Manners & Mischief

Your field guide to stylish living

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Work With Me
  • Categories
  • Archives
  • Secret Shops

A beginners guide to eating sushi: Part 1 (The different kinds of sushi)

November 20, 2014 by anubha76 5 Comments

Sushi menus are laden with complications. First, you need to pick the kind of sushi you want to eat: would you prefer a Maki or Nigiri? Oshi or Inari? The choices are endless. Then come the fillings. And the condiments. And just what does one do with that sliced ginger (hint: you NEVER put it on the sushi!) And woe betide if you are supposed to customise your own platter. With the server and your fellow diners watching. Time to bring in the experts.

Let’s begin with the kinds of sushi. While we usually think of this Japanese dish as a simple of vinegared rice wrapped up in a strip of seaweed, sushi actually takes several forms. Some kinds of sushi don’t even have a smidgen of seaweed. Let’s take a look.

Maki Sushi

Also known as makizushi, norimaki or ‘sushi roll’, this is the most popular form of sushi. In most cases, Maki has vinegared rice and other ingredients (like octopus, tuna, cucumber or asparagus) tightly rolled in a sheet of nori (seaweed). These are the easiest to eat, sans spillage.

In a fusion restaurant, the nori may be replaced by a fried egg, cucumber slices, shsiso (perilla) leaves or soy paper.

maki sushi

Maki sushi – specifically, this could be hosomaki, chukka or futomaki, all of which differ only in terms of width and number of toppings

More authentic Japanese restaurants may use a further subdivision of maki, which includes:

  • Hosomaki: A thin roll, with rice on the inside and nori on the outside; served cut into 7-8 pieces
  • Chumaki: A medium-width roll, with rice on the inside and nori on the outside; served cut into 7-8 pieces
  • Futomaki: A thick, fat roll of sushi (about 2 inches in diameter) that has two or more types of fillings, with rice on the inside and nori on the outside; served cut into 7-8 pieces
  • Uramaki: An inside-out sushi roll, with rice on the outside and nori on the inside; usually comes with two or more fillings in every piece. This one is essentially an American invention, for people who don’t like seeing the seaweed up-front. The rice may be studded with a variety of seeds or other flaky toppings.
  • Temaki: Also known as a ‘hand roll’, this is a cone-shaped roll wrapped in nori, with one end sealed off and the other one open. Warning: this is the messiest kind of maki.
sushi-kinds

Temaki (left). Uramaki (right)

Nigiri Sushi

Also known as nigirizushi, which translates as “hand pressed sushi”, this contains a small, oblong mound of vinegar rice topped with a slice of fish (called the neta) or vegetables. Salmon, tuna, cooked shrimp, mackerel and eel are the most common toppings.

Sometimes, when the toppings are super-slippery, a strip of nori is wrapped around the nigiri.

This is usually the most expensive form of sushi and also the messiest to get from plate to mouth.

Nigiri gunkan. Nigiri

Nigiri with nori (left). Nigiri without nori (right)

Gunkan-maki

Directly translating as “battleship roll”, gunkan-maki has a clump of vinegared rice surrounded by a strip of nori, so that toppings (usually fish roe) can be placed on top without falling off. The end result is said to resemble a battleship but I think it looks more like a cup.

Gunkan-maki

Gunkan-maki

Oshi Sushi

Also called oshizushi or hako-sushi, this “pressed sushi” comes from Osaka in south-central Japan. It is made with a sushi press – a wooden, box-shaped mold known as oshibako. The toppings are laid at the bottom of the mold and then covered with sushi rice. Finally, the lid is pressed down to create a firm, rectangular block of sushi that’s cut into pieces before serving.

oshi sushi

Oshi

Chirashi Sushi

Also called chirashizushi, bara sushi or gomoku sushi – all of which loosely translate as “scattered sushi” – this sushi is served as a bowl of rice topped with seafood, mushroom and vegetables. Chirashi is extremely popular in Japanese homes as it forms a perfect vehicle for leftovers and doesn’t require any sushi-pressing skills.

Chirashi can be further sub-divided into:

  • Edomae chirashizushi: Topped with uncooked ingredients arranged artfully on top of the sushi rice
  • Gomokuzushi: Cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed into the rice
  • Sake-zushi: The rice is mixed with rice wine rather than rice vinegar, then topped with seafood, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and shredded omelette
Chirashi sushi

Chirashi sushi – specifically edomae chirashi

Inari Sushi

Called inarizushi in Japan, this “stuffed sushi” consists of vinegared rice stuffed into a pouch of deep fried tofu (abura-age). It’s usually sweet-tasting and is one of the most inexpensive forms of sushi.

Bonus trivia: Inari is the fox God of Japan’s Shinto religion and because foxes are traditionally believed to like abura-age, he lends his name to this sushi.

inari sushi

Inari sushi

Onigiri Sushi

Also called omusubi or “rice ball” sushi, onigiri is basically 2-3 fillings rolled up into a ball of regular steamed rice. Sometimes the ball is wrapped with nori. Debates rage on whether this is a type of sushi at all, given the absence of vinegared rice.

Onigiri sushi with nori (left). Onigiri sushi without nori (right)

Onigiri sushi with nori (left). Onigiri sushi without nori (right)

Sushi vs Sashimi

Sushi and sashimi are NOT interchangeable. And sashimi is NOT a form of sushi. In fact, sashimi means “thinly sliced protein” and refers to thinly sliced pieces of raw fish. It does not contain any rice, which is an essential ingredient of sushi.

Sashimi

Sashimi

Also read:

Reading the sushi ingredients

How to eat sushi the correct way

How to order and eat at a sushi bar

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Japanese Cuisine, Japanese Sushi, Maki Sushi, Maki Sushi Rolls, sashimi, sashimi vs sushi, Sushi, Sushi 101, Sushi Basics, Sushi Guide, Sushi Types, sushi vs sashimi, Types of Sushi

A beginners guide to sushi: Part 2 (Reading the ingredients) »

Comments

  1. Jess - alittlepartoftheworld says

    November 25, 2014 at 16:19

    Great guide. Thank you. I love both Sushi and Sashimi.

    Reply
  2. Kate says

    November 26, 2014 at 06:01

    Great guide to sushi! I love eating it but usually only have make or nigiri. Growing up my best friend (who is half Japanese) had a grandma who always made “bag sushi” and I never thought it was a real thing – turns out it’s inari! Now I know what to look for when I go out! thanks!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A beginners guide to sushi: Part 2 (Reading the ingredients) says:
    November 21, 2014 at 11:47

    […] Also read: The different kinds of sushi […]

    Reply
  2. A beginners guide to sushi: Part 3 (How to eat sushi the correct way) - Manners & Mischief says:
    November 30, 2014 at 11:40

    […] that you know your maki from your nigiri and aji from aayogi, it’s time to take a seat at the sushi table. But what’s the best […]

    Reply
  3. A beginners guide to sushi: Part 4 (How to order and eat at a sushi bar) - Manners & Mischief says:
    February 16, 2015 at 11:42

    […] you know your maki from your chirashi, can read the list of ingredients like a true Japanese native and even remember that it’s […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress