When I turn the pages of my recipe folder, I stop everytime at this recipe. Not because I make it often. Unfortunately it has been years since I’ve made sushi. I linger because this page is written in my grandmothers handwriting and it brings back many memories.
Grandmas sushi vinegar recipe. July 07, 2006
It was always an adventure making sushi with grandma. I thought it was pretty easy. Until one day I helped her prepare Futomaki from start to finish. She marinated each vegetable individually. She cooked her eggs with care. She warmed the seaweed over the fire. She seasoned her rice to perfection. I was exhausted. That evening I savored every bite and for years to come I ate her sushi with greater appreciation.
I wanted to try and make sushi on my own. So I asked Grandma for the recipe for her vinegar seasoning. Her sushi rice was always perfect. And this is what she gave me. I laughed then and I still laugh when I look at this page. 1 gallon vinegar, 1 cup of salt, 5 pounds plus 1 cup of sugar.
Who makes that much sushi?
Grandma did. But I had no idea. Food has a way of not just bringing us together at the table. When we let it, cooking and eating together build bonds.
I later learned that Grandma for years had been making sushi for festivals and celebrations. Her jug-o-sushi vinegar was her tried and true recipe she had been using for decades to feed masses of people.
In the last decade of Grandmas life I had the priviledge of cooking with her and eating with her. And the private woman I did not know well revealed what felt like secrets she seldom spoke of. I learned about her youth, her life in the internment camps, her joyful times and some of her sadness.
In a world of quick food, rushing here and there, phones and social media. Let’s take the time and cook and eat together. Laugh and cry together. Open up, reveal secrets that unite and draw us closer. You can start with this recipe. Because you’ll need most of the day.😁
Grandma Kay’s Sushi Vinegar
1 gallon Heinz white vinegar
1 cup course salt
5 pounds white sugar plus 5 cups
In a large soup pot dissolve salt into vinegar. Add the sugar, continually stirring. Grandma said to cook for a little while but do not boil. You don’t need to cook it down. It just needs to dissolve. After making this amount I would let it cool and then use a funnel to fill the 1 gallon vinegar bottle back up. The leftover vinegar seasoning I’d use that day to make sushi. Now your jug-o-vinegar can store for a long time. I’d just set it in the pantry and use it whenever I made sushi.
As an alternative I’ve reduced the amounts to a more practical recipe. If you dont make sushi often try this:
Vinegar 1 cup+1 Tbsp.+1 3/4tsp
Salt 1 Tbsp. + 1/3/4 tsp.
Sugar 1 and 1/2 cup
Follow the directions from above. Now your ready to season your rice.
Treasuring An Unconventional Life 