Sushi is becoming an extremely popular food in the US and it's spawned great creativity in the world of rolls. There are a variety of them with many ingredients and beautiful toppings. It's all very delicious, but lets not forget about the simpler things.
I really enjoy making up rolls and new "fusion" style sushi, but I admit I kind of forgot how good just simple pieces of sushi are.
A little while ago I started some part time work at a new sushi bar. I really enjoy it there and of course I couldn't resist tasting everything. I was reminded how good just a piece of fish and some rice is. Not much to it, but with good quality fish there's not much room for improvement. Honestly, as beautiful as rolls can be, there's usually just so many components that you get lost in a vortex of textures and flavors. All together they create something good, but you have to be able to appreciate each ingredient for what it is. All these sauces and toppings you usually find in a roll just mask the taste of the fish inside. I understand that to each their own, but everyone should try to take the time to get back to the basics.
Love the food for what it is, don't try too hard to turn it into something it isn't.
Hey everybody,
So this is a product I randomly stumbled upon while cruising through Hmart. I decided it would be a good idea to give it a test run.
When making rolls it's very important to have a "maki", the bamboo mat that is used to form and actually roll your sushi (pictured on left). These aren't super hard to find and are pretty cheap. I'm seeing these more and more in stores that have any kind of Asian foods section. One thing that can be kind of annoying though is that cleaning can be difficult, between each little piece of wood and after time the string holding it together can become worn. One easy way to keep it clean is to wrap your mat in plastic wrap, but this has to be changed every so often.
So, when I saw this product I thought it would be a good investment since it's non-stick and would be easy to clean. (not to mention the color is kinda fun.)
It totally looks like a silicon pot-holder, but I tried to look passed that.
It's extremely flexible and, like I said earlier, it's really easy to clean. Rice doesn't stick to it at all so plastic wrap isn't necessary.
Unfortunately
Being so flexible and flimsy, it's difficult to get a firm and uniform shape. Honestly, I thought I just needed to get used to it, but it just became more annoying over time.
Currently it's sitting all alone on the oyster station at work.
If you see one and want to give it a try, go ahead. It was only 4.99 and it could work better for smaller rolls. If not, you got a pot-holder out of it.
I've seen similar products that might yeild better results. There are some out there that are made from harder material. When the chance arises, I'll pick up one of those.
