You might be nervous about trying sushi if you haven’t eaten it before. A good way to start is with cooked sushi. Some sushi rolls with cooked fish are the California roll and the Dragon roll.
Everyone loves sushi because it’s exotic and very healthy, but some sushi items are actually cooked. These rolls are also delicious and they may be easier to eat for newbies.
This brief guide will give you a better understanding of cooked sushi and why it’s so different.
Why Cooked Sushi Is Appealing
For most people who have never tried sushi before, the idea of eating raw fish or shellfish can be intimidating. This is why many of the items on any sushi menu now include cooked sushi.
This will make it easier for making a transition over to eating freshly prepared sushi.
If you’ve never had real sushi before, the experience is always better with a friend who has tried it before. They can give you plenty of tips and pointers on what is cooked and what is not.
The appeal to cooked sushi is that it’s considered a ‘safe sushi’ that won’t gross you out. It’s a common misconception that sushi is all raw fish, tentacles, and eyeballs.
This is why many people are afraid to even think of eating sushi in the first place. But items like fried Shrimp Tempura rolls, California rolls, and Vegetarian sushi are perfect starters.
These items are not only delicious but also introduce you to a larger variety of raw fish sushi items.
Pro Tip: If you are new to eating sushi, and you’d like to start with eating cooked sushi, a few of my favorite rolls you might want to try with cooked fish are the California roll and the Shrimp tempura roll.
How To Tell If Sushi Is Raw or Cooked
It doesn’t take too much effort to tell if sushi is cooked or not, since the smell of cooked fish and shellfish changes in addition to the texture.
Many traditional cooked sushi items can include:
- smoked eel (Unagi and Anago)
- shrimp
- clams
- calamari, and
- mackerel
These items are always cooked since they simply cannot be served raw. For that matter, all shellfish should be cooked, fried, steamed, or simmered before they are served.
When it comes to fish, these can be cooked in a variety of ways. Because some fish can have stronger flavors than others, that is better when cooked.
This is why Tuna and Mackerel will be preferred by first-timers. That doesn’t mean that grilled and smoked Salmon or Halibut will have less taste when cooked either.
You might not even realize that the rice that comes with sushi is always cooked.
If you order shrimp, prawns, crab, octopus, squid, eel, egg, cockle, and scallops, these are all cooked.
Salmon can also be seared on one side with a small torch when making Nigiri. Interestingly enough, Shirako (Cod sperm sack) is cooked in a variety of ways.
Consider any of the popular city name sushi choices for cooked sushi.
California, Philidelphia, New York, but not forgetting fancy names like, Tiger roll, Dragon roll, and Spider roll all have cooked fish, shrimp, or crab.
Also fish such as tuna may be cooked when it’s put into a Spicy Tuna roll.
If you are a sushi lover, or if you know someone who is, check out this awesome sushi kit (link to Amazon). It makes a great gift!
Another great gift for a sushi lover is this fun sushi game I found on Amazon!
Are there any dangers in eating cooked sushi?
There is absolutely no harm in eating cooked sushi since most fish is already sushi-grade and meant for eating raw. When it comes to shellfish, you cannot eat these items because they need to be cooked anyway.
While other types of sushi ingredients include roe, which has been prepared beforehand with salt as a preservative. You typically don’t find roe being cooked since it’s meant to be eaten semi-raw.
If you aren’t familiar with it, roe is a name for small fish eggs. It doesn’t bother me at all if you are nervous about eating raw sushi.
If imitation crab is being used, this is almost always white fish that has been cooked, so even when it’s served cold, it’s still cooked fish.
A California roll is one sushi roll that commonly uses imitation crab meat.
Cooking shellfish is simply essential since these crustaceans and shell-based creatures need to be cooked.
They taste terrible when attempting to eat them raw and you risk getting Salmonella and Vibrio vulnificus. These are bacterial organisms that can make you sick.
This hasn’t stopped many people from eating raw oysters, but most sushi bars will offer deep-fried, steamed, and grilled oysters in their cooked sushi.
List of Common Sushi Rolls with Cooked Fish or Shellfish
Here is a great list of sushi rolls to look for at your sushi bar or restaurant. All of these include cooked ingredients that are prepared just like regular raw fish versions.
Shrimp Tempura
These are either made from fried tiger shrimp or prawns that are fried as Japanese tempura and placed in a roll with avocado, rice and covered with sesame seeds or roe and flavored with eel sauce.
California Roll
This roll contains precooked imitation crab meat, cucumber, and avocado. It’s then wrapped in rice and sesame seeds are attached to the outside of the rice.
Philadelphia Roll
This roll contains smoked salmon, cream cheese, and avocado wrapped in rice and covered with sesame seeds.
Boston Roll
You’ll find cooked shrimp that is not fried. It’s often sliced into thin strips and wrapped into a roll with avocado and cucumber. It can often be covered with roe or sesame seeds.
Spicy Tuna Roll
When making spicy tuna, the meat is often made from scrapings that are leftover in tuna processing.
There is some processing to keep it from spoiling and is later mixed with chili powder, sriracha sauce, or spicy mayo.
Technically, it’s half-preserved meat and you can request that the tuna is cooked totally before ordering it.
Dragon Roll
This roll is made with cooked eel and contains cucumber, artificial crab sticks, and avocado.
This is then wrapped in seaweed and rice and the strips of eel are draped over the top. It also gets a good drizzle of eel sauce.
Spider Roll
This is made with a deep-fried soft shell crab, hence the name of this roll. It looks like a deep-fried spider!
But then there are also slices of avocado, cucumber, and spicy mayo wrapped in rice and seaweed wrap included in the roll.
King Crab Roll
For this, you’ll need cooked king crab meat, cucumber slices, avocado slices, and mayonnaise. It then gets wrapped in rice and covered in tiny roe.
Alaska Roll
The secret to this is using smoked salmon, which has been cured with smoke, so technically it’s cooked through slow-curing methods.
This also includes asparagus, cucumber, and avocado wrapped with seaweed and has rice covering the outside.
The smoked salmon is draped over the top just like the Dragon roll.
Does Cooked Sushi Have A Big Change In Flavor?
Since most cooked sushi is adding sauces, spices, and ingredients such as avocado, cucumber, and wrapped in rice, you have to consider it will not stand out so easily.
You also need to consider your soy sauce that sushi slices are dipped into.
There is also the wasabi that is also served with your sushi dish and can be mixed into the soy sauce for added spice.
Commercial wasabi is wasabi paste made from wasabi flavoring, and mostly white mustard powder.
Most fish and shellfish meat that’s intended for cooked sushi will have an improved taste depending on your preference.
Shellfish will always taste great no matter what you put on it, but fish can have a fine fishy flavor that is subtle.
The added flavors and sauces will add to the experience for any cooked fish in your sushi. While others who love the flavor of raw fish meat will enjoy the range of textures that go with each bite.