Observations about the universe, life, Lausanne and me

Monday, February 15, 2010

Sushi needs Blowtorch

On Saturday I made - or tried to make - some Nigirizushi (握り寿司), which is what we westerners call sushi except if we looked up the proper term beforehand on wikipedia so that we may appear to know what we are talking about. As you can see below, I  my pitiful attempts at making those oblong rice-things were rather pitiful, and were soon abandoned in favour of more simple Futomaki (太巻 ), which are those algae-wrapped cylindrical morsels of bliss.


 But back to the main thrust of this blarticle, namely the use of the blowtorch for making sushi. For frequent readers of this blog it should not come as a surprise that I view the blowtorch as nigh indispensable in the kitchen - truly it's versatility knows no bounds. From preparing desserts (Créme brulée, oh là là!) to flambéing your coq au vin, from browning your steak to making coffee to teaching kitchen-thieves to keep their greedy fingers to themselves, the blowtorch does it all. And one of the things it does best is make Aburi sushi (炙り寿司).

It's like regular sushi, only you take your fatty fish of choice (salmon above, tuna  exhibited below) and torch the shit out of them for several seconds. The inside will stay awesomely raw, while the outside will develop the delicious flavour of fried fish, adding a certain je ne sais quoi to your Japanese meal, which will get confused since it doesn't speak French, thus ensuring you can devour it before it can flee. Everybody wins!



Oh, and a word to the wise: Don't bother with those wimpy kitchen-blowtorches. People on the street will point at you and laugh, and also they are weaker, more expensive  and less badass. And you wouldn't want less badass in your kitchen, would you?
Thought so.

6 comments:

  1. you got awesome toys, man!
    and you've got skills, dude!
    makes me green with envy, if that direct translation makes any sense...

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  2. It does, that's how you say it in English, too.

    As for the skills, I can't really vouch for them, since my nigiri-sushi fell apart :(
    But! My blowtorch skills then gave the evil fish the what-for, so it's all good.

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  3. My HD was ... well ... damaged. So a late comment: What kind of blowtorch do you have? I think about buying one ...

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  4. I just bought the cheapest one the had at OBI, 25 CHF if I remember correctly. It doesn't really matter, as long as it's powerful enough...

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