Field report from the first advanced sushi course
On Sunday, 3/11/2018 we had our first advanced sushi class.
It is true that our kitchen team currently has more than 60 years of cumulative experience with Japanese cuisine, and the sansaro restaurant has been known for its consistently high Japanese quality for ten years now. But our experience as a provider of sushi courses is still relatively young. Last year we held our first sushi course and since then our beginner courses have become extremely popular and are quickly booked up.
That's why we were a little unsure at first how the first advanced course would turn out - but that quickly subsided. Chef Saito shone with his many years of experience and proved to be a charming coach for the most diverse areas. With a small group of participants, we explored various topics of Japanese cuisine and especially, of course, sushi making in more depth. A great opportunity to also address specific questions and interesting ways of preparing sushi.
Make your own egg sting for tamago sushi
This time, perhaps the biggest challenge was making tamago yaki- the elaborate egg drop omelets that sushi restaurants love to serve.
In the first run, our chef Satomi routinely demonstrated how the Japanese egg dish for sushi is made: Layer by layer, the tamago yaki is carefully fried in the special square pan, then folded and the next layer fried again, placed under the previous omelet, and so on - until finally a complete, rectangular block of egg drop is formed. It reminds the making of egg drop a little of the multiple folded steel of the famous Japanese fighting swords. This effort is made to obtain a special taste and a pleasant consistency - and the course participants were able to feel for themselves how elaborate this is when each one was allowed to try his hand at the tamago yaki. And the result was - despite all the initial doubts and uncertainties of the participants - in the end not only edible, but also very tasty 😉 Of course, Chef Saito also gave the participants tips on how to make such a Tamago with rather simple means at home.
Oshi-Zushi and Bo-Zushi do it yourself
Then there was the production of oshi-zushi - the pressed sushi form that originated in the Kyōtō region - and where the sushi is pressed into shape in special wooden boxes. Together, they went through the marinating of the salmon, as well as the preparation of various vegetable ingredients that make the pressed oshi-zushi a particularly delicious variety of sushi.
Bo-Zushi making was also practiced that day - that is, a stick-shaped sushi that is also wrapped and pressed, and tastes really wonderful especially with marinated mackerel!
Our customers in the restaurant sansaro already know these sushi preparation forms through our seasonal menus or through special events such as Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve, where we always have very special menus with special ingredients that are otherwise not on the menu. In our advanced sushi course we had a lot of fun practicing these sushi forms, which are less known in Germany, together with the interested and open-minded participants.
A small knife lesson with knife care and professional sharpening formed the conclusion, before it then went after about 4 hours of intensive course finally to the joint tasting. The wonderful Katsuyama Ken sake there was to toast and of course the homemade sushi delicacies and nice conversations among the participants. One participant had even brought handmade chocolates with a Japanese touch - actually as a thank you for our dedicated team, but for us also a nice opportunity to round off the joint tasting and the conversations that developed among the participants with something sweet.
Joint final round with chef
For us, this first advanced course was a great experience: much more flexible than the beginner course, we can respond to the wishes of the participants, the course participants can bring themselves. The wide field of sushi preparation always offers exciting aspects that can be illuminated and thus each advanced course can be designed differently. This is, as far as we know, also a special unique selling point of our exclusive and professional sushi courses.
At the moment, the demand for the beginner courses is greater than for the advanced courses. However, since all participants are already looking forward to a continuation, we suspect that the ratio will change in the future. Therefore we are looking forward to Your feedbackYour questions, your registrations, so that we know what the interest of our customers is and what we should offer.
You can always find our current dates for sushi courses on www.sushiya.de/sushi-kurs - currently we are also working on a booking system so that the courses are easier to book or you can simply give the course as a gift with a gift certificate.
