Domo arigato, Mr. Sushi Gaijin!

While I was really supposed to be out there learning how to save the world, or at least my family, I took a break to learn how to roll sushi from LTHforum poster SushiGaijin at Dirk’s Fish market last November.



When my friend Helen and I arrived, there were already a group of Sushi Gaijin’s friends setting up and casually discussing their mutual interests in lizards, turtles and snakes. If you will recall, SushiGaijin has his share of exotic pets:

I once had a half dozen box turtles living in my closet, a quartet of russian tortoises in the front room, a snapping turtle in the office, and a couple of sliders in the kitchen. since then i have reduced my collection to a dozen or so snakes and a couple of dozen geckos; reptiles are like crack or fried food, you cant have just one.

The cause célèbre this evening was Sushi for Salamanders. The proceeds of the class were to help save the Giant Salamanders of Andrias and Cryptobranchus. 100% of the proceeds went to this noble cause because SushiGaijin donated his time and Dirk’s supplied the fish.

Since our dinner was pending on our progress in making sushi, SushiGaijin was brief on the history of sushi and went straight to rolling.



Our first effort was rolling asparagus wrapped in rice and covered by seaweed paper. There was also a wee bit of spicy Japanese mayonnaise, which caused the asparagus to slip out if gently squeezed. No big deal because you simply slipped it back where it belonged.




We wrapped our next roll with with fish, avocado and other ingredients:




The next step was making the inside-out sushi where the seaweed wrapper is spiralled inside and the sticky rice is on the exterior:



We quickly learned the mat was useful for shaping the sushi into triangles or cubes.

Helen and I peppered Sushi Gaijin on how to slice fish, types of fish and how to arrange it on a rice ball. For securing the fish on the rice ball Suishi Gaijin showed us the three-touch method. I knew I could not reliably remember this once I got home or even five minutes later. Suishi Gaijin very kindly demonstrated his three touch technique, which I have preserved in a film clip.

We had a terrific time and learned quite a lot about shaping sushi, though how they are filled is up to our imaginations.

Domo arigato, Mr. Sushi Gaijin!

Dirk's Fish Market
2070 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL
773-404-3475

thanks Cathy,

I'm glad you had a good time. We raised over $500 in just a couple of hours, for the scientists working on conserving these things that is a huge windfall. I've been spinning wheels regarding the sequel, but I wanted to do something a little big different and the ideas have been few and far between. I'll let you know when things coelesce!!

Erik.