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2017 was our best year, yet. Our gratitude goes to all the guests who attended our class. Thank you and look forward to seeing you in the New Year! #2015 #News #Photos

Our upcoming monthly public class schedule is now published until December 2019. Upcoming class dates: Saturday, November 9 Saturday, December 7 To register, please click here. #SushiClasses #PublicSushiClasses

The California Roll has become the iconic Sushi item in the US and the rest of the world. As far as I know from working at about ten different Japanese/Sushi Restaurants in the US, it is the most popular item on the menu. Even at stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, it is one of the most visible Sushi items next to Spicy Tuna and Rainbow Roll. So, who invented the California Roll and how did it become so popular? The story I heard was that one day, a Sushi chef at a Sushi bar in Los Angeles (Little Tokyo) was asked about the special of the day by a regular customer. Since the chef had no special on that day, after thinking for a while, he added avocado, which was an "unusual" item at that time, to the crab hand roll. The customer liked it so much that it became a regular item on the menu. So I did some research, and it turns out that there are now, two stories as to who invented the California Roll. Story #1 The most popular story goes to Ichiro Mashita of Tokyo Kaikan in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, circa 1970. It is said that Mr. Mashita substituted the avocado in place of Toro for its rich oily flavor. Traditional Japanese roll is seaweed out and Americans disliked the taste of chewing and texture of nori seaweed, which led to the invention of "Uramaki": The inside-out roll. How did Mr. Mashita think of adding avocado? One story says that one of his regulars asked him to make Sushi for Caucasians. At that time, most Americans never heard of Sushi, let alone eating raw fish. So, Mr. Mashita thought of avocado for its low cost and never-ending abundant yearly supply, and most of all, it's fat content - a great substitute for Toro, the tuna belly. Story #2 Now, this came as a shocker to many Sushi fans. This second story broke out in 2012: An article by The Globe and Mail, "Meet the man behind the California roll" - a Canadian Sushi Chef (he is a Japanese chef living in Canada), Hidekazu Tojo claimed HE is the inventor of California Roll. According to Mr. Tojo, he thought of using crab for Sushi because fresh fish suitable for Sushi was unavailable in Vancouver when he arrived in 1971. Also, most Westerners disliked eating seaweed, so, he made the inside-out roll to hide the flavor. Though against the Japanese tradition of seaweed out roll, many of his customers liked it. Many of Mr. Tojo's customers were from Los Angeles. They loved his crab and avocado roll, hence the name California Roll. Frankly, because I heard story #1 first, I always thought that was the truth, and it's difficult for me to think Mr. Tojo's story to be true, especially the fact that the story came about in 2012? Regardless of who invented the California Roll, I think it's a great invention.

Due to our public sushi class cancellation because of the Coronavirus, we've decided to introduce virtual classes after the Shelter in Place order is lifted. Briefly, here are the two options we are planning Drop Off Virtual Class For corporate and private clients Our new Virtual class is a more affordable and flexible schedule option. Once you book the class, we will drop off the class package at your office or a designated venue. The package contains tools, ingredients, and instructions for you to conduct a class. You can run the class at your team's pace and schedule. The virtual pre-recorded instructor will walk you through the demonstration part. What's included: Tools Ingredients Event Manual Access to Pre-recorded Sushi Instruction video Video customer support during the event Not included: Drinks (both soft and alcoholic) Onsite staff Tablecloth Aprons Event room decorations Flowers Optional items (with additional fee) Drinks (both soft and alcoholic) Onsite staff Aprons Event room decorations Flowers Live-Feed Virtual Class For Public Class Participate in class via online live feed. For now, this will be viewing only. We will be developing a class kit with ingredients to be delivered to your home so that you can make sushi with us remotely. We are working out the logistics with the delivery company. You can expect this service to become available sometime in July.

We will be offering public sushi classes after the business reopens in San Francisco. Come back and register online. #sushichef #cookingclass #teambuildingactivities

Is cooking rice difficult for you? Or is it as easy as ABC? Because I grew up eating rice almost every day in Japan, for me, cooking rice was no mystery. Still, I learned lots of techniques after becoming a sushi chef. Many of our sushi class participants told me cooking rice was a mystery. The word "mystery" puzzled me. I always thought cooking rice was a simple technique, though not an easy task to make great rice. Sometimes, the simplest thing can be the most difficult to master. I decided to investigate the reason for the "mystery." I looked at many online recipes, videos, and read books. I studied rice - chemistry and science and the difference between short, medium, long and where they are grown. After all this research, I found a fascinating article by Pete Vegas, the owner of Sage V Foods (Sage Five Foods). In his article (no longer available), he articulated the science of cooking rice so beautifully saying: It's how much water you lose when cooking rice. Wait, what? Not how much water to use, but how much to lose? Doesn't it sound backward? Yes, and that is exactly what we need to do first. Let me explain what I mean by that. The (simple) science of the "perfect" rice What exactly is the "perfect" rice? It's complicated because it depends on the type of rice (short, medium, long), and what you will use the rice for (plain, cooking, sushi rice, etc.). So for the sake of this discussion, let's say it's rice with 50% moisture. Cooking rice is about transfer the water into the rice using heat. Let's use 1:1 ratio: 1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice. If we could transfer all the 1 cup water into the rice, then it will be 100% moisture (hypothetically, not realistically achievable or true.) To make 50% moisture rice, we only need to transfer 0.5 cup of water into the rice. What happens to the rest of the 0.5 cup of water? Have you ever thought about that? Of course, the rest of the water goes away in the form of steam. Sounds obvious, but, have any of the recipes you read told you about this at all? To my (limited) knowledge, I haven't found one single recipe. So why how much water you lose is so important when no recipe seems to mention? Because the amount you lose will determine how much water you need to start cooking. For example, if you lose 60% of water during cooking, you need 1.1 cup of water to 1 cup of water. If you lose (whopping) 100% of water, you need 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, etc. Does this make sense? Now, you know we need to pay attention to the water loss, we now need to figure out what we use to cook rice and how you cook it. Do you use a pot or rice cooker? Do you cook with a lid on or off? Is there a tiny hole on your lid, and if so, how big? Again, it's about how much you water you lose using a particular container to coo rice, which will determine how much water you end up in the rice, which will make the "perfect" moisture content for your cooked rice. So, once you figure out the container to cook rice and how much the container will lose, you can figure out how much water to use cooking the rice. But, that is not all. Other factors affect the moisture percentage of your rice. They are: What was the moisture content of rice before you rinsed in the water? If you soak the rice in water before you cooked, how long did you soak? (this changes the moisture content of the rice before being cooked, affecting how much water you need to cook). How much water did rice absorbed when you rinsed in water (some recipes call for washing/rinsing rice in water for two to three times). On top of that, the perfect moisture content will be different based on the type of rice: short, medium, long, Basmati, Jasmine, Japanese, and so on. All these make cooking rice not as easy as it seems. It's complicated and based on science and some physics (I think). Solution - Use a rice cooker! If you are using a pot for cooking rice, especially for the first time, I highly recommend using a rice cooker. Why? Because Rice cooker is so much easier, or I should say, consistent. The reason is the amount of water you lose is pretty much the same every time, so once you use it a several times, you will be able to figure out how much water to use for cooking specific rice, as long as you use the same rice and use the same rice washing technique. If you use a pot, the heat distribution will be different every time you cook, unless you pay careful attention, which does affect the water loss during the cooking, which will result in the different rice moisture content. So my recommendation for cooking rice. Buy a rice cooker Find the recipe you like (or use the one on the rice package, company website) Use the same rice Use the same technique/method on the recipe Cook several times and adjust the amount of water to cook, or soaking time. Then, you should be able to figure out how much water you need to cook your particular rice, using your rice cooker. Hopefully, now you understand the basic science of cooking rice to help you to make the "perfect" rice. Let me know how it goes. My recommendation for rice cooker: Zojirushi 5-cup Tiger 10-cup

My short answer is this: For wild fish, not overfished, not endangered species. For wild fish, minimum bycatch, or minimize damage to the ocean. For farm-raised fish, a minimum environment to where the fish is raised. (this is my simplified version, NOT AN OFFICIAL definition.) Long answer here. "Does sustainable fish taste better?" On attendee asked me during our sushi class. "No. It's not about the taste. It's about how we catch, not overfish and farm-raised in a way that is kind to the environment," I replied. After my answer, I realized I did not fully understand the exact definition of what sustainable fish was. One of the reasons was because I never intended to use only sustainable fish to begin with. It just happened, well, sort of. That was my excuse. Around 2009, My chef friend introduced me to Monterey Fish Market in San Francisco Pier 33. (The name "Monterey" came from Monterey Street in Berkeley, where their original retail store was located.) That was when I learned about the Seafood Watch guide by Monterey Bay Aquarium. Paul Johnson, the founder of Monterey Fish was a board member of the Seafood Watch Guide. When I asked Paul about his involvement in the Sustainable Fish, this is what he told me. "When we started, the only fish we bought was local fish. It so turned out that the best fish were caught by hook & line by small local fishermen. So, later one, ten-fifteen years later, everyone jumped on the bandwagon and said, "Oh, local hook and line fish is good and sustainable, " but that was the way we always did. We were slow in expressing the fact that they were Sustainable because that was all we ever bought. We thought that was the only way." (his full interview is here) So, now I knew about sustainable fish, it made me curious. I knew in Japan, locally hook & line and locally caught fish were considered as premium, so it made me a sense to start using sustainable fish for Breakthrough Sushi. I looked at the copy of the Seafood Watch Guide and looked at it. It was clear which fish to use based on sustainability, but then, I couldn't figure out why some fish were sustainable while others weren't. For example, Tuna caught in the Indian ocean was not sustainable but was sustainable if it came from the Pacific Ocean? When using the Seafood Watch guide, there are a few things you need to know about fish. They are: Whether the fish is wild or farm-raised If wild, where it was caught If wild, how it was caught Then you look at the guide and determine its sustainability. It's all tricky, right?. To make things more complicated, there are other organizations like Ocean Wise, WWF has a sustainable seafood guide, NOAA Fisheries has an explanation for their definition of what sustainable fish is. Marine Stewardship Council has this. From stocks with healthy populations; With minimal impact on the marine environment; In an area with effective, responsive, and responsible management. To a consumer, I understand this can be confusing. So, after going through many organization's websites, I came up with a simpler version of what makes fish sustainable. Now, this is NOT AN OFFICIAL definition. Sustainable fish is: For wild fish, not endangered species. For wild fish, minimum bycatch, or minimize damage to the ocean. For farm-raised fish, a minimum environment to where the fish is raised. 1. For wild fish, not endangered species. I hope this is clear to understand. Most of Bluefin Tuna is endangered. So is Unagi, Fresh Water Eel due to overfishing. And the key part is where the fish is caught, because according to the Seafood Watch Guide, at the time of this writing, some of Atlantic Bluefin tuna is sustainable. 2. For wild fish, minimum bycatch, or minimize damage to the ocean. If you ever heard of "Dolphin safe" tuna, that is what "bycatch" means (technically, not really, but again, I am making this simple.) What it all means is so that we only catch what we intend to catch, or if we end up catching, Dolphin and Tuna release dolphins from the net. Minimum damage to the ocean is something like won't destroy rocks, seaweeds at the bottom of the sea with the fishing net. 3. For farm-raised fish, a minimum environment to where the fish is raised. This means when you farm-raised Salmon, keep the ocean clean is what it means. Also, it has to do with the "healthy" feed to the fish- something similar to USDA organic standard, where there are no antibiotics and so on. Well, I hope it made sense to you? Even if it didn't, that is OK. That is what the Seafood Watch Guide is for. All the scientists, researchers, are working hard to update it constantly so that all we need to do is to lookup using the guide. #sushifish #sustainablefish #Seafoodwatchguide

(Photo: Ann T.) Have you ever heard of Ranch 99 supermarket? If you're a professional chef and experienced home cook, I am guessing many of you have. It's a humongous Chinese supermarket that sells pretty much everything you need to cook Chinese food. But, have you ever heard of Marukai? If you have not, I recommend you go there now, even during the Coronavirus crisis because for one, they are open and most of all, you are allowed to go there. I would refrain from calling Marukai a Japanese mega supermarket, but it's one of the biggest we have in the area (I will make a post on another mega Japanese supermarket)> The physical size is at least four or five times the size of Nijiya Market in San Francisco (if someone knows the exact floor size, let me know). The fish section, like most supermarkets, is located all the way to the back. Now, Marukai's selection is quite impressive, given we are in Cupertino, not Japan. Not only do you find Saku blocks, but also, you can find the fish collar, trim pieces, scraped tuna, and most of the time (ok, I only go there once in a while, not all the time), you can find bones and small end pieces of salmon and other fish you can use to make a broth and soup. Salmon belly pieces are great to grill if you like belly. Their shellfish selection is also fantastic - some are unavailable at other stores like Nijiya. They have "Tamago", egg for sushi—many fish rows like tobiko, masago, and Ikura. Most of all, the quantity is much larger than that of Nijiya's. The only downside is every time I go there, I end up buying their ready-made nigiri and rolls assortment because they look so appetizing. While at it, I recommend getting some wasabi paste in a tube, or trying different soy sauces to see if your sashimi tastes different from your regular kind. Marukai 19750 Stevens Creek Blvd Cupertino, CA 95014 408-200-4850 #sushiingredients #sushifish #sashimifish

(Photo: Rachel W.) Monterey Fish Market in Berkeley is still open during this Shelter in place period, if anyone is looking for fresh "Local" fish. "We still have local fish coming in from Bolinas, Half Moon Bay, and San Francisco. We also have a good supply of wild, domestic shrimp from the Gulf. It feels like the 1980s before all the imported seafood. Just what is local and caught on a daily basis." Monterey Fish Market Retail Store 1582 Hopkins Street, Berkeley Tuesday through Sunday 10 am to 6 pm #sustainablefish #freshseafood #sanfranciscobayarea

Since 2012, we've offering Sushi Classes, Live Sushi Bar, and dinners for our loyal guests in the Bay Area. I would like to thank you for your continuous support. As we go through the rough times during this crisis, we are unable to offer regular services for the next month. So, please support Breakthrough Sushi in one of the following ways. 1. Purchase a gift card 2. Purchase one of the books Again, thank you for being our fantastic clients and we hope to see you soon! Sincerely, Kaz Matsune Founder Breakthrough Sushi

Does your company do enough #teambuilding activities?⁣ ⁣ If not, then you should start!⁣ ⁣ Team building gives your employees the opportunity to work on teamwork and boost team performance.⁣ ⁣ Team building activities also work to improve workplace projects that involve teamwork because it helps the teams understand each other better. ⁣ ⁣ Need a team-building idea? We have Team Building Sushi Classes. #breakthroughsushi #teambuildingevents #workactivities #teambuildingactivities #offsite #sushiclasses

Why not have #breakthroughsushi at your first team-building event?!⁣ ⁣ Did you know that communication and working better together is the top reason why people choose team building?⁣ ⁣ Everybody wants a friendly work environment, where people are comfortable and happy to talk to and work with anyone.⁣ ⁣ One of the best outcomes for team building is that the activities actually work to improve communication!⁣ ⁣ Let us help you make your next team-building event a day to remember! #breakthroughsushi #teambuilding #events #workactivities