1. Ninety Percent of Making Sushi is Prep
When you see a sushi chef making sushi, you're witnessing the very last step of the process. It's just the tip of the iceberg. Everything leading up to that point involves extensive preparation: setting up the workstation, gathering tools and ingredients, cutting ingredients, washing and cooking rice, and preparing fish. Ensuring you have all your sauces and condiments ready and checking that your plates are clean and spotless is all part of the prep work.
Many projects in business and life share a similar principle. Maybe not quite like sushi, where 90% of the effort is prep, but a significant portion of the work involves preparation and laying a solid foundation. For example, when building a skyscraper, probably more than half of the time is spent on planning—securing land, funds, permits, and creating architectural blueprints.
So, the next time you make sushi at home or in our classes, think about all the prep that goes into it. Consider how much time and effort is involved, and apply that awareness to your projects in life.
2. Simplifying the Hard-to-Swallow Concepts is a Skill
Sushi techniques are simple in appearance. Making a roll looks easy at first glance. After a few attempts, anyone can make sushi. However, making good or great sushi is easier said than done.
Making sushi requires precision. You need to know how to cut ingredients properly. You need to use precise amounts of fish, vegetables, and rice to make a roll. Spreading sushi rice on the seaweed requires precise hand coordination. Rolling the seaweed with sushi rice and cutting the roll requires precise knife movements and force.
These techniques and concepts are hard to grasp, especially for first-timers, because they can only be learned through experience. I can't tell you exactly how much force to apply with your knife when cutting a California Roll. How do I teach this? How can I explain it in a way that is easier to understand?
I learned to use metaphors. For example, "When cutting a roll, use your knife like sawing wood, back and forth with gentle force down." "When rolling a sushi roll, roll it like a sleeping bag or a yoga mat." "Peel the cucumber like that apple-peeling machine you saw on the late-night infomercial."
Creating examples that people are familiar with helps explain foreign concepts. I constantly search for these metaphors and write them down in my digital notes for easy reference.
3. Time Management is a Skill
When I wrote the article, "90% of Our Success is Showing Up 100% of the Time," I was talking about time management.
I suppose I inherited some of this skill from my father, who was always diligently on time. (He worked for the same company his entire life!)
Being on time is a skill we can all practice. While not everyone will be great at it, I believe anyone can practice and improve it.
The first step is always to allocate an extra 10-25% of time. It's similar to ordering extra ingredients for sushi classes and catering. We always order and bring more than what's needed. Running out of ingredients and apologizing to the client is the last thing I want to do. I find it unprofessional. Being late is another thing I avoid.
I always add 10-25% extra time to my plans. For example, if I have a 10 am meeting and estimate it will take me 15 minutes to get ready, I start getting ready at 9:30 am instead of 9:45 am. This gives me a 15-minute cushion to relax and double-check if I've forgotten anything. I treat the event start time as the time to "start," not the time to be "ready." If 10 am is the start time, I aim to be ready 10-15 minutes before.
When scheduling a meeting or event, I recommend having a "get ready" time and a "start" time in your plan.
4. Repeat Instructions at Least Three Times
Our brain is designed to understand concepts we already know (I read this somewhere). Many of our sushi class participants are first-timers, hearing my instructions for the first time. During the class, many things are happening: you might be busy making sushi and talking to your partner or other participants. You might hear my instructions for the first time, or you might miss them.
This concept was obvious but difficult for me to get used to initially. I felt almost stupid repeating the same instructions twice or three times. I thought, "I said it once, everyone should get it, right?" Nope. I found out not everyone heard or understood what I said. "Can you show me how to spread the sushi rice again?" "Where did you say we should clear our cutting board?" Many attendees asked me questions I had already explained.
For this reason, I made a habit of explaining instructions at least three times. I stopped assuming everyone would get it if I said it once. No. Everyone will not get it if I say it once. This is why I repeat the same thing twice or three times when teaching sushi classes and giving instructions to our staff.
5. We Mirror Others, Whether We Like It or Not
"Steal with your eyes" is a famous saying in Japan. Among sushi chefs who went through traditional rigorous apprenticeship training, I believe this is unanimously agreed upon—watch and learn. All you need to know is right in front of you.
Despite the recent trend of sushi chefs gaining skills by watching YouTube videos and opening sushi restaurants in Tokyo, and Sushi Onodera’s new approach of training sushi chefs to serve sushi at lower prices, it turns out the traditional watch-and-learn approach is based on science: Mirroring.
The term "mirroring" is a simple concept. Humans are designed to mimic what we see.
“Copying the words, gestures, or facial expressions of another person" - Health News
Reciprocal: It is a two-way street, where both individuals engage in mirroring to foster mutual understanding and trust.
Respect for boundaries: Healthy mirroring respects the personal boundaries of others and aims to create a safe and comfortable environment for both parties.
It helps to create a bond. This is crucial in apprenticeship because you are required to learn the same techniques from your master. In sushi, by doing so, you replicate all the steps to achieve the same result—in this case, the taste.
This puts me in an interesting position because we mirror others both consciously and unconsciously. As a sushi class teacher, my participants are likely to remember and copy what I do in class. So, I must be careful about what I say and do. In theory, everything I say and do during the class will be embedded in the participants' unconscious minds forever!
6. Better to Have More Than Being Exact
During the past 11 years, we have rarely run out of ingredients during classes and catering (OK, there were a few times, but probably only about 0.1% of all events).
This means that 99.9% of the time, we ended up with extra ingredients: rice, fish, and vegetables. Some of the unused ingredients can be used for other events. Some ingredients, like sushi rice, cannot be reused and are composted. Every time this happens, one of the sushi chefs feels we shouldn’t have cooked so much rice. He feels that it’s a waste. I understand where he’s coming from. Culturally, rice is valued in Asian countries. My previous generations experienced food shortages during the war. For them, rice is precious. They believe in not wasting a single grain of rice when washing. Never wasting food is a belief they grew up with.
My generation and the generation after grew up in a world where there’s no lack of food. So, our beliefs are different.
True, we should never simply waste food and forget how valuable it is. At the same time, when prepping for sushi classes and catering, it’s important to always have more than we need instead of trying to have the exact amount.
I’ve seen sushi chefs say "great" when we use all the rice cooked for the class. But I feel that we actually didn’t cook enough.
During events, many things can happen—some class participants may want to make more sushi than planned, more guests may show up, or someone could knock the rice warmer to the floor, making it unusable.
We have backup raw rice in case the rice doesn’t cook right. It happens occasionally when the rice cooker fails to cook properly. No rice means no sushi class or catering. We can’t let that happen.
This is why it’s better to have more because if there isn’t enough, there’s not much we can do, especially during an event.
7. Sushi Looks Deceptively Easy to Make
If anyone says "sushi is easy to make," I would argue that they are wrong.
True, if you attend our sushi class, you will make a nice-looking rainbow roll. The question is, is there a difference between the sushi made by a beginner and someone with, say, thirty years of experience?
You can watch a YouTube video, learn, and make a sushi roll. You might even say it tastes good. But does it taste the same as one made by a professional?
The point I'd like to make here is this: To make okay sushi, sure, you might succeed. But to make it better than good is extremely difficult.
Take sushi rice, for example.
"How do you cook sushi rice?"
I would say this question is asked at almost every sushi class we’ve taught in the past eleven years. What's in the sushi rice? What kind of rice do you use? What do you add? What is in the sushi vinegar, and do you add it before or after you cook the rice?
As you see, there are a lot of questions.
I jokingly say I could have an entire class about cooking rice or sushi rice. I've written several articles about sushi rice and cooking rice, and they are not short—in fact, I think I could write a whole book on rice.
Making sushi rice, spreading rice on nori, and slicing fish for sashimi—compared to other types of cooking, all these things seem simple and easy. We tend to think simple equals easy. Humans often underestimate the skills needed.
Making sushi rice is a good example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Breakthrough Sushi offers sushi classes and sushi catering in the San Francisco Bay Area using sustainable seafood.
If you like to inquire about your next corporate or private event, please send us an email to request a quote.
If you like to sign up for our scheduled public classes in San Francisco and San Jose (Santa Clara), please see the schedule here.
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