Remember last year, or maybe it was even two years ago, when I did an "occasional" series called School of Fish wherein I waxed poetically about everything from anago (sea eel) to tamago (sweet egg omelet)? Were you were paying attention?

Well, now's a good time to test yourself! Jonesblog has put together a lovely post full of pictures of various types of sushi. It's not super-detailed, but the pictures are pretty and the descriptions are good enough to help you order when you sidle up to the bar.

Every once in a while, I get a little crazy at the sushi bar and order a roll. I know, it's absolutely insane, isn't it? However, the big, fat, "creative" rolls that are stuffed with the entire refrigerated case of sushi are a little much for me. Salmon skin will do just fine.

"Salmon skin" certainly doesn't sound all too appetizing, but the salty, smoky crispness that is a result of a few minutes in the chefs' toaster oven is absolutely delicious. It's nothing at all like the slimy, fatty texture that one would expect from raw fish skin. Some restaurants deep fry the salmon skin instead of roasting it.

If you're cooking salmon at home, it's be worthwhile to trim the skin and save it to prepare salmon skin in the same way. Food and Wine has a recipe based on the salmon skin roll at Bar Masa in New York.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
Kani - crab
Masago and tobiko - roe, roe, roe your boat
Ikura - salmon roe
Uni - sea urchin (but not roe!)
Anago and Unagi - not just eel

I'm not shy about my opinions on sushi rolls. I don't hate rolls. I just happen to have a personal preference for sashimi and some nigiri sushi, that's all. The fact that most rolls are overly-pumped with ridiculous ingredients, some of which have no place at all in sushi (steak and cream cheese?!?), are accessorized with strangely sweet, creamy, unidentifiable sauces, and are accordingly named WWF things like "Godzilla" and "Monster Crunch" has nothing to do with it at all. Really.

However, there are a few rolls that I really do like. While I do understand that many people simply adore the California roll, especially ones that are made with real kani, I am not a huge fan. However, I love the spicy tuna roll. The thing about spicy tuna is that it isn't even "spiced" with something like wasabi or togarashi. Most sushi bars I've seen use the little green tipped bottle of chili sauce - sriracha. When I see that, I ask the chef to add a little more to the tuna bits to make it extra spicy.

Once, I had a spicy tuna roll that had a little bit ofmayo mixed in with the tuna and spice. I didn't like that one too much.

We've been making our tour around the sushi bar these days, covering different kinds of fish. Though most of us adore the silky smooth raw fish, let's not forget that the word "sushi" actually refers to the sweet, vinegared rice. It's not about the fish (that's technically, but I too, would cry a Pacific Ocean if I had to eat sushi without the fish).

Since it's not just about the fish, that means there are some vegetarian-ish options available at the sushi bar. I learned all about these, as well as the "cooked" fish in sushi during my sister's pregnancy. One of the most common non-fish options is tamago, which is a sweetened egg omelet. The omelet is cut into the same shape and size as sushi fish, and placed on the rice.

We've already talked about cucumber rolls, kappa maki, in a previous post. However, the use of vegetables in rolls doesn't stop there. A sushi chef can basically make a roll with any one or combination of vegetables, though it seems the big three are asparagus, cucumber, avocado. However, I have also seen more interesting vegetables. Kanpyo is dried gourd, shiso are the leaves that look like large mint leaves (often used for garnish as well), and ume, a Japanese plum that is sometimes pickled or salted.

We're done with fish and nigiri sushi (at least, until I come across some incredible lesser known fish at a sushi bar), so we move on to maki sushi - the rolls. Today is not the day that I will rant about the super-human creative behemoths that Japanese restaurants pass off as sushi.

Today it's just two very simple rolls that are the distant ancestors of the mutants. They are rolled tightly, and are small enough that each piece requires one bite. Tekka maki is a tuna roll. It's just nori, rice, tuna, and sometimes a faint smear of wasabi inside. Kappa maki is a cucumber roll, pure and simply refreshing.

Please, don't ask me about the California roll. The California roll is the true godfather to all those rolls I hate. But I won't talk about that now. I might start throwing things.

So I was mistaken. I called uni the best, and thought it would be the ultimate, but alas, it was the penultimate. It is everyone else in my family who order uni last because perhaps to them, the luscious, creamy flavor of sea urchin gonads truly is the best way to end a meal of sushi. For me, I make it unagi - freshwater eel that has been broiled or barbecued, then glazed with a sweet sauce. It really is sweet, and that is what makes it the best for last. If you're squeamish about raw fish, unagi might work since it is cooked, but then again, it is eel.

I love it when the unagi is charred to almost black on the edges, and inevitably end up burning the roof of my mouth with its soft, fatty flesh because I can't wait patiently for it to cool slightly from the oven. There is also saltwater eel, called anago, which is not barbecued like unagi. I have had it several times before, and it just fish filler. I'd much rather have the unagi.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
Kani - crab
Masago and tobiko - roe, roe, roe your boat
Ikura - salmon roe
Uni - sea urchin (but not roe!)

I said I was saving the best for last, and yes, it is finally here. The end. El fin. Dessert. It's uni.

Uni is typically grouped with the "roe" family, which is an understandable mistake, since it certainly comes from the inside of the spiny sea urchin. However, the actual thing we eat, the soft, dark yellow ochre colored stuff that sits atop an ovalette of rice, enveloped with a collar of nori is not sea urchin roe. It is the sea urchin's internal organs that produce the roe. What does that mean? It means that uni is a gonad. It can be male (darker) or female (lighter).

I used to shy away from uni because of its appearance - it looks like it would feel somewhat like what I imagine a cat's tongue, and taste like the cat's tongue after it ate a can of Starkist. However, when uni is fresh and of high quality, it is sweet, luscious, and just ever so slightly firm. It should look like whole pieces, not broken and mushy.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
Kani - crab
Masago and tobiko - Roe, roe, roe your boat
Ikura - salmon roe

We're getting close to the final chapters of the School of Fish. Today is the last of the roe. Or caviar, as some would call it.

Many are familiar with the tiny orange sometimes reddish eggs that are used to garnish the outside of rolls. These are tobiko (from flying fish) and masago (from smelt), and can be served on their own as well. The bigger eggs, which also range in color from dark orange to bright red are salmon roe. They are called ikura. I am not a huge fan (in fact, I'm not a fan of any sort of fish eggs in any cuisine), but some people love the the extremely salty taste and when perfectly fresh, the "pop" as they are eaten.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
Kani - crab
Masago and tobiko - Roe, roe, roe your boat

We're getting into the final chapters at the School of Fish, and as always, I save the best for last. Fish eggs, roe, caviar, whatever you choose to call it, isn't my favorite, so you know there's something awesome coming soon.

Many are familiar with the tiny, crunchy orange eggs that are added as a garnish to many of the rolls that are wrapped "inside out" (with the rice on the outside). These are either tobiko, flying fish eggs, or masago, smelt eggs. Tobiko are sightly larger (though not as large as salmon eggs, ikura, which will be covered separately). Sometimes, chefs "dye" the fish eggs a greenish tiny with the use of wasabi. Though they are garnish, these can be ordered as sushi in an of themselves, as pictured. The raw quail egg is, of course, optional.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus
Kani - crab

This weekend, we're cramming here at the School of Fish. With all the hype about dangerously high levels of mercury in tuna, we certainly want to expand our personal choices at the sushi bar!

Kani is crab. Thankfully, many sushi bars are steering away from that imitation krabby krab meat stick that's made from something fishy, and going with real crab. When real crab is used for sushi, it is served in two ways. If the meat is lumpy and shredded, the chef will usually put this in the little sushi "cups," where the rice ball is wrapped with a large piece of nori, creating a sort of collar that sticks up over the rice (this is how many of the roes are served), and the crab is placed inside. If the crabmeat hold together in one large piece, like crab leg meat, it is often placed atop the rice and belted on with a narrow strip of nori.

If the chef has tarabakani, it's King crab, and is best inthewinter time. If you see "krab" meat in the case in a package and they look suspiciously brick-like, don't order kani (or a California roll, for that matter). Unless you into the fake stuff.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp
Ika and Tako - squid and octopus

It's a fancy word, "cephalopod," but it's really just squid and octopus at the sushi bar.

Octopus is called "tako," and is usually cooked, which might be more appealing for people who are squeamish about eating raw fish, but than again, it is octopus. Though some talented sushi chefs may know of some secret way to tenderize octopus, I have found that it is pretty bland as well.

"Ika" is squid, and this one is usually raw. It looks harmless because of it's plain white, slippery smooth texture, but like octopus, even raw, ika is fairly tough to chew. However, you may also recognize ika by cross-hatch knife cuts on the squid, which a sushi chef's attempt to make it a little more palatable. Like octopus, I usually skip the squid as well.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp

We're continuing our parade of typical, and soon, the not-so-typical, fish and seafoods at the Slashfood sushi bar. For those of us who may not be so adventurous, there are a few cooked items to choose from. One of them is ebi.

But be not fooled. "Ebi" is just a general term for shrimp sushi, and can come in raw forms, too. If you do order just "ebi," it usually is steamed or boiled shrimp that has been butterflied and draped over the rice. This, however, would not be my choice since (other than the fact that I have an on-and-off allergy to shrimp) it is often dry and chewy.

If you can stomach the idea of raw, try amaebi, which is a raw shrimp. The flesh is light, tender, somewhat sticky, and sweet. The shrimp are often small, so there may be two small amaebi placed side by side on the rice, then belted on with a strip of nori. When amaebi are larger, they are called botan ebi.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters

We've been touring the sushi bar here at slashfood, and last I checked, I think we had just eaten some sake (that's salmon, not the drink, though we've dipped into that, too).

Saba is the Japanese term for mackerel; hikari-mono is the more general term that refers to all oily, shiny fish. In general, most people find that saba is "too fishy," but that's the characteristic that totally turns me on about it. Because it's so fishy, a lot of sushi chefs will use citrus juices, vinegars and other types of marinades to make it more palatable. I just like it straight up. (The above look like saba rolls, but they're really just saba on rice like nigiri with the addition of daikon sprouts and yuzu.)

If you're going to get all crazy and order saba, though, I recommend that you order it a little later in the meal, since the fishiness may linger on the palate, making it harder to taste any of the lighter fish.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and seabass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon

We've already figured out what they're shouting when you walk into a sushi bar – "Irasshaimase!" which is basically a warm, hearty welcome greeting. You head to the sushi bar, slide into a seat, hopefully right smack in front of a chef. Now what? Will you order sushi combination no.1 or no.2, will you order a la carte, or will you order...omakase?

"Omakase" loosely translates in English to "trust." In the context of a sushi bar, it is the equivalent of the chef's tasting menu, meaning you will be putting the trust of your tastebuds in the hands of the chef.

I was always shy and nervous about omakase, partly because I'm a control freak, and partly because I thought omakase meant the chef would be giving me weird things like monkfish liver (which is actually not that weird) or octopus brains (which would be weird – do octopi have brains?). However, omakase really does lead to the best sushi experience you could have in the restaurant that night, because the chef is picking out the freshest, tastiest thing for you to try.

Not all of us are gazillionaires able to afford the $250 per person omakase-only meal at Urasawa in Beverly Hills (and that's for the food only; add some sake, tax and tip, and the date you're trying to impress will cost you four figures!). But there are options. They're not cheap, mind you, for this is raw fish after all, but it definitely won't require a winning lottery ticket. At Echigo in West Los Angeles you can do an omakase lunch for $25 to $35. Sushi Sasabune for dinner costs from $40 to $50. Obeying the infamous Sushi Nazi" at Nozawa in Studio City starts around $60.

But these aren't the only choices. Almost every sushi chef now will put together an omakase menu for you. All you have to do is ask. And trust.