When most people think about sushi, they think about a type of sushi that is technically called “Edo-mae Sushi” which comes from Tokyo. Tokyo is right next to the ocean and historically always had access to lots of fresh fish, which is why Tokyo style sushi uses mainly fresh sea food from the ocean. The aim is to let the fish shine without adding any other flavours.
Kyoto style sushi which is called KAMIGATA SUSHI is much less well known but equally as delicious. Because Kyoto is located inland and close to lake Biwa one of the biggest differences is that Kyoto historically did not have access to super freshly caught fish from the ocean. Instead salted or otherwise preserved ocean fish was used, which resulted in Kyotos most famous Sushi: SABA SUSHI – salted and vinegard mackerel sushi. Additionally Lake Biwa has a very delicious type of trout calles “Biwa Masu” which also gets used in Sushi, as well as other fresh water fish (like “Hamo” and “Iwana”). Nowadays super fresh fish can be sourced all over Japan obviously, but Kyoto still likes to keep those traditons alive. In contrast to Tokyo style sushi, Kyoto style Sushi adds flavours like SANSHO (japanese mountain pepper), KINOME (young leaves of Sansho) and pickled ginger into Sushi. Famous types of Kamigata Sushi include:
- Futomaki – thick sushi rolls with vegetables, fish and egg
- Hako Sushi – sushi that gets pressed with a square mold
- Saba Sushi – vinegard mackerel sushi
- Hamo Bousushi – grilled conger eel sushi roll
Sushi vinegar – Kyoto style
Kyoto style Sushi vinegar is a little bit on the sweeter side. It gives more shine to the rice because of the higher sugar content and keeps fresh for longer.
ingredients
- 80 ml of rice vinegar
- 64 g sugar (type: Jouhakuto)
- 16g uniodized salt
directions
- Put all ingredients into a pot and heat up gently while stirring. The goal is to dissolve the sugar and salt, not boil the vinegar.
- Pour mixture over freshly cooked Sushi rice and mix without crushing the rice grains (it does not matter whether the vinegar is hot or cold – the rice will be hot enough to equalize the temperature).
- Let the Sushi rice rest under a moist towel so the mixture has a chance to sink in.
You might want to check out more details concerning how to choose rice vinegar, what kind of sugar to use and what to use to gently mix the rice and vinegar mixture.
This is one of those recipes that you will come back to time and time again while we will explore all the different kinds of Kyoto style sushi together. I hope you have fun and I’d be delighted to hear from you! Leave a comment under this post or use the contact formular to reach out directly.
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