Has anyone tried using sushi maker kits at home? How was the outcome?

3 comments

1. Yes. It can make having rolls more accessible. People say using a mat is just as easy. It may get that way with practice, but the bazooka lowers the entry level effort.

   That being said, there are some challenges. If you are not careful to expand the indentation from the stick, you can end up with the wall of rice being too thick. Learning to close it is a continuing process. You can only have the nori on the outside of the roll. Sometimes it will fall apart at the seem before you wrap the nori. The roll is too big for a half sheet of nori, but too small for a full sheet.

   We have used the bazooka to make rolls once or twice a week for the past six weeks. The whole family has enjoyed it. Sauces make a huge difference. Some will say that the effort I used in improving the bazooka rolls would be better used on the mats. I don’t know that I agree.

   I will probably practice more on the mats tomorrow. They can make it easier to have an assembly line. Still, I paid $7 for the bazooka, and if I never use it again it will have provided valuable experience in helping me know how much the family and I enjoy the rolls.

2. Here’s the thing, they are automating the easiest step on the process.

   The hard parts of making sushi are all in the prep. Making the rice, cleaning the fish, cutting everything.

   Cutting the fish correctly vs poorly actually does change the flavor.

   If you were at a sushi bar with everything already prepped, putting it together in a roll is the easy part.

   P.S. The real skill in creating the rolls is the speed at which they can do it.

3. I’m not going to knock anybody who finds these sorts of gadgets work for them but I personally feel most of these things needlessly complicate the whole process. With the exception of the basic kits and musubi press all of these are just kitchen clutter that honestly aren’t going to yield sushi as good as you could make with basic tools.

   If you have limited functionality in your hands or just have no interest in learning how to make maki/nigiri the traditional way I’d probably look into an [oshizushihako](https://gluttodigest.com/oshizushi-pressed-sushi-restaurants-recipe/) or [chirashi](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/chirashi-sushi-recipe) before buying a sushi bazooka or other contraption.