On 07/14/10 11:42 PM, sometime in the recent past Nick Cramer posted this:
> > wrote:
>> OK, so I've delved in and tried a few times to prepare homemade sushi
>> and would love to get better at it. I've got fairly simple sushi
>> tastes - salmon rolls, tuna rollls, sometimes spicy, sometimes not. I
>> encountered problems when preparing these rolls at home, though, in
>> that the taste didn't come out right. After the first failure I
>> thought it was my rice preparation technique, but I've altered the
>> rice recipe several times and no luck - basically it comes out tasting
>> really bland. I know tuna and salmon aren't the inherently tastiest
>> fish in and of themselves, but at a sushi bar I always have been
>> pleased at the taste and most times don't even need wasabi or ginger
>> unless I want it. At home, however, it was like eating... nothing.
>>
>> I bought sashimi-grade salmon and tuna from a local Japanese
>> supermarket, and even tried a different market so that wasn't it. Its
>> almost as if the sushi bars prepare the fish in some way (in some sort
>> of brine? vinegar?) to bring out the taste a bit more. Is there some
>> secret to this? I would have thought these would be the easiest
>> things to prepare at home, but I'm not having any luck and am
>> stumped.
>
> You might try sprinkling a mixture of Dashi and shoyu on the fish (about 2
> Tbs each for 6 oz of fish), let it marinate for 1/2 hour or so, then drain
> and pat dry.
>
> Also, try spreading a *little* soft, but not runny, wasabi paste on the
> rice, just before adding the fish.
>
The itamae always puts a little 'smear' of wasabi paste on each piece of
fish before putting it on the rice when making nigiri, so you might be
right, Nick, that could be the missing part.

--
Wilson 44.69, -67.3