Sushi and Sashimi

Historically Japanese sushi was made from fermented fish and rice. The sushi that emerged in Japan in the nineteenth century was one that paired raw fish or seafood (or sometimes raw meat) with vinegar-dressed sticky rice. Today Japanese sushi is made in various styles, such as chirashizushi—a bowl of sushi rice topped with raw fish—and inarizushi, a tofu-skin pouch filled with slightly sweetened rice.

What is commonly called sushi in the United States is usually nigirizushi, hand-formed mounds of vinegared rice topped with raw seafood, such as salmon, tuna, shrimp, or sea urchin, and makizushi, rolls made by wrapping rice and vegetables (with or without seafood) in a sheet of nori (dried seaweed) and then cutting the roll crosswise. Next to the fish, the rice is the most important ingredient. Short-grain rice, glossy and slightly sticky when cooked, is traditionally used for sushi making. The cooked, cooled rice is mixed with a special rice vinegar (awase-zu), formed into fingers, and topped with fish. Common condiments for sushi are soy sauce, thin slices of pickled ginger, and horseradish paste. Sashimi showcases raw fish alone, artfully cut and presented.