How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours?

How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours? - Happy young female with long dark hair in vivid dress enjoying Japanese traditional cuisine and eating appetizing sushi while having lunch in modern light kitchen

I would like to know what is the better way to dress sushi and sashimi. What I am looking for is how it was thought to be eaten and what are the ways a sushi piece is supposed to be dressed with soy sauce and wasabi to obtain a balanced taste!



Best Answer

I remain extremely skeptical that there is a right or wrong way to dress, pick up, eat, or otherwise deal with sushi. A Google search for "is there a right way to eat sushi" turns up hundreds of pages, many with contradictory information.

If there is a "right" way, it's most certainly dictated by the locale or restaurant you're in or the people you're with. My advice is to do whatever you want, particularly if you're paying for the meal. If you're a guest, follow the lead of your hosts. But don't sweat it. Enjoy it!


UPDATE since the original question has been edited...

what is the better way to dress sushi and sashimi.

"Better" is still difficult to define for everyone, and will vary by each person's taste. Something that "enhances" flavors for me may be completely unacceptable to you, and vice-versa. There's no accounting for taste! But since you made an effort to clarify your question, I am updating my answer accordingly.

  1. Sometimes the "better" dressing is none at all. This is particularly true for Unagi or others that have some kind of sauce already applied (though I know some people who dip Unagi in soy sauce and claim it is great). I have a daughter with soy allergy, so she cannot use soy sauce at all and doesn't like wasabi. She enjoys eating salmon and tuna nigiri pieces completely plain. I've tried it myself, and with good, fresh fish it is really good.

  2. I have heard of people dipping the pickled ginger in the soy sauce and using that as a kind of "brush" to gently apply soy sauce to the topping. That may be "better" if you are adept with chopsticks and enjoy pickled ginger along with soy.

  3. Some people dip only the topping into the soy sauce, to avoid getting the rice saturated. This is a little easier to do if you use your fingers to pick up the sushi pieces (and according to some accounts this is perfectly acceptable for sushi) (but not sashimi).

  4. Some people mix wasabi (sometimes, copious amounts) in with the soy sauce and dip the sushi into that mixture. Some suggest that soy + wasabi should be reserved for sashimi only.




Pictures about "How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours?"

How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours? - Young lady with dark hair in stylish wear holding chopsticks with sushi and covering eye while resting in light kitchen at home
How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours? - Focused young woman using chopsticks for sushi in kitchen
How to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours? - Young female eating sushi in modern kitchen



How do you order sushi like a pro?

How to Order Sushi Like a Pro
  • Start with a mild white fish like flounder, red snapper, or sea bream.
  • Order red fish with stronger flavors like fatty toro tuna or yellowtail.
  • Eat some gari or sip green tea to cleanse your palate.
  • Order hikarimono.


  • Is mixing wasabi and soy sauce rude?

    Sushi chefs discourage the mixing as creating the concoction taints the soy sauce and ruins both the spiciness and aroma of wasabi. The proper way to enjoy sushi is to apply wasabi onto the fish element of sushi and dip pieces of sushi fish side down into soy sauce to not over-saturate the morsel.

    How do you eat elegant sushi?

    Pick up the sushi with your hand. Turn the sushi upside down with your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger so that the fish part will fall on your tongue. This is said to be the proper way to eat sushi: the rice part won't get soaked in the soy sauce, allowing you to eat the sushi beautifully.

    Should you dip sushi in soy sauce?

    \u201cIn Japan, you always dip just the fish in the soy sauce, and not the rice. So with nigiri, you pick it up, turn it a bit and dip the side with the fish in the soy sauce. This way, it is never overwhelming, because it won't absorb the soy sauce like rice does.\u201d



    6 Hacks to Make Better Sushi at Home




    More answers regarding how to dress sushi to better enhance all its flavours?

    Answer 2

    Soy sauce, wasabi and grated ginger.

    If you are eating sashimi, you can mix a bit of wasabi and/or ginger with the soy sauce. If you are eating nigiris, the chef probably put wasabi in it, so you may not need to put more.

    But remember that the point of eating sashimi and nigirizushi is to feel the taste and the texture of the fish and the rice. So be really gentle when dipping the fish, or you will kill all the taste. Only a touching one corner of the fish should be enough... and for the nigiri, don't touch with the rice, or it will get damp.

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Gustavo Fring, Gustavo Fring, Gustavo Fring, Gustavo Fring