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trouble finding sushi ingredients.

post #1 of 7
3/23/08 at 12:29am
Thread Starter 
since the closest city is about 1½ hours from me, i have a hard time finding sushi ingredients. and this is tragic for me because i love to make sushi, and i love eating it even more.

i think there's a fish market close by that occasionally carries a couple varieties of sashimi-grade fish, but no grocery stores near me carry nori or short-grain rice or wasabi...i have to truck it all the way to cleveland to find asian markets that actually have it.

so i guess after all that, what i'm trying to find out is if anyone knows of places to order such things online. that may be more convenient...and shipping will most likely be less than the gas money i spend to get to said asian markets. ;]
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post #2 of 7
3/23/08 at 2:13am
Google is youtr friend. These people have everything you asked for, and more: Sushi Now, Sushi Rolling Supplies

Shel
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post #3 of 7
3/23/08 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
awesome! for some reason, i tried to google it once and i never came up on that site...thanks for pointing that out!
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post #4 of 7
3/24/08 at 1:25pm

Sushi ingredients

Call your favorite restaurant? Talk to the chef maybe if he is nice you could probably piggy back on his order. It might cost you less then the store and at least you know it is fresh. Or talk to your fish person at your local supermarket. :roll::roll::lol:
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post #5 of 7
3/24/08 at 1:37pm
See if there are any specialty stores within the area. It may be a 2 hour drive, but for quality sushi ingredients it is worth it.
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post #6 of 7
3/24/08 at 3:40pm
I like Cal-Rose rice for sushi purposes -- as well as a few other wildly disparate ones, but I digress. My experience is that a blend of old rice (stored for a year) mixed 50/50 with the freshest rice you can find works best.

If there are no Asian markets near you, you can find Cal-Rose sushi rice (Botan, for instance) on the internet at reasonable prices. Personally, I thought that $3.50/lb at the sushi specialty place took a lot of chutzpah. Chutzpah, that's a Japanese word. Right?

You're going to have to work pretty hard to get a good selection of sushi/sashimi grade fish. The good news: A huge percentage of fish and shellfish in even the best sushi-ya was bought frozen. For instance, all of the Japanese, "local water" fish, seasonal kampach, e.g.. Much is only available in this country vacuum packed -- anago and unagi leap to mind. Getting back to the point -- once you find a source, you can keep it more or less indefinitely.

Your best bet is to ask your nearest really good sushi bar from whom they source. Since you're far enough away that they won't be losing any business, they may tell you. Anyway, I'd keep going to restaurants and asking until I got some answers. Buying drinks -- or better, bringing a bottle -- for the management is helpful. It shows a generosity of spirit and an understanding that the owner's insights are valuable.

On a totally tangential matter: If you ever get a chance, visit a Korean "Japanese Food" restaurant specializing in sashimi. The Koreans present a different take changing the sensibility of the meal from High Church of seafood to Par-Tay. You may or may not like it, but it's definitely worth a few tries.

Kampei,
BDL
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post #7 of 7
4/9/08 at 9:24pm
Thread Starter 
i appreciate the responses. i think i'm going to try one (if not all) of these pointers.

high-quality sushi is literally impossible to find out in the boonies like this...i saw it at a chinese buffet around town once. i was feeling brave and i tried it...it was a joke. first off, it was made with (extremely mushy) long grain rice, and it had what i think was a green bean in the middle with crab stick. revolting. i really feel bad for the people who saw that and tried sushi for the first time and now despise sushi for as long as they live because of that experience.

so with that said, i imagine this will pay off well.

:]
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