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We are so excited about this new video for breakthrough sushi. The shoot took place during our recent team-building sushi class at Bluxome Street Winery in San Francisco. Thank you, Albert, at Pork Belly Studio for making such a beautiful video for us! #TeamBuilding #Video #SushiClasses #SushiChef #SanFrancisco

Recently, I was asked this question: What is your biggest accomplishment since you started your business? I thought about the answer for a minute. Then, this story popped into my thoughts. So, I like to share it with you. I am organizing plastic containers full of cutting board, knives, and kitchen equipment in our kitchen studio. Then, my phone rings. I hear a familiar voice. It’s one of our best private clients in San Francisco. “I am hosting a special birthday party for a friend of mine. Are you available.” “For you, I would never miss it,” I reply. Fast forward four months, I am slicing beautiful salmon fillet in the client’s kitchen overlooking the bay. "How many time have you been here?" The client asks. "Oh, gee. Three, four times?" I reply. " I think five time," the client responds. "Which event was the most memorable for you?" I search my memory for all the events we hosted. "Let's see. The casino night was fun. Other fundraising events. The most memorable by far was the promo night sushi dinner." I say. "It was just, so special. All the boys and girls looked so nice. They were shinning like stars. It was so difficult for me to glance because they looked so bright." Later, the client's daughter approaches me. "I heard you remember my prom night dinner. I am so honored." Honored? Wow. That is not the word I am expecting to hear. I mean, it was a great event. We served great sushi (according to the clients. And we think so too.) "It has been four years, and you know what? all my friends still talk about your sushi!" “Really?” I shout. “Wow. Now, I am honored.” Nothing brings me joy and satisfaction to have such human interaction as this. I feel humble for her to tell me that. During the past ten years, serving many of our clients, I have many encounters as this. It is true that receiving five star yelp reviews, and hosting over 1,000 events and all other business accomplishments may sound nice. Yet, when I search what brings me the most joy, and most reward, I say a story like this is the one that stands out more than anything else. It is a reminder that, it is not just sushi I am serving. It’s experience and memory I am serving with sushi that make it special. If you like us to be part of your special celebration to create a special memory, please let us know. We are glad to be of your assistance any time.

Where’s Waldo in this poster? Just kidding. He hasn’t taken our sushi-making class ... yet. How about you? Do you see yourself in one of the pictures? If you’ve been a part of our journey, you may find YOU in this image. If you do, I hope you remember "rolling" with your work colleagues, friends, family members, and other sushi enthusiasts. I’m sure you’ll remember getting involved with myself and the rest of the Breakthrough Sushi crew. Even if you can’t find yourself in the poster, you’re still an integral part of our story. Perhaps you were one of the lucky guests at a catered sushi event we hosted. If so, I hope you still think about our refreshing Sake Mojito; soft and juicy Chicken Yakitori; Hickory-Smoked, Cured, Ocean Trout Sashimi; and Tai Snapper Nigiri with Pink Peppercorn and Truffle Oil. It took 10 years to make this poster. Well, it took 10 seconds for a wonderful app to make this poster, but this is the product of 10 years of hosting sushi classes and taking pictures. This poster contains more than 2,000 pictures. Looking Back… It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since I started Breakthrough Sushi. I still remember my first class… with three guests! You may think it was "just" three. But to me, I was thinking, "Wow, three guests have signed up for my first sushi class. Excellent!" Back then, no one knew Kaz Matsune. No one had ever heard of Breakthrough Sushi. Still, three people trusted me to show them how to make sushi and sign up for the class. Fast forward 10 years and, after some 800 events, 20,000 guests and many Fortune 500 corporate clients, here we are. Looking at this poster, I feel so fortunate. I’ve been able to keep teaching the sushi class, running and growing Breakthrough Sushi for the past decade. We’ve worked with huge corporations such as Amazon, Adobe, and Facebook, but I’m grateful to each and every guest who made beautiful and delicious sushi. It’s many of their stories that stick with me most. One boy attended our class three times, for example, and eventually requested that we cater his Bar Mitzvah. One teenager requested Breakthrough Sushi as a Make-A-Wish participant. Our longest client recently asked us to host her 50th birthday after two years without celebrations due to the pandemic. Our public class is now the longest-running sushi class in San Francisco and the hundreds of positive Yelp reviews we’ve received in this time are one of my favourite achievements. Where is Breakthrough Sushi Now? Though the pandemic hit us hard, we’re coming back stronger than ever. Our sales dropped 90% in April 2020; it was a very hard time for us as well as for the rest of the food/event industry. However, it was out of this that our online sushi class was born. This was very popular in 2021 for our corporate clients as many of them switched to remote work. I believe we also became the first company to offer sushi kits to all 50 U.S. states, British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada during this time. Another (good) byproduct of the pandemic was YouTube videos. Because I was doing fewer events, I was able to utilize the time to make some sushi videos. Check out our channel here. We’re now back to almost the pre-pandemic level in our sushi-making classes, sushi catering, and private sushi dinners! In addition to our San Francisco classes, we’re also hosting in San Jose and San Carlos. Rolling (Moving) Forward I consider Breakthrough Sushi to be in the business of education and entertainment. In this light, our mission is to continue to promote happiness and teach skills, using sushi as a vehicle. Now, even among talk of recession, inflation, and many other economic instabilities, we’re hopeful about the future. We’re ready to expand and further spread the joy of sushi when people need it most. Warren Buffet said, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." I learned this during the pandemic. Many people were in fear and many food-related businesses struggled. We created something new: an online sushi-making class with a sushi kit and it cheered people up, too. People have kept us going and we love making people happy through the art of sushi more than anything. So now, we keep on rolling: expanding our locations, adding new venues and more public classes, setting up sushi catering and high-end private sushi chef services (Omakase dinner, anyone?). I’ll continue making YouTube videos and educational brochures, and I’ll keep speaking to the community about the power of great sushi and team-building. Keep your eyes on us to learn how to cure salmon for sushi, how to strengthen your team connections, and way more. Maybe you’ll even get to see Waldo in one of our classes. Request a quote Interested in having Breakthrough Sushi host a team-building, sushi-making event or having us cater a private event? Request a free quote here.

Kazutoshi Hirata is one of the few Freelance Sushi Chefs in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the past twenty years, he has worked for many top San Francisco Sushi Restaurants like Ozumo and Yoshi’s. Now at 65, Mr. Hirata is still actively working as a Sushi Chef, as well as connecting Japan and the U.S. through food. I had a chance to talk to him about his unique experience. Q: Why did you come to the United States? Hirata: I always wanted to live overseas, like in Spain. After visiting many countries in Europe, I came to the U.S. Q: Did you always want to work in a restaurant? H: No, never. I never thought about becoming a chef, let alone a Sushi Chef. After graduating from college, I got a dishwasher job in Berkeley. Then I worked at non-Japanese restaurants so I could practice my English. I worked as a dishwasher, kitchen helper, dining assistant manager. I did almost all the positions in a restaurant. Q: When did you become a Sushi Chef? H: When I was forty-five. Q: Why Sushi Chef? H: I always loved the ocean, though I was born and raised in Tokyo. My family had a second house by the beautiful ocean in Izu. We visited there frequently. When I traveled Europe, I visited many fish markets, bought and cooked fish. I wanted to use my Japanese heritage, so that was why I chose Sushi. Q: Which restaurants did you work in? H: Thankfully, I worked for many famous restaurants like Kantaro Sushi (now closed), Ichirin, Tokyo Sukiyaki, Marriot Sushi Bar, Ozumo, Yoshi’s Oakland, and San Francisco. Q: After twenty years, now, you are a freelance Sushi Chef. Why? H: About two years ago, I wanted to change something. I did not want to continue working as a Sushi Chef in a restaurant anymore, but I wanted to do something different using my experience. Q: How did you get freelance work? H: I get work from the people I used to work with. Also, referral, and word of mouth. Q: What kind of advice do you give to those who are thinking of becoming freelance Sushi Chefs? H: The challenge is to get work consistently, and that’s hard to do. I think I value my past network. I value the people with whom I worked. That is how I get my work. Also, I think we should think about offering good quality Sushi. Of course, Sushi ingredients are expensive, but it’s important to challenge the new. I try to discover new and inexpensive fish so that I can offer affordable Omakase Sushi. Q: What are you doing to find new fish? H: I visit many fishermen and buy local fish, fillets and eat them. Whitefish like snapper I tried many, and they are a lot different from Japanese snapper. Some I could use. Sure you can get expensive fish from Tsukiji Market, but there is a lot of fish that local fishermen throw away. So, if we could get them on distribution and we could use them, then there is a chance. Q: What are the changes you saw in the past twenty or so years in San Francisco Sushi Restaurant scene? H: There are fewer and fewer Japanese Sushi Chefs from Japan now. In the older days, it was a lot easier to find a job, but now, everything is different and it's economically challenging to live in San Francisco like I used to. Because of that, I think it's more difficult for younger people to live and work as Sushi Chef in San Francisco. Q: What are your future plans? H: I am at an age, where I can retire, but I want to continue working with food that will make people happy. Since five years ago, I am traveling back and forth between the US and Japan – the Kyushu region like Oita, Kumamoto, helping my friends’ farm and winery connecting the ones here in Sonoma and Napa. Q: That sounds like a lot of fun. H: Yes, it is. I always had to think about money and making money. Now I don’t have to think about making money so much, which is nice. Mr. Hirata's LinkedIn Profile. Blog: Sushi Net USA (in Japanese) #Interviews #SushiChef #Restaurants #Freelance #SanFrancisco #BayArea

Photos from our first Monthly Sushi Class in 2018. It was a full house, energetic crowd. Our next month's class is already sold out - Thank you! Still some room left for March Class. Did you know when you attend the class, you get a free digital recipe book? #SushiClasses #Photos

Rachelle has a lot on her plate. In fact, she always has. As the Chef and Culinary Events Manager at the Miele Experience Center in San Francisco, she sells high-end appliances such as the combi-steam oven, ranges, dishwasher, and induction cooktops while she teaches cooking and demonstration classes, develops recipes, and invites other chefs to do events. Even though she has been a corporate chef for over twenty years, Rachelle has also been a sandwich maker, prep chef, line chef, cooking class instructor, an artist, and most notably, a private chef for George Lucas and other celebrities. She started working at a deli in Philadelphia and performed many tasks. Then she moved to New York, then to California, and worked at Charthouse Restaurant, both in the kitchen and waitressing. She realized she enjoyed working in the kitchen more, so she decided to become a chef. That was when Judith Ets-Hopkins, the founder of Home Chef recruited Rachelle to work at their showroom in Corte Madra. "I did sales, cooking demonstrations, classes and that was a great experience, "Rachelle reflects back on her experience. "I don’t have a culinary degree, so I had to be a bit more creative than those who have one." At Home Chef, Rachelle and her co-workers audited each other’s classes. They developed training programs, brought in experts in the field. "Meanwhile, I was working as a private chef and catering, so I was cooking a lot, building my skill, but not working at restaurants anymore," Rachelle recalls. One day, one of her class participants asked her to go on an interview for a private chef. "There is a family in Marin County who is looking for a full-time private chef," she told Rachelle. Rachelle did not know which family she was interviewing for. "The way I found out was the woman told me where to go for the interview, and everybody knew where the family lived. So it was a very weird moment. I am from a small town and Star Wars changed everything," Rachelle recalls her experience. "I had to be very 'quiet.' Luckily, there was no Internet, so I could not go on Facebook and tell my friends that I am going to an interview at George Lucas' home. If I did, I would not have been hired!" Although she lacked a culinary degree and Michelin Star restaurant experience on her resume, George Lucas hired her to be his family's private chef. Asked why he hired her, Rachelle says, "I was trusted by someone, a friend of theirs. She saw something in me that she thought was a good match. Also, I did not come in with a stiff chef coat. I looked very professional but very comfortable with my skin. Though it was the biggest opportunity in my life, I was comfortable with his kids. I think it was them who got me the job." While working for the Lucas family, Rachelle also worked for other homes and learned some valuable lessons as a private chef. "People now want more restaurant experience at home. One client with a heavy accent said to make the buffet look like Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. We made too much food as she insisted and it was over the top. " Rachelle recalls. "But, George did not want a restaurant experience. He is known for his simple taste." Rachelle thinks it's not just cooking skills that make a private chef great. "You have to know the family and be able to read them, keep your ego out and understand the people, what’s important to them. Stay out of their private business." Rachelle must have done her job 'right' because George Lucas surprised her by showing up with his family at her wedding in a venue in a redwood forest years after she stooped working for the family. "I did not tell anyone. Nobody knew," Rachelle says. "I never expected them to come because (Francis Ford) Coppola also invited them to an event on the same day. We thought they would go there only, but they ended up coming to ours as well. It was really special and it shows how much they cared. Everyone was quite shocked, and the wedding, which was already, really cool (great food, great location) kind of went off the charts at that point. George loved the live sushi bar we had in the forest! " Rachelle says. After leaving Lucas' home, Rachelle decided to become a corporate chef, using the experience she gained at Home Chef. "I did retail sales, kitchen management, and teaching. People came to take the class, and they could see kitchen tools used in action. So, I really enjoyed cooking and working with the products." Rachelle used the same "sales" skill she learned through waitressing. "I got to know how to promote and sell with authentic messages," she says. The other important aspect of selling, according to Rachelle, is how you feel about the product. "You have to be humble and learn what is important to each guest. You always have to do a little bit of selling, explaining the food. If you can sell a product you believe in, that’s great." So, what's cooking for Rachelle now and next? "At The Miele U.S.A. headquarters in Princeton New Jersey, I had a chance to work with the corporate team and develop programs and recipes. That is an area I have lots of experience with. I can take my chef skills and San Francisco perspective to the brand. We are also doing some cutting-edge events in our center, such as a “Fried Chicken Party and LinkedIn Event” with global influencer Sting Nguyen. I am working on leveraging my growing personal brand on social media and in real life. I am doing a lot of culinary experiences for private homes and for architects, designers, and, yes, still working with some world-class legendary celebrities! Who, you ask? That, for now, remains a secret!” Join chefs Rachelle Boucher as she supports Kaz Matsune for their Family Sushi Class in June. Connect with Rachelle on Instagram at @flavoragent and on LinkedIn. #Interviews

How do you sharpen your knife? A lot of past sushi class participants asked me. I am trained to use traditional whetstones. I use both medium grade and finishing stones like these. King Deluxe 2000 (medium grade) Just like most Sushi techniques, the knife sharpening technique is very simple to demonstrate, but it's very difficult to master (or, takes some practice). It's just like learning how to play guitar. So, my advice to you is to get an automatic knife sharpener. LINKYO Electric Knife Sharpener, Kitchen Knives Sharpening System We did. Does it sound like cheating? No, not at all because we recently bought this and we use it to sharpen all our 30+ knives. The result? Wonderful. The best part for us was it was such a time saver. We used to spend at least an hour or two sharpening our knives using whetstones. With this automatic sharpener, it took us about forty minutes! That's worth every penny. And it was only $22.95! #Recommendations #Tools

"How should we keep this Tai Snapper in the fridge? “Looking at the whole fish, I asked Toru, the executive chef at Yoshida Sushi in Hollywood. "I think we should cut the head off, store the whole thing, tightly wrapped in plastic," Toru answered. Then, Take-san walked in from the back employee entrance to the Sushi Bar. "Ohayo Gozaimasu," He greeted us. "Ohayo Gozaimasu," we greeted back to him. Just before he was about to enter the locker room, he looked back at us and said, "What are you all discussing? You look so serious." "We are wondering what's the best way to keep the Tai, fresh in the refrigerator," I said. "I see," Take-san nodded, as he put on his Sushi Chef uniform. "Should we fillet it or store it as a whole fish?" I asked. "Well, for Tai, you should fillet it, then wrap it in plastic and keep it in the fridge," Take-san said. "Same with Hirame and other white fish too," Take-san told us. "Really?" I could not believe what he said. "Would it be better not to fillet it because of discoloring as it happens to Tuna?" "I know. It's hard to believe, right? I don't know exactly why, but from my experience, for white fish, it works better if you fillet it," Take-san said. I was thinking I should wrap it in the paper towel first, as we do with Tuna to prevent it from discoloring. They even sell paper designed to keep the red color of tuna when you wrap it in them. "It's not like Tuna?" I asked Take-san. "No, Tuna you want to wrap first in paper and then plastic wrap. Not white fish." "Really?" I remembered another Sushi Chef telling me about Ama-Ebi, Sweet Shrimp. He said Sweet Shrimp starts to taste better after two to three days in the fridge, compared to fresh ones. When fresh, the texture is nice and plump, like cooked shrimp, but the umami is less. When aged a couple of days, Sweet Shrimp indeed develops a sweeter umami flavor, the chef told me. The tradeoff is the texture goes down as time passes. The flesh gets softer, which affects how we sense the overall taste. I had no idea about fish aging even after I became a Sushi Chef until some chefs told me about it. I always thought the fresher the fish, the better it is and tastes but I learned that is not always the case. I learned from Paul Johnson, the owner of Monterey Fish Market in San Francisco that Salmon is at its prime when it's five days since it is caught. Tuna like Yellowfin, Big eye and Bluefin take anywhere from five days to up to fourteen days to have a nice savory taste. It is the same concept as aging beef to increase amino acid, glutamine, or Umami in the meat. At one Sushi Restaurant in LA, I remember having "live" halibut from a fish supplier. It was dead when arrived at the restaurant, but the owner brought it back saying, it was live and fresh when picked it up. We fillet and sample some to see how it tasted. The "live" Halibut had almost no taste and was very tough like rubber, not eatable at all. So we decided to let it sit and age, which the Japanese call "let it sleep." We kept it wrapped tightly in plastic, over ice in the commercial refrigerator. On the third day, we sampled it. The meat was a lot softer, but it still lacked Umami. On the fifth day, it finally started to taste like Halibut we used to know; sweet umami flavor and tender meat. Now the halibut was servable, we made Sashimi and Nigiri, but never told our customers about aging, thinking, it would confuse them. I later watched a documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and learned Jiro's oldest son talks about them aging Bluefin tuna for up to two weeks to maximize its taste. It is a Sushi chef's experience and skill to determine when is the best time to serve the fish he gets. As such, aging fish is a very important task for a sushi chef. This is one of the reasons why I hesitate to answer a question by my customer, "What's fresh today?" or "When did you get this fish?" because fresh fish does not always taste the best, and like Halibut's case, inedible. Then, there is another issue with fresh fish. Many customers told me and asked me about some restaurants carrying live fish in a fish tank like spot prawns, crabs, lobsters, and such. The question is, "Are they fresh, and do they taste good because they are alive?" The answer is usually "No." Fish swim in the vast ocean and catch their own prey. Imagine, how you would feel to be placed in a small fish tank, not getting enough exercise, not getting enough food. Fish also experience stress from a change in their living environment. Considering these two factors, can we really say the fish in the fish tank is as healthy as when it was swimming in the ocean? We tend to think automatically live fish is fresher and tastes better than a dead one. However, they are not always at their optimal health even though they are alive. It's usually the case those fish in a fish tank taste inferior to properly aged and stored "dead" fish. So, the next time you go to the Sushi Bar, an excellent question to ask is, NOT "What's fresh today?" rather, perhaps ask "Which fish is at its prime today?" #Fish #Sushi

If you think Cucumber Avocado Roll is boring, I urge you to think again. COOKING TIME Total: 35 - 45 minutes Sushi Rice: 30 - 40 minutes Rolling: 5 minutes Never underestimate the power (or I should say the flavor) of vegetables. Especially avocado. I think whoever thought of using Avocado for Sushi was Genius (supposedly, it was a chef at Tokyo Kaikan in Los Angeles who invented California Roll.) Avocado and Sushi Rice go really well. In fact, it’s tough to find ingredients that DO NO go well with Avocado: Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Shrimp Tempura, and Teriyaki Chicken. Avocado’s rich buttery creamy taste is not too heavy like animal fat, which I believe is the reason it goes so well with many seafood. Now, for those who know that there are many traditional vegetarian Hosomaki and Chumaki Rolls in Japan, Avocado Roll wasn’t one of them. For one, Avocado is not native to Japan. I remember when I first started to see Avocado in a supermarket (some thirty years ago?). Almost no housewives knew what to do with it. “Are we supposed to cook it or eat it raw?” It took some years for the Japanese to get used to Avocado, but it turns out Avocado “Sashimi” with wasabi and soy sauce is fantastic! If you haven’t tried with Fresh Wasabi (available from Half Moon Bay Wasabi in California.) Cucumber being the traditional Hosomaki ingredient, when combined with Avocado, it creates a nice balance - creamy from Avocado and refreshing from Cucumber. It’s a great combination. Another reason I recommend not underestimating Cucumber Avocado Roll is that, you can use this roll as a base to make “special” rolls. For example, put some sliced Salmon on top. It is a different roll than putting Salmon inside alongside of Cucumber and Avocado. It will taste different because when you put Salmon on the outside of an Inside Out Roll, you will taste the Salmon first. When you eat a regular Inside Out Roll, you will taste Rice first, followed by whatever is inside of the roll. For an Inside Out Roll, It’s hard to taste what kind of fish you are tasting, unless you pay close attention to it. Spicy Shrimp is another one you can put on top of this Cucumber Avocado Roll, instead of putting all the ingredients inside. Try it. You will be pleasantly surprised that you will taste more of Spicy Shrimp when you put it on top. You will taste the Spicy Shrimp first. So, consider Cucumber Avocado as a basic roll you can use for whatever roll you want to create in the future. INGREDIENTS (for one roll): 200g Sushi Rice 1 Nori Seaweed, half sheet 4 - 6 pcs Avocado, sliced ½ inch thick 4 - 6 Julienned English Cucumber TOOLS: Cutting Board Knife Makisu, Sushi Rolling Mat INSTRUCTIONS: (How to spread rice for Inside Out Rolls, Step 3 - 12) Make Sushi Rice (follow this recipe). Wipe the cutting board with a wet towel to moisten. Place half sheet nori horizontally, rough side facing up. Wet your hands. Grab sushi rice, tennis ball size, approximately 200g. Place the sushi rice on the top left corner, shaping it like a potato. Using the bottom part of your left palm, apply pressure, spread the sushi rice horizontally. With your right hand, making a “U” shape, guide the sushi rice so that it covers the top half to 2/3 of the Nori. Rhythmically, turn your left hand three times to cover the top portion of the Nori with rice. Clean your hands with a wet towel, dip your fingers in the water. Using fingertips, apply the pressure, spread the rice to the bottom, from the left, center, and right. Spread the sushi rice all the way to the top and corners to cover the entire sheet of Nori as even as possible. Flip the Nori with Sushi Rice so the Nori is facing up. Place Avocado and Cucumber, in the center of Nori. Pick up the bottom edge of the Nori, roll like a Yoga mat. The bottom edge should land below the top edge of Nori. Seal, then roll another 90 degrees forward. P­­lace a plastic covered Makisu over the roll and squeeze. Cut into eight pieces. Plate and serve. (Cucumber Avocado Roll, Steps 13 - 18) Public Online Sushi Making Class with Sushi kit includes Fresh Fish Sing up for our online Sushi Making Class and in-person sushi class in San Francisco. Our sushi kit has fresh fish and is available for overnight shipping to all 50 US states. For a private and Team Building event inquiry, send us an email.

Our next class is on July 21. To register, click here. #SushiClasses

Click the button below for an updated Article. What exactly is sushi vinegar? (2020 updates including FAQ) Making Sushi Rice is one of the most important steps when making sushi. To make Sushi Rice, you need to add Sushi Vinegar to the cooked rice. So, what exactly is Sushi Vinegar? A standard recipe calls for Rice Vinegar, Sugar, and Salt. We use Marukan Organic Rice vinegar, Organic Cane Sugar, and Sea Salt. The ratio we use is 5:3:1 (Rice Vinegar:Sugar: Salt). If you want to purchase one, Sushi Vinegar is available at many Japanese/Asian Grocery Stores, including Mitsuwa in San Jose. "Seasoned Rice Vinegar" or "Sushi Vinegar" is what you can use to make Sushi Rice. (Also in Japanese, "すし酢") #Sushi #Ingredients #Recipes Breakthrough Sushi now offers an online sushi classes with a sushi kit, delivered to your home in all 48 continental states. For more details, please visit our home page.

Do you buy packaged Sushi at the Supermarket? If you do, there is a simple and surprising way to make it taste a lot better: microwave it!. Find out more at Soranews24. #News