Japanese food

What characterizes Nigiri sushi hand technique?

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Nigiri
Nigiri sushi is a popular form of sushi which is known for its simplicity and elegance. Technique is used to make small hand rolled pieces of sushi consisting of a rice ball topped with fresh seafood.

It is important to use sushi rice to make nigiri sushi.

A nigiri rice ball is shaped by hand in a special way. To get a specific shape, the experienced sushi chef creates a small air bubble inside the rice ball. The sushi chef makes sure that the texture of the rice is firm enough to hold its shape. It should still soft enough to be edible and not too compact.

The sushi chef adds a small amount of wasabi directly onto a slice of fish. The slices of fish must have the correct size before placing it on the rice ball. With a few fingers and pressure the fish and rice are combined into a piece of tasty nigiri sushi.

Nigiri sushi hand technique requires care and skill to achieve the best result. An experienced sushi chef can create nigiri sushi that melts in your mouth. The perfect balance between the texture of the rice, the freshness of the fish and the taste of wasabi and soy sauce.

Read more about Sushi Chef & Sake Sommelier Zoë Escher

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Zoë has held sushi courses and cooking classes for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

In Japan, do Japanese Sushi Chefs use Avocado for sushi?

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Sushi chef & sake sommerlier Zoë Escher
In Japan, I have never seen Japanese chefs use avocado in sushi.
Avocado is a fruit that I have not seen in local greengrocers and supermarkets meaning that it is not sold to private individuals.

What characterizes Japanese cuisine is that chefs use ingredients that are in season. This also applies to sushi restaurants. When Japanese chefs make sushi rolls, they also use fish and vegetables that we do not know in Europe or USA.

This is the Japanese definition of sushi.
If you ask sushi chefs in Japan, their answer will always be to use fresh materials of high quality it is up to the sushi chef to transform the raw materials into tasty pieces of sushi for the delight of the guests.

On the Sushi course for beginners, you learn step by step how to make tasty sushi with the most popular raw materials for sushi in Denmark. You get the best tips on how to succeed every time with your sushi.

Read more about Sushi course for beginners

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

How is the popular street food dish okonomiyaki made?

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The last time I ate the Japanese dish okonomiyaki was in 2015 in Tokyo.
It was with Mrs. Takahashi, her youngest daughter who is in her mid-30s, her son-in-law and nephew.

One Friday early evening after training, she asked me if I had tasted okonomiyaki. It is one of her favorite dishes. I have never tasted it.
We went to her favorite restaurant, which is a tiny place that does not look like much from the street. We went up on a very narrow staircase to the first floor, down a narrow corridor and sat down in a 4-person booth with a large frying pan on the table.

Large cold draft beers were brought to the table. Soon after, a chef came and cooked us a very large okonomiyaki. While it was being cooked we could decide what kind of filling to add. When it was finished, it was cut into several smaller pieces.

Over the years I have been asked how okonomiyaki is made. It can be made in many ways.
I prefer it to be made with Japanese ingredients, raw materials and cooking techniques it has the best taste.

It has become a Mini e-book: 5 Japanese okonomiyaki for 1.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

Did you know that there is a right way to use soy sauce for sushi?

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White soya sauce plate with sushi
The correct way to use soy sauce for sushi is to consider soy sauce as a condiment. Soy sauce can be equated with salt and pepper, it is a way of flavoring the food.

Most people are aware that when you sprinkle too much salt and pepper on your food, you might find it difficult enjoy the food. It can be almost inedible. The same can apply with soy sauce.

It can be difficult to dose the amount of soy sauce when you dip a piece of sushi into the soy bowl. Some prefer to leave a piece of sushi in the soy sauce for a few seconds before eating it.
I can’t recommend doing that, especially if you’ve spent money on good quality sushi. It will be more difficult to taste the fish and the different vegetables. The soy sauce will cover the natural taste of sushi.

The best way to eat sushi is to dip the individual pieces of sushi quite lightly in the soy sauce. That way you can enjoy the taste of the individual pieces of sushi and get the most flavor for the money.

On the Sushi course for beginners you learn, step by step, how to make sushi with the most flavor possible.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

How fresh can seafood be?

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Seafood can be so fresh that it is still at body temperature when eaten.

Japan is a country surrounded by sea. Fresh fish and rice have been the most important raw materials in Japanese cuisine for centuries.

Japanese food culture is still based on raw materials being as fresh as possible. There are several reasons for this.

The Japanese population has grown up with shellfish being no more than a day old before it is cooked into tasty dishes. This applies to both fish bought from a fishmonger or in a supermarket.

Japanese cuisine has several iconic dishes where fish and shellfish are eaten raw, such as sushi.

The Japanese have the opportunity to buy raw materials that are either caught or harvested the same day.

The Japanese are very focused on eating healthy and fresh ingredients of the highest quality. It gives joy in life, but also healthy health. It is no coincidence that the Japanese are the population in the world that live the longest.

On the Sushi Course for Beginners, you learn to make tasty sushi step by step with a focus on how to get the most value without compromising on quality.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

What types of meat does teriyaki sauce go with?

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Japan is one of those countries that eats a lot of dipping, a kind of sauce to most dishes.

In classic Japanese cuisine, sauces are made to suit the dish in question. Dishes such as tempura, tonkatsu and okonomiyaki to name a few use sauces made for each dish.

However, this does not apply to all of Japanese cuisine. The Japanese kitchen is very very large. In Europe, only a fraction of classic Japanese cuisine is represented.

One of the Japanese sauces that more and more people in Europe have noticed is teriyaki sauce. Most people know the version that can be found in the supermarket. However, it tastes completely different from teriyaki sauce, which is made from scratch and served in restaurants in Japan.

One of the reasons for its popularity also in Japan is that it goes well with several types of meat. In Japan, it is most often eaten with chicken and fish dishes. It is also suitable for dishes with pork, vegetables or large prawns.

Teriyaki sauce made from scratch is a winner. It’s a sauce that most people eat with a spoon when they first taste it. The taste is deep, round, salty, sweet and has a perfect balance.

In the Traditional Japanese Food Course for Beginners, you will learn step by step how to make a teriyaki sauce from scratch, as it is served in Japan. A sauce that is suitable for starters, main courses and several types of meat.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

What is a Japanese Sushi handroll?

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5 Japanese handrolls for one
A Japanese Sushi handroll is not that widespread outside of Japan. In general, handrolls are not particularly widespread.

In Japan, Sushi handroll is considered a bit like a kind of fast food within sushi, and there are several reasons for this.

A Sushi handroll is easy to learn to make, it takes no more than 15 minutes. It is more rustic and level of hand techniques need to make handrolls and the presentation is not that high as is the case with sushi rolls or nigiri.

It takes no time to make Sushi handroll once you have learned the hand techniques. As soon as the order of the hand techniques is learned, it does not take many minutes to make handrolls.

In relation to raw materials, you can use as many raw materials as you like.

Sushi handrolls are perfect for lunch or dinner when time is short. It is also suitable for a cozy time with family or friends.

Several people have asked how to make Sushi handrolls and it has turned into a mini ebook: 5 Japanese sushi handrolls for one.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

Why are onigiri so popular in Japan?

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5 healthy japanese onigiri for one
In Japan, onigiri is such a popular dish that Japanese people wait for several hours to buy onigiri from some of the best restaurants in Tokyo.

Basically, onigiri consists of a rice triangle with a tasty filling and the rice triangle is wrapped in nori seaweed, nori seaweed that most people know from sushi.

There are several reasons why the Japanese like to wait for hours to buy the best onigiri.

In Japan, boiled rice is not just boiled rice. As with sushi, a virtue is made out of cooking rice to perfection. The quality of the cooked rice determines how good the onigiri tastes.

In Japan, there are restaurants with menus with up to 50 different onigiri with their very own unique filling. There are almost no limits to what fillings can be used for onigiri.

Just like with sushi, onigiri is made by hand. In Japan, restaurants have refined their techniques in such a way that customers line up to taste just their onigiri. They make onigiri that make the bird sing and send their customers to heaven.

In the mini e-book: 5 healthy Japanese onigiri for one, you learn step by step how to make tasty onigiri suitable for everyday use and lunch.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

How big is the selection of fish in a Japanese supermarket?

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In Japanese supermarkets the fridge counter looks completely different than in Europe.
In the supermarket most of the products are written in Japanese characters and they have other products in the range.
The big difference in the selection of food products can be seen in the fridge counter. In Japan, fish is eaten as much as meat is eaten in Europe. This means that the selection of fish in fridge counter is large and varied. Every supermarket has high-quality filleted and whole fish packaged in a way that suits the average Japanese family.

In Japan, the season for raw materials is followed and, this means that the selection of fish changes from season to season. Japanese children learn from a very young age to eat many different kinds of fish prepared in many different ways.
That is why you find many unknown fish of different sizes in the fridge counter fish. Some of the fish are from Asia, while others come from the north, such as  salmon, which are known for their very high quality.

On the Sushi course for beginners you will learn about the most popular fish for sushi in our latitudes. Step by step, you learn from scratch to make tasty pieces of sushi.

Read more about Sushi course for beginners

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

How widespread are yakitori skewers in Japanese cuisine?

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5 Japanese yakitori for one
Yakitori skewers are part of classic Japanese cuisine.
In Japan, yakitori skewers are such a popular dish that you will find restaurants that are only specialized in making this delicate dish on small indoor grills.
In Japan, sushi makes up less than 15% of the Japanese cuisine. My impression is that yakitori skewers are as popular as sushi.

The classic Japanese yakitori skewers are made with chicken. In Japan, the whole animal is used for skewers, including heart, liver and chicken skin.

The specialized yakitori skewers restaurants have a large selection of yakitori skewers on the menu. Often you will find 15-20 different yakitori skewers made with different ingredients such as fish, shellfish, meat and vegetables. So that your dinner embraces the entire food pyramid.

In the mini e-book: 5 Japanese yakitori skewers for one, you learn step by step how to make different yakitori skewers that are suitable for everyday use and special events.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.