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what's with cream cheese in sushi?

topic posted Thu, November 11, 2004 - 8:51 PM by  rafe 		Share/Save/Bookmark
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it seems to be a new craze in seattle sushi (not everywhere thank the sushi god) to be putting cream cheese in various rolls.
is this happening all over?
what do people think of this?
and what other peeves do people have with "un-kosher" sushi?
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rafe
offline rafe
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  • chris
    chris
    offline 8

    Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

    Thu, November 11, 2004 - 9:59 PM
    i thought the same thing for the last two years...nasty...now, i have to always check and see if it's cream cheeseless or not!!! not sure where this started but i have come across it in a couple other parts of the country, i.e., states far apart from each other! i hate it
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  • Dave...
    Dave Masucci
    offline 154

    Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

    Fri, November 12, 2004 - 2:04 AM
    Ironic that you'd chose to call it "un-kosher"...
    Since the connection btwn. fish (salmon=lox) and cream cheese is distinctively Jewish. If you didn't know this, I'd be SO surprised!!!

    Maybe you were just being cynical.
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    • rafe
      rafe
      offline 69

      Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

      Fri, November 12, 2004 - 3:15 PM
      ironically enough the day i wrote this post i was having an early morning meeting with music friends and our jewish host served bagels, lox and cream cheese...and the night before i had shared sushi with a friend and noticed not just the usual "philadelphia" roll, but the Las Vegas Roll (cream cheese with unagi and crab) and the seattle tempura roll (cream cheese with avocado, shrimp etc)...it was just too much!!!

      i say leave the cream cheese to the bagels and lox where it belongs and keep any kind of cheese out of my asian food, especially sushi!!!

      SOMEONE must enjoy this though...who i wonder, is there someone out there?
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      • mizd...
        mizducky
        offline 19

        Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

        Fri, November 12, 2004 - 3:25 PM
        I have mixed feelings about the cream cheese in sushi rolls. Because I do love standard cream cheese/lox/bagel, I can't say that I find the cream cheese/lox/sushi roll combo objectionable on a taste level--it does taste okay, as far as that goes. On the other hand, it's certainly not what I'm wanting when I get my king-hell sushi jones on.

        I can never figure out if these incorporations of western ingredients (cream cheese, avocado, etc.) are aimed at westerners in order to make sushi more accessible to them, or at Japanese consumers who want to incorporate interesting western ingredients in ways they find familiar or pleasing (the same way products like soy sauce and wasabi have found their way into all sorts of corners of American cooking far removed from Asian cuisines). Probably a bit of both trends, I reckon ...
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        • Arianna
          Arianna
          offline 15

          Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

          Thu, December 2, 2004 - 11:04 AM
          ooohhhh, i can't voice any complaints about avocado in sushi, although i'm totally with you about the cream cheese. if anything, i want MORE avocado . . . but that's because i'm an avocado junkie...
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  • Unsu...
     

    Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

    Fri, November 12, 2004 - 3:40 PM
    I am personally ambivilent about the cc factor, good in some, bad in others.... However, I have to say that I believe it is part of the "marketing" concept that for food to become popular in America, it needs to be fat-and-calorie-laden. Which is sad.
    Sooner or later some entrepreneural mind will decide to altogether replace the rice in sushi with processed cheese product, you know "atkin's friendly sushi" or with french fries or something equally as horrifying.....
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    • PatF...
      PatFireCat
      offline 223

      flavored cream cheese sushi

      Fri, November 12, 2004 - 9:37 PM
      Cream cheese doesnt have to be bland calories and fat.
      An awesome sushi chef in Austin used to roll his phat Phillies with a blunt dollop of creamcheese, mixed with a dash of sesame oil for flavor. It made it sweet, smoky, and not bland.
      He apparently used essences with most of his CC creations, tho I only ordered the Philly roll and one special he made just for friends.
      It wasn't on the menu, didn't have a name, but was shredded crabmeat and other things(?) in a cone of seaweed wrapper, with a generous dollop of creamcheese whipped with some SPICy asian sauce that you would taste in your nose! His secret recipe only for diehard regs!
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      • Ligh...
        Lightening
        offline 28

        Re: flavored cream cheese sushi

        Sat, November 13, 2004 - 11:20 AM
        I like the cream cheese factor in sushi...for me its slightly flavor but more of the texture and the compliments it has with its meat. Its very commonplace here in Bmore to come across 2-3 sushi roll combos that will have crm chz in the sushi...depending on how traditional the restaurant is. There is this one place that makes the "Pikesville roll" with salmon, crm chz, and capers, very yummy in my opinion...
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        • J-Rad
          J-Rad
          offline 279

          Re: flavored cream cheese sushi

          Mon, November 15, 2004 - 1:08 PM
          while I don't mind CC in my sushi, it has to be slight and I don't choose it often. salmon is about the only fish I mix it with, but I'm a NY Jew so it's a little taste of home in my Asian cuisine. As to the question posted earlier about western ingredients in sushi, avocado is a western ingredient that has been incorporated into sushi rather successfully. My local chef tells me that the California roll also very popular in Japan was the first to use it what gave it it's very western title. Another cheese I enjoy in sushi is blue cheese. I've only seen it in a few places, but I highly recommend it.
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  • Kerzo
    Kerzo
    offline 8

    Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

    Mon, November 15, 2004 - 8:59 PM
    Slap some salmon and cream cheese in there, roll it up and coat it with sesame seeds....you gots a bagel roll!!!!
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    • Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

      Thu, November 18, 2004 - 1:32 PM
      They've had CC in sushi here in San Francisco for ages..as long as I can remember anyway. Not too into it though I Like CC sometimes and I like the idea of added some kind of spice or flaored oil to add more to the CC flavor.
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      • rafe
        rafe
        offline 69

        Re: what's with cream cheese in sushi?

        Thu, November 18, 2004 - 1:55 PM
        i think part of what bugs me about CC in my sushi is one thing i love about asian food in general is the lack of 'cheese'!!! while i love cheese in other cuisines, sushi to me seems to be the 'cleanest' of foods and the CC compromises that...the japanese mayo doesn't bother me in the least (though it does my girlfriend as she hates mayo in general)...and i like the idea of other spices and flavored oils and you mentioned, be nice if it could be carried in a different medium, say the mayo perhaps...

        ah...made me think of the beautiful flavor of the shiso leaf...now that is a combo worth living for!!!
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