First attempt at nigiri

2 comments

1. Hey, good job for your first try. Sushi takes a lot of practice, the second one down from the left looks like your best one.

   Some tips:

   Try and cut your slices four fingers in length, and two fingers for width. These nigiri are really wide so try and narrow them with your thumb and index. You want the fish to wrap over the sides of the rice. Also, your rice looks a bit mushy and overcooked. All in all, good job giving it a go for your first time.

   here’s a great video on proper technique for nigiri

   [How to make Nigiri](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKJZd1VHsr8)

   cheers

2. I wouldn’t say you need to change the shape of the fish, per se. There are a lot of sushi chefs that use different kinds of slices of fish in different shapes.

   What matters is that, whatever shape you prefer, the rice to fish ratio needs to be correct. In your case, there is a bit too much rice. You could probably do 1/2 to 2/3 the amount of rice and it would be better ratio. But the shape of the fish slice is really just personal preference. Some chefs like to do nigiri slices with REALLY long, thin “tails” and some like to do nearly square slices on a little round ball of rice.

   I would also say it’s important that the rice is properly seasoned. It should be pretty strongly seasoned. Not swimming in vinegar/salt but it should be strong enough that you can taste the vinegar/salt/sugar in the rice giving a nice background to the fish when you eat it. Most online sushi rice recipes don’t season the rice enough.

   Practice slicing your green onions as thin as possible. Not only is it good knife skills practice, but they taste better the thinner they are. Make sure you are using a good technique.

   This is the proper technique for cutting almost everything:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeumsZD5Hfw

   The pinch-grip of the knife at the base and the way he protects his finger tips by curling them inwards apply to nearly every type of knife prep. That technique will give you confidence to not cut yourself and therefore, speed.