I started off by visiting my local fish supplier and selected a good 30-cm Inada, which is a not yet fully grown Buri, with some fat but mostly meat and chiai (red meat).
I rinsed my fish off when I got home and began slicing it for nigirizushi. I used a sashimi knife, which has been in the family for some time and only used on special occasions like this (when not in use, it is sharpened, rinsed, dried and stored to guard against damage and rust). The Inada slices were about as long as my finger (to the third knuckle) and about 1/3 of a finger in width.
I had prepared my sushi rice ahead of time, cheating with pre-made sushi vinegar bought at my local supermarket.
So far, so good.
Next is where I totally messed up on 3 points. 1) I used my own judgment for how much rice to use per nigiri piece. 2) Next, I molded the rice tightly before combining with wasabi and the Inada slices. 3) Worst of all, I used plain water to rub on my hands when molding – it should have been vinegar water.
The results: A plate of sushi where each piece felt like a roll of dimes, seemed to take forever to chew, and the rice didn’t break apart in my mouth as it should (excess water on my hands must have glued the grains together!).
Some of you might be thinking, “Gee whiz, talk about sushi amateur”. I thought it was a great learning process and a good starting point for massive improvement on future attempts. I can only get better from here on out, right?) It was at least fun to try.
Although the sushi itself wasn’t a success, the Inada by itself as sashimi was excellent.