Sushi

There is something about the formal and orderly appearance of sushi that can make some people feel awkward. Luckily, there are no strict rules of conduct, but feeling at ease with the etiquette will not only help you relax, it will enhance your enjoyment of the meal. Sushi bars in Japan are intimate but relaxed places; proceed in the same vein when enjoying sushi at home.

At sushi bars, the absence of a menu means that there is no obvious meal structure. Similarly, when making sushi at home, there are no rules about what selection to offer and no set order in which to eat sushi. Choose whatever takes your fancy and consider these conventional guidelines, but don’t regard them as gospel:

• The Japanese often serve soup at both ends of the meal. Traditionally, sui mono, which is similar to consommé, is served at the start. Miso shiru, or miso soup, usually signifies the end of a meal.

• Begin with omelet, as its subtle flavor allows you to taste the rice. However, I have known sushi gurus to end a meal with omelet, treating it like a sweet dessert.

• A logical (but not essential) approach is to start with blander-tasting white fish and work your way toward richer fish with red meat and more strongly flavored toppings. However, if your favorite topping is fatty belly of tuna, it is fine to start with that.

• Some say that you should finish a meal with rolled sushi. This may be because they contain more rice and are therefore more filling than hand-formed sushi, but I don’t think you should have to wait.

Provide chopsticks, a chopstick holder, and a small dipping bowl at each place setting. If you are using disposable wooden chopsticks in a paper sleeve, take the chopsticks out of the sleeve, break them apart, and place them on the small chopstick rest in front of you as you take your seat.

• Don’t pass food from your chopsticks to another person’s chopsticks, as this is considered to be extremely bad luck. (In the traditional Japanese funeral ceremony, relatives pass the cremated bones of the deceased with chopsticks before collecting them in a burial pot.)

• If you are helping yourself to food from a communal plate or serving someone else, it is polite to turn your chopsticks around and use the top ends.

If you don’t feel comfortable using chopsticks, it is perfectly acceptable to use your fingers (how to dip hand-formed sushi). Hand-formed sushi, or nigiri zushi, was originally invented as a snack to be eaten at a street stall. At a sushi bar, you would be given a wet towel at the start of a meal to wipe your fingers on before you begin; you can do the same at home.

One of the most wonderful seasonings, soy sauce appears in almost every aspect of Japanese cooking. I love it and use it all the time, but for sushi, it should be used sparingly—for dipping and not for drowning the food. There is an art to dipping a piece of hand-formed sushi into soy sauce without it disintegrating and leaving grains of rice floating in the dish. Whether you are using chopsticks or your fingers, try to eat hand-formed sushi in one mouthful; it is considered impolite to bite a piece of sushi in half and then put the remaining half back on your plate.

When dipping a piece of rolled sushi, dip only a small corner of it in the soy sauce. Don’t submerge the sushi, as not only will it fall apart, but the rice will quickly absorb all the soy sauce and the delicate flavors of the roll will be totally overwhelmed. The same technique of immersing the corner only applies for dipping battleship sushi in soy sauce.

Wasabi wisdom

I have watched people dissolve an entire mound of wasabi paste in their soy sauce dipping dish and then proceed to drown a piece of sushi or sashimi in it. Up until now I have recommended that you eat according to your personal tastes and are not intimidated by convention, but this is where I draw the line. Wasabi is an essential accompaniment to sushi and sashimi, but it is intended to enhance the flavor of the food and should never be regarded as a proof of bravery.

If you like the taste and sensation of wasabi, dab a little extra wasabi paste on an individual piece of sushi or sashimi, then dip it briefly in the soy sauce. This way, you can savor the unique flavor of the fish and yet still enjoy the essence of the wasabi and soy sauce. At a sushi bar, ask the chef to apply a little more wasabi to your sushi and he will be more than happy to oblige.

A MOUND OF WASABI PASTE

Pickled ginger

Sushi is served with a little heap of thinly sliced pink pickled ginger. It is intended as a palate cleanser and should be eaten a slice at a time in between different flavors of sushi. Although pickled ginger’s refreshing taste is rather addictive for some people, it is meant as an accompaniment to sushi or sashimi, not as a side salad.

PALATE-CLEANSING GINGER