Gravy's Cooking Thread

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Deathwing

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Okay, as far as cost goes, yeah it's not the cheapest meal per calorie. But in terms of "missing flavors", I think you're just crazy. Tuna sashimi tastes amazing, all by itself. And most rolls have a huge amount of flavor, because there's numerous other ingredients wrapped up in there.

Seems to me that you've just had really shitty sushi.
The rolls are another matter. I have no problems with flavor there, but then you have so many other ingredients and flavors that it makes my why I'm paying for raw fish. It's really hard to tell it's in there.

Tuna sashimi, as I understand it, is a decent piece of raw fish on top of a packed ball of rice that has a bit of vinegar in it. You can lightly dip it in soy sauce or spread a bit of wasabi on it. I'll admit, I haven't tried a lot of sashimi, but the few I did, the people I was with liked it, but only made me wonder why I was paying for it. There was nothing about the preparation that was unique unless you like the texture of raw fish. I specifically don't like olives and mushrooms for their texture, so that might be why I don't like sashimi. All the other parts, specifically flavor, I can still get by cooking the fish.
 

Falstaff

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The rolls are another matter. I have no problems with flavor there, but then you have so many other ingredients and flavors that it makes my why I'm paying for raw fish. It's really hard to tell it's in there.

Tuna sashimi, as I understand it, is a decent piece of raw fish on top of a packed ball of rice that has a bit of vinegar in it. You can lightly dip it in soy sauce or spread a bit of wasabi on it. I'll admit, I haven't tried a lot of sashimi, but the few I did, the people I was with liked it, but only made me wonder why I was paying for it. There was nothing about the preparation that was unique unless you like the texture of raw fish. I specifically don't like olives and mushrooms for their texture, so that might be why I don't like sashimi. All the other parts, specifically flavor, I can still get by cooking the fish.
Sashimi is technically a piece of fish and nothing else. Nigiri is what you describe as fish on top of a packed ball of rice.
 

Deathwing

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I don't agree with this or what Deathwing said. Good fish should not be drowning in sauce, otherwise all you taste is sauce and then who cares what the protein is? Salt, Olive Oil, lemon and that's it for fish with some rare exceptions for different cuisines, but then again if you are having a fish curry or something, the main attraction is supposed to be the curry and the fish is just there to add some substance.

Good sushi should be all about the fish and the quality/freshness. Rolls are like sauces; tons of extra shit that dilutes the flavor of the fish and you lose the texture and the taste of the actual fish. And please don't get me wrong, I am not a sushi snob because I love a good roll with a dozen different things in it as much as the next guy, but I also know that if I am doing what you are doing (going to a good sushi restaurant and sitting at the sushi bar) I am definitely ordering omakase and leaving it up to the sushi chef and I hope to god that he isn't throwing rolls at me.
I didn't say drowning. My point is that I have yet to taste sashimi that could carry itself with almost no seasoning. And if I ever do taste one, it will probably be prohibitively expensive.

To be fair, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon is basically a vinaigrette. You made a sauce.

A lot of times I just pick up sushi with my hands if my chopsticking fails me.
You're supposed to eat sushi/sashimi/whatever with your hands! I hate the stuff and know this. The sushi chef is murdering you in his mind every time you insult his family's ancestors by picking it up with chopsticks.
 

Deathwing

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Honestly, I think a lot of this is mental gymnastics. Seasoning is so important everywhere else except here. Even raw beef, tartar and carpaccio, are still well dressed and seasoned. Why is raw fish different? You're not going to convince me raw fish is much more flavorful than raw beef.

The Japanese do a great job at selling this. There's a specific chef just for making sashimi. Special set of knives. You have to pay a lot to get the good stuff. Have the chef pick for you, he knows best, even though you're the one eating it and paying.

Probably the same reason Hibachi grills are still popular. Only place I can think where people still pay full price for what essentially is a rerun.
 

Falstaff

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I didn't say drowning. My point is that I have yet to taste sashimi that could carry itself with almost no seasoning. And if I ever do taste one, it will probably be prohibitively expensive.

To be fair, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon is basically a vinaigrette. You made a sauce.



You're supposed to eat sushi/sashimi/whatever with your hands! I hate the stuff and know this. The sushi chef is murdering you in his mind every time you insult his family's ancestors by picking it up with chopsticks.
Season it with salt, cook or poach it in olive oil, or drizzle with olive oil and lemon at the end. No room for pepper in there bro. And I'm not combining the ingredients and dressing the cooked fish with it, so no I am not making a vinaigrette.

If sushi restaurants don't want me to use chopsticks they should stop giving them to me. But yeah, I know you are supposed to use your hands.
 

Deathwing

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You don't put pepper on your fish?

Yes, you literally did not make a vinaigrette. You used all the ingredients that would be in a vinaigrette on your dish. The point is not that you literally sauced the fish, it's that felt the dish needed those ingredients to enhance the flavor of the fish. You cook your fish and then add all of that extra flavor. Yet raw fish is supposed to be flavorful?
 

Soygen

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That would work well in a tentacle-rape themed sushi joint.
 

Crone

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While it's technically still classified as Sushi, the rolls you see in restaurants these days, most are so doctored up I feel they are so far from sushi. But damn are they still good.

Here in Phoenix AZ, of all places, sushi places in the last 5 years have sprung up like wild fire. I can only assume it's the high margins, and "upscale" atmosphere that comes from serving sushi. People willing to pay more for sushi, than if it was just a burger joint? I can't imagine with how doctored up most of the rolls are, that the sushi in them is that expensive to the restaurant, but to hell if they don't charge you $10-15 for it.

Now sashimi, they might pay a little more to get good sashimi. Or nigiri. Both are good, but nothing better than some yellowtail (hamachi) sashimi dipped in a little soy/wasabi sauce hehe
 

BrutulTM

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Sushi is one thing I miss from San Francisco. Go out in the Richmond district and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a little ma and pa sushi place where you can get rolls for $3 and sashimi plates for $12 that are equal to or better than what I have to drive 200 miles and pay $12-15 a roll for around here.
 

McCheese

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pirogues up in this
rrr_img_65719.jpg
Did you roll, stuff, and seal each one by hand? I recently made some pelmeni (although they look more like vareniki, see the spoilered pic), and I ended up rolling out and stuffing nearly 60 of them by hand. It took forever, but it was totally worth it because they were delicious. I ended up eating all 60ish in one evening, with an entire tub of sour cream.

rrr_img_66028.jpg
 

lurkingdirk

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Real talk: how are you not 400 pounds? Are you actually Michael Phelps?
This is exactly what I was thinking. Sheesh, man. A whole tub o sour cream? And 60 of those things? First of all, I'd need to visit the vomatorium half way through. No way I could get those all in me. Second, what's your blood pressure like?

They do look good, though. I love it when people take the time to hand make things like that. A regular thing of the sort we do is butternut squash and pear ravioli. yum.