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Ra Sushi 101 - Baltimore media rolls sushi
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Sushi is a painstaking art form, an edible one, yet an art form. Before the sushi craze hit, sushi chefs trained 10 years to perfect their skills. With the demand being so high, the training is only about 2 years. This past week the media was invited to Ra Sushi for a Sushi rolling class, I don’t know what 30 minutes makes us but sushi rolling fools but we had a great time.
The list of usual and unusual suspects were: Reagan Warfield of Mix 106.5, Downtown Diane, Michael Mohammadi of Food and Wine Blog, Jess Blumberg of Baltimore Magazine, Celeste Corsaro of Baltimore Eats, Sara Hisamoto of Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, Jessica Lemmo of Adventures in Baltimore Restaurants and myself rolled, chatted, took photos and video – it was great fun. There is talk about Ra Sushi starting a sushi cooking class – your Dining Examiner will keep you updated.
Sushi Rice
Just making the sushi rice is a process. I learned a long time ago from Nyghia Hoang, chef at Hoang’s Seafood Grill, the proper method of making sushi rice. Japanese sticky rice is cooked, seasoned with sweetened rice vinegar or sugar and rice vinegar and cooled. The TRICK is to cool it in a wooden bowl or container. Non-porous containers like plastic or glass build up steam and over-cook the rice. Nyghia used to put a fan on his rice to cool it properly and was very secretive about his seasoning on the sushi rice – his was the best.
Getting down with sushi
I was prepared; I brought my own apron because I am the serious cook amongst those designated eaters who attended. It is easier when someone has made the sushi rice, prepped the ingredients and set out all the tools. It is also easier if we didn’t have a drink before picking up a super sharp sushi knife, but I digress. Fun was had by all, drinks were had by all and most importantly we ate our creations plus enjoyed a sampling of their happy hour specials. (Monday through Saturday ~ 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.).
Just for you and Viva Las Vegas
So you shouldn’t be left out, I have video snippets from the event that I edited and created a sushi 101 class – the history of sushi, how to roll a California roll, a cute piece on Downtown Diane and a look at the Viva Las Vegas Roll as the closing shot. Ra Sushi-Baltimore has a Facebook page and they are starting a Facebook Photo Contest centered on the Viva Las Vegas roll. Upload your photo eating a Viva Las Vegas Roll in the Fan Photo section and the fans top pick photos in the categories: messiest, biggest mouth, most creative and most people to eat a viva in one picture with receive a $50 gift certificate to Ra Sushi. Contest begins August 1. Check out the official rules and participation information on their Facebook page.
Let me thank our Sushi chef instructor Andy and general manager, Scott Bernas for putting up with attentive though slightly rowdy students. It was great fun.
Ra Sushi
1390 Lancaster St
Baltimore, MD 21231-3300
(410) 522-3200
www.rashushi.com
Other sushi posts:
- O's Roll
- What are the Plain White T's having for lunch?
- Is there a name for the night before Thanksgiving?
Subscribe to the Dining Examiner and have my post delivered direct to your e-mail in box. Comments are welcomed. If you need to reach me, examiner@diningdish.otherinbox.com
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