Sushi

Sushi is, without a doubt, one of Japan's greatest gastronomical gifts to the world. Almost poetic in its simplicity, a perfect sushi relies on the freshness of the ingredients and the knife skills of the chef. Whether you like your raw fish draped over bite-sized balls of vinegar rice, rolled up in toasted nori seaweed or pressed into fat rectangular logs, sushi can be found in every price range.

The common ingredient across all kinds of sushi is vinegared sushi rice. Variety arises from fillings, toppings, condiments, and preparation. Traditional versus contemporary methods of assembly may create very different results from very similar ingredients. Its main variations include:

1. Chirashizushi ("scattered sushi") is a bowl of sushi rice topped with a variety of raw fish and vegetables/garnishes. Regional variations include: Edomae chirashizushi (Edo-style scattered sushi), which is served with uncooked ingredients which are arranged artfully on top of the sushi rice in a bowl; Gomokuzushi (Kansai-style sushi), which consists of cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of rice in a bowl; and Sake-zushi (Kyushu-style sushi), which is a variety where instead of rice vinegar, rice wine is used in the mixture of the rice, and is topped with shrimp, sea bream, octopus, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and shredded omelette.

2. Inarizushi is a pouch of fried tofu typically filled with sushi rice alone. Regional variations include pouches made of a thin omelette (fukusa-zushi, or chakin-zushi). It should not be confused with inari maki, which is a roll filled with flavored fried tofu.

3. Makizushi ("rolled sushi"), norimaki ("Nori roll") or makimono ("variety of rolls") is a cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat known as a makisu. Other versions include:

-Futomaki ("thick, large or fat rolls") is a large cylindrical piece, usually with nori on the outside.

-Hosomaki (thin rolls") is a small cylindrical piece, with nori on the outside. Other variations include: Kappamaki, filled with cucumber, is named after the Japanese legendary water imp fond of cucumbers called the kappa; Tekkamaki, filled with raw tuna; Negitoromaki, filled with scallion (negi) and chopped tuna (toro); and Tsunamayomaki, filled with canned tuna tossed with mayonnaise.

-Ehōmaki ("lucky direction roll") is a roll composed of 7 ingredients considered to be lucky.

-Temaki ("hand roll") is a large cone-shaped piece of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end.

4. Narezushi ("matured sushi") is a traditional form of fermented sushi.

5. Nigirizushi ("hand-pressed sushi") consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice that the chef presses into a small rectangular box between the palms of the hands, usually with a bit of wasabi, and a topping (the neta) draped over it. Variations include:

-Gunkanmaki ("warship roll") is a special type of nigirizushi: an oval, hand-formed clump of sushi rice that has a strip of nori wrapped around its perimeter to form a vessel that is filled with some soft, loose or fine-chopped ingredient that requires the confinement of nori such as roe, nattō, oysters, uni (sea urchin roe), corn with mayonnaise, scallops, and quail eggs.

-Temarizushi ("ball sushi") is a ball-shaped sushi made by pressing rice and fish into a ball-shaped form by hand using a plastic wrap.

6. Oshizushi ("pressed sushi") is a pressed sushi from the Kansai region, a favorite and specialty of Osaka. It is also known as hako-zushi ("box sushi").

7. Uramaki ("inside-out roll") is a medium-sized cylindrical piece with two or more fillings, and was innovated as a result of the creation of the California roll, as a method originally meant to hide the nori.

8. American-style makizushi has different types of sushi rolls: 

-Alaskan roll is a variant of the California roll with raw salmon on the inside, or layered on the outside.

-Boston roll is an uramaki California roll with poached shrimp instead of imitation crab.

-British Columbia roll contains grilled or barbecued salmon skin, cucumber, sweet sauce, sometimes with roe. Also sometimes referred to as salmon skin rolls outside of British Columbia, Canada.

-California roll consists of avocado, kani kama (imitation crab/crab stick) (also can contain real crab in "premium" varieties), cucumber, and tobiko, often made as uramaki (with rice on the outside, nori on the inside).

-Dynamite roll includes yellowtail (hamachi) and/or prawn tempura, and fillings such as bean sprouts, carrots, avocado, cucumber, chili, spicy mayonnaise, and roe.

-Hawaiian roll contains shoyu tuna (canned), tamago, kanpyō, kamaboko, and the distinctive red and green hana ebi (shrimp powder).

-Philadelphia roll consists of raw or smoked salmon, cream cheese (the name refers to Philadelphia cream cheese), cucumber or avocado, and/or onion.

-Rainbow roll is a California roll uramaki with multiple types of fish (commonly yellowtail, tuna, salmon, snapper, white fish, eel, etc.) and avocado wrapped around it.

-Seattle roll consists of cucumber, avocado, cream cheese and raw or smoked salmon.

-Mango roll includes fillings such as avocado, crab meat, tempura shrimp, mango slices, and topped off with a creamy mango paste.

-Spider roll includes fried soft-shell crab and other fillings such as cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts or lettuce, roe, and sometimes spicy mayonnaise.

-Michigan roll includes fillings such as spicy tuna, smelt roe, spicy sauce, avocado, and sushi rice. Is a variation on spicy tuna roll.