KITCHEN PRACTICE 3 — Make a Batch of Sushi Rice
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TASK
Cook a fresh pot, prepare the sushi-zu mixture, and fold it in
properly - fanning as you go. Taste it against the plain rice from
Kitchen Practice 1.

WALKTHROUGH

Step 1 — Cook a fresh pot of plain rice.
Use the same wash-soak-simmer-rest method from earlier in this
chapter. Sushi rice starts from exactly the same base as plain rice -
the seasoning is what makes the difference, not a different cooking
method.

Step 2 — Prepare the sushi-zu.
Gently warm 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1
teaspoon salt together, just enough to dissolve the sugar and salt
fully. Don't let it boil.

Step 3 — Season the hot rice.
Spread the freshly cooked, still-hot rice out in a wide, shallow bowl.
Pour the vinegar mixture over gradually, folding it through with a
cutting motion (never stirring) so you don't crush the grains.

Step 4 — Fan while folding.
Fan the rice as you fold it - even a folded piece of card works. This
cools the rice quickly and is what produces the glossy sheen sushi
rice is known for.

Step 5 — Taste both side by side.
Compare a spoonful of this rice against the plain rice from Kitchen
Practice 1. Note specifically:
  - The sourness and background sweetness
  - Whether the texture feels different, not just the flavour - the
    vinegar and fanning process genuinely changes the rice's own
    texture, not only its taste
  - The visual sheen on the seasoned rice compared to the plain batch

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WHY THIS MATTERS
Sushi rice isn't a different rice or a different cooking method - it's
the exact same base technique from this chapter, with one seasoning
and cooling step added at the end. Tasting the direct comparison makes
clear exactly what that one step contributes, rather than treating
"sushi rice" as some separate, more complicated thing to learn later.