Utensils

dōgu

If you already have a reasonably well-equipped kitchen, you can make sushi without having to add a whole range of new special equipment. The aim of this book is to get you started making sushi at home, so I have kept the list to just a few pieces of essential equipment, and some additional specialty items you may wish to add later.

In most cases, you can improvise the specialty equipment used for making sushi, so wherever possible I advise which Western kitchen utensils can be used as alternatives. For a keen cook, however, it’s always a pleasure adding to your kitchen equipment, and most of the traditional equipment is inexpensive and has the advantage of having been designed specifically for sushi preparation. Thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of sushi, most of the equipment you need to prepare it can be found in large department stores, Japanese or Asian supermarkets, or online.