Sun, Dec 6 2009 - Cooking-Learn to make Sushi (View Original Event Details)

Event Coordinator(s): Ghanesh
Participants:Gordana, Ghanesh, Dorothea, Teresa N, Alison, Geraldine, Mairy, Dave


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Write Up:

It was definitely a chilly winter’s evening in Chinguacousy Park in Brampton.

Chinguacousy means "Land of the Tall Pine." - and is a multi-use cultural and recreational facility.

Here you will find a curling rink, volleyball courts, tennis courts, sports fields, a picnic shelter and paddleboats, as well as a popular greenhouse, chapel and botanical garden. Children are thrilled to see the animals at the barn with its petting zoo and pony rides. There’s also mini golf, a skateboard park, and children’s splash pool. And of course, a restore farm house called the “tea house” that was the setting for our Learn to make Sushi event.

A small group of TOC culinary extraordinary - I mean, chefs wanna be - joined our host and some other participants in a lovely large room in the old house for our introductions and “cooking lesson”. We were greeted and offered hot tea and drinks and as we sat down, nibbled away at some Edamami(steamed soy bean pods).

The large tables were well appointed with sushi making and eating parafanalia - cutting boards,rice pots, chop sticks, wasabi, ginger, cucumbers(that are said to have afodisiac qualities) and knives that looked ready for a cooking battle in Iron Chef.

All the ladies looked lovely and attractive - there was however no immediate signs of the uncontrollable lust and attraction due to the smell of cucumbers. Though my wife Geraldine did “wink” at me....Perhaps this ”tale” was an old by gone story from the days of country farming.

Our host talked about her upbringing, her transformation from Hitech engineer to financial palanner to cooking hostess....her passion for cooking and presenting sushi was evident. We realized there was hope for us after all....

An illustrated handout explained the history of sushi, the variety and ways of preparing the food, and an explanation of the presentation, eating and the award ceremony that was to follow the Iron Chef Brampton event. Whilst sushi is always fun and colorful - we were intrigued to learn that:

  • Sushi doesn’t mean raw fish, sushi means seasoned rice. Sashimi means raw fish
  • Anything can be made with sushi including raw fish
  • Most popular ingredients include cucumber, avocado, egg, crab, shrimp, salmon and tuna
  • Using chopsticks is a matter of personal preference, some sushi experts will use their fingers
  • Cleanse your palate with sweet ginger between each course to fully appreciate the subtle taste of each dish
  • Wasabi is a very spicy Japanese horseradish that is commonly used with soy sauce for sushi and sashimi
  • It takes about 10 years to train to become a Sushi chef ...and yes, us TOCers were hoping to master the art form in 3 hours.
  • Sushi in North America originated in California

    Using our hands in the lesson that ensued, we divided into teams and practiced making: Sushi rice into Futomaki and California rolls, followed by Nigiri Sushi with Shrimp and Smoked salmon. Ingredients used were: cooked egg, cooked salmon, cooked shrimp, cooked crab meat, smoked salmon, fish eggs, pickles, hot sauce, ginger, wasabi, green onions, sea weed, patience, practice and a realization that it’s harder than it looks.

    As the evening continued, we ate various pieces of sushi rolls and started to think about our presentation to come.

  • Theresa and her group really cranked out tons of food
  • Dave Yang - commonly referred to as kamakazi hiker/sushi chef - was intent on mastering the art form and kept perfecting his group’s platter
  • Geraldine and Alison were a natural pair at rolling the rice
  • Gordana really got her hands in there and Mairy always had a finished tray of food to pose for the camera
  • I just kept an eye on everything(actually I don’t really know how to make the darn thing too well) and kept feeding food to Dorothea, Alison and Geraldine

    And finally it came to the presentation and wearing our Kiminos! The tables were cleared and we all covered up in traditional Japanese kiminos(robes).Everything looked so authentic - I think we have so talent here after all. We took some great pictures and then the grad finale - just like Iron Chef I tell you!

    Teams presented their best platter and we had a “blind” judging by other teams. Everyone had lots of wonderful trays and in the end a winning presentation was chosen. We “formally” sat down, had sake(rice wine), salad, a variety of home-grown sushi, and followed by an amazing miso soup. Yes, the soup came at the end....a not so unusual tradition, is to have the soup at the end of a meal we were told!

    We ended our evening and dinner with conversation and packed our lunch for the next day. With all the various celebrity chef personalities in the group - we played a “guess where I am from” game to end our evening. All in all, a well organized, fun evening and a better understand and appreciation of the delight that is sushi!

    Thank you all very much. Ghanesh.


    Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.