Hello everyone, this is Sushi Batake!
In my last post, I tackled the problem of rice sticking to my hands and shared some tricks like using ice in hand water and vinegar water. Today, here’s the sequel—this time in full honesty.

Summer Struggles for Sushi Chefs

In summer, my body temperature is higher, which makes it so difficult to shape sushi. It’s slow, exhausting, and the rice just sticks. Recently, I asked several sushi chefs to let me feel their hands, and I discovered a shocking truth:

Their hands were all cold! (laughs)
Especially the boss at “Sushikawa”—his hands were ice-cold, and his sushi was fast and beautiful. Cold hands really are the ultimate weapon.

No More Excuses

Of course, I tried the tricks I mentioned before—ice in the hand water and vinegar water. They help, but the easiest time to make sushi is still in winter. So here’s the conclusion:

“If you want to make sushi smoothly, don’t make it in summer—make it in winter!”

There’s really no better solution than that.

No Exercise for Sushi Chefs!?

Here’s another thing I realized: sushi chefs shouldn’t exercise! (haha)
Strength training and running raise your metabolism, which means your body heats up quickly. If you’re rushing around the shop, your hands get hot too, and the rice sticks even more. The gap between hot-handed chefs like me and naturally cold-handed chefs only gets wider…

Last Resort?

I know I’ve listed a bunch of excuses, so let me apologize to anyone with the same problem. At this point, the only last resort might be to “cut off blood circulation”… (just kidding! haha)

Summary

• In summer, hot hands make rice stick easily
• Chefs with cold hands have a huge advantage
• The best solution: make sushi in winter
• Sushi chefs shouldn’t over-exercise (?)

This post is part of my training log as a sushi apprentice. No matter the season or temperature, I’ll keep striving to deliver delicious Edo-style sushi.