Nori Rolls

Posted by johngl

Since my Tyson Cole post, I’ve been wanting to get more experience with sushi style “cooking” and I thought that a Wine Salon event featuring German Rieslings was just the ticket. Nothing like embarrassing oneself in front of 30  people.

Nori Roll with Sockeye Salmon Belly, King Crab Leg, Avruga “Caviar”, and Avocado

But, with the last-minute help of my most glorious spousal unit, I survived it.

The astute reader would probably have already stopped in bewilderment:

Did this fool just say he was making Nori rolls to go with German wines?  What planet is he on?

I had to dig really deeply into my German heritage for this one.

All kidding aside, it just so happens that the acidic nature of good German Rieslings goes really well with raw fish as well as a gazillion other things. These wines are really versatile, be they Kabinett, Spatlese, or Auslese.

Chatty Cathy, shall we get back to the Nori rolls? Please!

Okay, but only cuz you said please.  Your momma taught you well.  Thank her for that the next time you see her.

Some of you older hippy types might recognize that bamboo roller contraption.  Back in the day, I carried one in my hip pocket.  Of course the one I had back then was a lot smaller and I wasn’t rollin’ up fish spliffs.  I wasn’t using seaweed flavored papers either (only Club S.D. Modiano gumless for me).

Next up, rice:

Get a nice, even layer of rice on your sheet of Nori.  Nori is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera. Believe it or not, I actually typed that with a straight face.  Well, not really, I typed that with my fingers.  Some things just don’t translate into digital media very well.

Add stuff:

That’s crab in front, followed by avocado.  The black stuff is the caviar.  The bright orange stuff is sockeye salmon.  You might be able to make out a single sliver of chive.  Underneath that mass is wasabi, spread the length of the roll.  Not shown is a long fettuccine like piece of daikon that I added for crunch.  Also, you can’t see that I mixed some pequin powder with agave nectar and drizzled it lightly over the meat. It’s in there for just a hint of sweetness and a touch of heat.

I never liked how some people rolled those bulbous doobs with pointy ends.  Roll the damn thing like a cigar, will you?  Overstuff it, then twist the end, like this:

I have to admit that in spite of the suggested similarities, this isn’t at all like spinning up your herbage of choice.  This requires a bit of practice. After rolling up a dozen or so of these fatties, I finally felt like I was finally getting the hang of it.  I could crank one out in about five minutes.

They went over pretty well at that Riesling tasting, too.

That thing in the middle of the plate is a tuna tartare shooter.  It’s raw big-eye tuna, minced shallots and garlic, with a blend of dashi and soy sauce poured over, and topped with a dollop of caviar.  We know how to party.

With a phalanx of German wine coming your way, you’ve got to be prepared.

At some point in the future, I’ll talk write more about preparing sushi rice, making dashi, preparing the fish, etc, etc. Tomorrow is a workday and it’s way past my bedtime.