salmon on top~DELICIOUS! The names of rolls can differ depending on which restaurant you go to, many restaurants like to name their rolls after their chefs or local landmarks. Don't be afraid to ask the waitress, they are more than happy to recommend a roll and are happy to hear that you are trying out sushi. When I was pregnant and couldn't eat raw fish our waitress even offered to make rolls with teriyaki chicken just for me! Have fun and I hope this helped.

Answer 6

Maybe your friend is hesitant about eating raw fish. There are many sushi that are made with vegatables- cucumber, canned crab (maki-sushi) Also, California rolls are a great alternative to raw fish. Bon Appetit!

Answer 7

Most newcomers to sushi think the California Rolls are very tasty. They aren't quite as fishy as many others.

Answer 8

Here's a great page I found: "Sushi for Beginners." Why don't you print it out and show it to her.

http://www.sushifaq.com/sushiforbeginners.htm

Answer 9

as long as they're not allergice to shrimp ... either shrimp tempura roll, or if you wanna spice it up ... a lisa lisa, which is a shrimp tempura roll w/ avocado, cream cheese & eel sauce! soooo good!

Answer 10

cat and horse is delicous