Some things are pretty obvious, and some things aren't. I think that is the case with Gari. As virtually all Japanese know why they eat Gari because they grew up eating it with their Sushi, while in the Western world, that Gari was virtually unknown until the introduction of Sushi. So, why do we eat Gari, Pickled Ginger with Sushi? Is that for the taste or are there any other reasons? Here is why. #Sushi #Quora #JapaneseFood

Do you know what wasabi is? Have you ever tasted real wasabi? Did you know it's likely that what you think wasabi is not really wasabi?
 Wasabi is a root vegetable. In English, it is called "horseradish" and is different from the horseradish you put on your roast beef. Wasabi is commonly called Japanese Horseradish and is different from horseradish spices. What is typically served at sushi bars in the US is a combination of (western) horseradish, mustard, and green food coloring, containing no real wasabi. There are, however, some that contain real wasabi or wasabi powder made from 100% wasabi. It is the mustard that gives strong burning "hot" sensation in your mouth and clears your sinus. Cultivating wasabi is very difficult, requiring clear and pure spring water, temperate, and controlled sun exposure. Nagano and Shizuoka are the two main regions of Japan that produce wasabi. Here are some great photos of the wasabi farm in Japan. There are several farmers and companies who sell fresh wasabi in the US including Real Wasabi in Oregon and ChefShop.com. Wasabi is recognized as one of the strongest antibacterial edible plants against salmonella and E. coil. A recent study shows that wasabi does: Have Antioxidant benefits Improve blood circulation Suppresses hay fever allergy symptoms Control the spread of cancer cells Stimulate a healthy appetite. Eliminate “fishy” smell from sashimi. Unlike the powdered horseradish counterpart, the real wasabi is mild. The real wasabi has a sweet flavor with a hint of hotness and is full of a pleasant soothing aroma. If you love sushi and have yet to taste the fresh wasabi, I strongly encourage you to try it. You can order through Real wasabi.com, or go visit your local Japanese market to see if they have them. In San Francisco Bay Area, Nijiya Market in Japan town carries them as well as Tokyo Fish Market I'm Berkeley. Wasabi I think is a real delicacy similar to truffle - to enjoy its aroma. Wasabi roll (hand or cut) is a popular item in Japanese sushi restaurants. A palette cleanser that is a pure delight to have that fresh aroma spreading inside of your mouth. #Ingredients #100SurprisingFactsAboutSushi

Very rare " white" crab caught in Hyōgo prefecture in Japan on November 26, 2014. The crab measuring 58cm (23") in length, weighs about 2.2 pounds. Mr. Yamada, the fish supplier who auctioned off the crab said he had never seen a white crab live this in his thirty-five-year career. #Seafood #Japanese

Chef Kaz is featured on this video by Survey Monkey. "Customer Success Story" - Learn how Kaz Matsune—Founder, Food Director, and Executive Chef of Breakthrough Sushi—uses SurveyMonkey to find out what’s most important to his clients. #SushiClasses #Video #SurveyMonkey

All good things must come to an end – well, almost, until next year.
 It looks like we’re approaching the end of local king salmon season, switching to coho and steelhead from Oregon, some king salmon from Alaska. Here is an email from our fish supplier, Monterey Fish Market for the sustainable fish market update. Market Update Salmon- California kings- eight days of fishing left- we have just a few kings in the house but we expect to see a push of fish next week. You can order and we may get a few small boat fish in tonight to cover. Alaska troll kings start on October 7. Oregon remains open but the bite is off and the fishermen are off the water. Coho- Ocean troll out of Alaska and gillnet fish out of Washington. Both have good size, color, and flavor. We should have Washington Coho through October - Alaska Coho ends this weekend. Steelhead- Early fish are large, nine pounds and up from Quillayute River Washington. This becomes the 'go-to' wild salmon in the winter. Prices on the Coho and Steelhead are reasonable. Local halibut and white seabass- Seems over for the season; very little fish out of Santa Cruz, might make a comeback but unlikely. Sushi-grade fluke is available. Bluenose seabass is hit and miss with weather problems affecting supply. Tropical Fish- A San Diego boat landed Mahi, opah, and ono for Friday sales. Ono is plentiful, break out the mango salsa. With a lack of large seabass-style fish and good pricing, it is worth a try. Local Fish- Squid, Petrale, rockfish, and lingcod remain strong and steady. Local crabs start the second Tuesday in November. #SanFrancisco #SustainableFish

In English, Ebodai is referred to as Japanese Butterfish. It’s about 8-12inches in length and is different from “Butterfish” that is served at some sushi restaurants in the US. The main season is from Summer and Autumn (July-November). Ebodai is caught in Japan, Korea, and some parts of South East Asia. In Tokushima, the common style of Bouze Nigiri is the whole fish as seen in the picture below. Bouze Nigiri has become popular thanks to a famous Japanese food comic/mango called, “Oisinbo.” In other areas, it is served without the head and skin. #Fish #Sushi #Ingredients

Have you ever asked this question to your sushi chef, "So, what's fresh today?" From a sushi chef's standpoint of view, I must confess that it's rather annoying. In fact, many of the sushi chefs I worked with, disliked being asked this question. Why? 

Because the fish is supposed to be fresh, to begin with - at least fresher than other seafood establishments because sushi restaurants serve them raw. Secondary, many sushi chefs know that a fresh fish does not always mean "tasty." How is it so? For example, Tuna starts to taste good after a few days. Halibut is good after two to three days and Ika, squid takes about one week to have "umami" - the fifth flavor many Western chefs are talking about right now. 

The Science of "aging." Just like beef, fish aging increases its umami, or amino acids and savory glutamate. Also, fish has what is called IMP (inosine monophosphate) which has a similar savory taste to that of glutamate. IMP is a transient substance, thus the savoriness of fish increases for some time after its death. A very fresh fish has a "fresh" firm texture, though low in IMP/savory taste. As the fish ages, it loses texture or the meat becomes softer and gains more savory flavor. "The timing is important. When to eat is up to individual's taste," says Hirokazu Ito of Tokyo Fish Sellers Association. "Generally speaking, farmed fish needs less aging compared to wild fish." Many Japanese sushi chefs age their fish including the world-famous Jiro Ono. "Fresh halibut is too chewy and has almost no flavor. I let it age overnight. If the tuna is too young, I will let it age in ice water for a few days." Usually, the tuna tastes the best when its color becomes musty dull "red,", especially for Toro. 

Other chefs let Buri (hamachi) age three to four days, sardine for two to three days. 

There are even sushi restaurants specialize in "aged" fish. So, instead of the usual "what's fresh?" or "what's the best fish?", the next time you make your trip to your favorite sushi restaurant, ask your chef about fish aging. Just because it's fresh or the best, does not mean you'll like it. #SushiChef #Fish

(photo by Albert Law) Sushi is such a delicacy, and that is why we love it. At the same time, we are aware of laying the risk of consuming raw fish. Because safety is one of the most important aspects of our service, we take every precaution to ensure the quality of fish we serve. We taste every fish we serve so that we know they meet our quality standards. Recently, one of our clients brought up their concern about the safety of consuming raw salmon, citing some online information about potential parasites and their effects on the human body. To obtain more accurate date information, we’ve consulted with our fish supplier, Tom Worthington of Monterey Fish Market in San Francisco, who’s been in business since 1979. Wild Salmon (we use Wild King Salmon from Oregon) comes with parasites known as tapeworm. It resides in the meat of salmon as an egg/capsule. It is visible to the human eye and will look like a round white dot. There are two different ways to kill this tapeworm. Cook salmon thoroughly. Freeze salmon for at least 24 hours. (-31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 24 hours is sufficient to kill parasites.* For raw consumption, FDA recommends the #2 method. We’ve been curing our salmon with salt and vinegar. This method is called “Shime” in Japanese and has been used to treat such fish as Japanese Mackerel (saba) for raw consumption. The reason for us to use this method over freezing is simply that salmon tastes better when it’s not frozen. Though we’ve never seen tapeworm capsules in the salmon we’ve served, because of a recent incident, we’ve decided to freeze our salmon to make sure the tapeworm is killed when served raw. We’ve asked Monterey Fish Market to freeze our salmon for at least 24 hours in their freezer that is capable of storing at a temperature below -60°F. By doing so, we hope to bring a good quality sashimi salmon that is safe for all our clients to enjoy. Source *Seafood Health Facts: Making Smart Choices Balancing the Benefits and Risks of Seafood Consumption Resources for Healthcare Providers and Consumers seafoodhealthfacts.org #Ingredients #Fish

Recognized as one of the top wineries American, Ridge Vineyards has been producing the best Cabernet since founded in 1959, I visited Ridge Vineyards at Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains for weekday (appointment necessary) semi-private “ Historic Vineyard Tasting” and tour. The tour started with our guide greeting us, starting with the brief history of Monte Bello Ridge at their tasting room. Aaron, our guide explained to us that the owners had no intention of growing grapes when they first purchased the land here. (They used as a picnic ground.) Realizing surrounding vineyards, the owners decided to plant some grapes, which turned out to be excellent and became Monte Bello Ridge. Monte Bello Chardonnay uses 100% Monte Bello vineyard chardonnay and has a very complex flavor. I thought they mix different grapes to produce complex flavor, so I asked Aaron. He explained to me the reason for the complexity is how they plant grapes. Looking at a satellite image of the vineyards confirmed different varietals being planted quite randomly. This, according to Aaron produces variety of taste in grapes. After tasting five wines, we went out for a walking tour of the vineyard and tasted some of the grapes. Cabernet was almost ready for the harvest (in one to two weeks). It had very complex flavorsome sweet, some sour. They all tasted different event thought trees were only 10ft. apart. 2-hour tasting and tour offered us Ridge’s rich history and their pride in making great wines. They do offer tasting on weekends, too, and my recommendation is to go there on weekdays for a semi-private tour for a more relaxed experience. Ridge Montebello Santa Cruz Mountains 17100 Monte Bello Road Cupertino, CA 95014 Phone 408.867.3233 #California #Wine #Recommendations

The Chartis Group is an advisory services firm that provides management consulting and applied research to leading healthcare organizations. As part of their team-building activities, we hosted their sushi class at Miele Gallery in San Francisco. Members of this team came from various offices including San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago. #SushiClasses #TeamBuilding #SanFrancisco

Nice group of people from San Francisco Ballet. Still amazed at how good their sushi looks. Great job guys! #SushiClasses #TeamBuilding #Photos

This is yet another question that I get asked frequently. What I can say about the knife is this: When you hold the knife in your hand, if it feels good to you, that's the best knife for you. It's like finding a partner in your life. What's best for me will be different from what's best for you. I certainly have used Masamoto sushi knives before and I think they are fantastic knives. However, just because Masamoto is one of the most popular sushi knives in Japan and the US, does not automatically mean it's the best for you or me. Let me tell you two stories relating to sushi knives. Story #1 Knife shop, Kappabashi, Tokyo Kappabashi is a famous street filled with restaurant supply shops ranging from kitchen equipment, crockery, restaurant furniture, and of course knives. I was browsing one of the knife shops and heard this conversation between the owner and the customer. Customer: “So, which one do you think is a good knife?” (Pointing at several knives he picked) Owner: “Well, they are all good knives.” Customer: “Yes, I know they are all good. I mean which I should I buy?” Owner: “If you are asking for my recommendation, I can tell you that almost all the professional chefs buy inexpensive knives because they use them every day. They know they will damage expensive knives if they have to use them every day. Almost all the amateurs end up buying expensive knives. I suppose that is because they want to own and collect knives rather than using them.” I don’t know which one this customer ended up buying - my guess is that he ended up buying an expensive knife. Story #2 What I learned about a knife from the most talented sushi chef I’ve ever worked with. I met Jin-san at this sushi restaurant in Long Beach, CA. He told me that he started working for a family-run sushi restaurant in Tokyo when he was fifteen. He started his day at six in the morning by cleaning and finished his day at midnight by cleaning the entire restaurant. For the first few years, all he did was cleaning and errands that seemed to have nothing to do with sushi making. He practiced his knife and sushi skills on his own using leftover ingredients, sometimes purchasing his own. He worked in Japan for a while before he was asked to work in LA. Jin-san had over twenty years of experience as a sushi chef when I met him. He was very gentle, polite, and most of all, laughed a lot. One day I saw Jin-san fileting halibut, and I was shocked at how fast he filled the whole fish. It only took him a few minutes or so, where it would have taken me at least ten. Not only Jin-san was fast, and he moved so gracefully and beautifully. His knife handling was so precise that it had the appearance of a choreographed dance sequence. Realizing I was watching, he started talking to me, “You see that the trick is not about the knife you use. I have a very expensive sushi knife at home. It costs over $2,000, and I rarely use it these days. These knives I use right now, do you know how much they cost? They cost me $15 each at the restaurant supply store. You see it’s how you sharpen your knives. I can tell how much of a chef he is by looking at his knife.” The knife I use is a 10" chef knife I purchased in San Francisco Chinatown for $7. It's a great stainless knife that equals any other made in Germany knives because it feels good in my hand. So, my recommendation is to try out as many knives you like until you find the one best fits your hand. Learn how to sharpen your knives properly using sharpening stone instead of the sharpening steel. (A sharpening steel will never "sharpen" your knives. They are meant o used as temporary relief between sharpening.) #Sushi #Tools