Rouses Everyday - May & June

ROUSES

EVERYDAY

MAY | JUNE 2015

the

Culinary Influences

issue

SUSHI DO

The Way of the Sushi

Chip – Rouses Seafood Specialist

Konnichiwa!

Nare-zushi, or aged sushi, a combination of fermented

rice and preserved fish, dates back to the ninth century,

but modern nigiri sushi, which is made with short grain

rice combined with rice vinegar, sugar and salt, and a

bite-size piece of seafood, wasn’t introduced until 1824

in Edo, Japan, which is now known as Tokyo.

Sushi is still relatively new to America. The first

American sushi bar, Kawafuku Restaurant in Little

Tokyo in Los Angeles, California, opened in 1966. The

first California roll was served in the Tokyo Kaikan

restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1970s.

Back in the 1980s, I was living and working in a sushi

restaurant in California and eager to learn how to make

the edomaezushi we served. But all of the books about

sushi were written in Japanese. And all of the sushi chefs

I knew were Japanese. So I got a tutor who taught me

how to read and speak Japanese. When the sushi chefs

saw that I was serious, they agreed to apprentice me.

It takes years of training to become a sushi chef.The hardest part is

learning how to cut the fish. Cutting fish is the same to a sushi chef

as cooking fish is to a traditional chef.The final cut always has to be

across the grain of the fish.

Chip – photo by

Frank Aymami

At Season’sPeak

I started the sushi program at Rouses in 2003. We made it at our

first St. Tammany market, Covington. Now we have sushi chefs in

nearly all of our stores.

We get fresh sashimi-grade fish and large scallops flown in just

for Rouses. Sashimi grade fish can be eaten without rice (but

use chopsticks). One of my favorite selections is Big Eye Tuna,

available at Rouses. Flown in from Hawaii! In Hawaii, ahi refers

to two species, the yellowfin tuna and the bigeye tuna. Ahi has a

firm texture with a mild flavor and lower fat content than bluefin

tuna, which is what we catch here on the Gulf Coast. It’s also great

seared, grilled and broiled.

Sashimi and sushi rolls are traditionally

served with soy sauce, wasabi (which

resembles horseradish) and Gari

(ginger that has been pickled in

rice vinegar, sugar and salt).