Ask any sushi cook
The fish gets the attention, but the rice is most of the work. Ren spent his first two years in a Tokyo kitchen making rice and nothing else. He’ll tell you the rice is what makes it sushi. The fish is what goes on top.
What we use
Short-grain Japanese rice, washed until the water runs clear, soaked for half an hour and cooked in small batches. We season it with red vinegar made from sake lees, a little salt and no sugar. That’s why our rice is a little brown and tastes sharper than you might expect.
Body temperature
Sushi rice should be about as warm as your hand. Too hot and the fish starts to cook. Too cold and the rice goes hard. We keep it in a wooden tub under a cloth and make a fresh batch every hour or so.
How to tell good rice
It should hold together when you pick it up and fall apart once it’s in your mouth. If a piece of nigiri stays in one tight lump while you chew, the rice was packed too hard.
