Picturetastic Review of the Sushi Bazooka (Sushezi)
A couple weeks ago, I came across an article in Gizmodo about an odd piece of contraption that lets you make sushi by essentially pumping out a tube of rice with the ingredients already inside. They call it the Sushi Bazooka.
Having already reviewed the Sushi Magic and its less-than-stellar silicone mat, I was intrigued by the Sushi Bazooka's unique method of making maki sushi. From the product page, it seemed that I will no longer have to worry about having to clean bits of rice from a makisu, which really is a pain in the ass. On the other hand, the makisu has proven to be the most reliable and consistent tool in making sushi thus far - perhaps the Sushi Bazooka will plunge the makisu into obsolescence?
The first thing I noticed when I received the Sushi Bazooka in the mail was the packaging: It's not actually called the Sushi Bazooka:
I did a quick Google search, and apparently this Sushezi product had been around for about 4 years already. It originated from New Zealand - not Japan. The Japanese simply took it and remarketed it as the Sushi Bazooka. They didn't bother rebranding it. Even the "bazooka" itself has the Sushezi logo as part of the plastic mold:
As you can see, it looks more a like a caulk gun than a bazooka - perhaps a bit like a missile, if you use your imagination. There's a large cap on the left that can be locked in with a twist. I'll go into more detail about that later.
The entire thing is made of plastic, but at least it doesn't feel cheap or flimsy. In fact, it's fairly thick and solid, so it shouldn't degrade much over time. The shaft splits into two for stuffing in rice and ingredients, and there are two latches that lock both halves together. Again, more on that later.
The Sushi Bazooka/Sushezi comes with instructions in English and Japanese. Also bundled is a recipe sheet for you to make other types of non-sushi food that requires some plunging. I was pretty surprised that you can use it to make things other than sushi, like Ginger-nut log, or Chocolate "Salami" (The recipe sheet actually put the word Salami in quotes).
To test out the Sushi Bazooka, I prepared a number of ingredients that I usually use when I make maki sushi: Imitation crab meat, Tamago, cucumber, and Japanese mayo. It's kind of a poor man's sushi, but it's also one of the tastiest. As always, the rice was made with Mitsuko's Perfect Sushi Rice recipe.
According to the instructions, the first step is to lightly oil the inside of the Sushi Bazooka. This would make it nice and easy to pump the roll out. Next is to fill both halves with half a cup of sushi rice. I was instructed to use my fingers to spread the rice out evenly.
I would then need to use the plunger rod to make a groove in the middle of the rice. This way, I could place my ingredients like so:
Once everything is set, I closed the halves together and locked the latches. No rice or ingredients seemed to have been squeezed through the gaps, so everything was going smoothly. I then had to put on the cap and lock it in place.
If you haven't noticed already in the previous photo, the rod was actually rested on top of a thread. The reason for that is even when the tube is closed, the rice still isn't fully compressed yet. Instead of simply pushing the rod down, you would twist it clockwise until the mark on the rod lined up with the edge of the tube. According to the instructions, this would compress the rice to the right consistency.
Now it should be ready for some extruding. After removing the cap, I placed a sheet of nori on the cutting board and proceeded to push out the compressed rice roll onto the sheet. This is what it looked like:
The roll instantly fell apart.
Not only that, but the roll was actually longer than the width of the sheet. Still, I tried rolling it up and joined the two ends of the nori by wetting it with water. The roll felt pretty loose.
Regardless, I tried cutting it with a knife, and surprisingly the sushi managed to stay together for the most part. It wasn't anywhere near as tight as hand-rolling, though.
I was puzzled as to why the roll fell apart so easily. Was there too much rice? Was there not enough compression? I only made one roll so far, and I still have many cups of rice left - I wasn't about to give up. Considering the roll came out too long, my second attempt with the Sushi Bazooka consisted of more compression on the rice by pushing the rod further in while the cap was still on. I also hoped this would help with the rice roll staying intact. The result was more satisfactory, with the rice roll not falling apart as easily.
The third attempted was a combination of adding more rice and applying more compression. The rice roll actually stayed together without my hands supporting it. Progress was being made. Unfortunately, the subsequent attempts weren't as consistent. Some were tighter; some not as much. The most annoying part was when the nori sheet would rip while I was rolling the sushi up. Noramlly, the nori sheet would have support from the makisu when it's being rolled up. In this case, there's nothing to keep it from cracking.
I also noticed that the rolls coming out of the bazooka is larger than the rolls I make by hand - I personally like to make bite-sized sushi (about 3-4 cm diameter), but these are nearly twice the size.
So, is the Sushi Bazooka worth it? For me, not really. Yes, it is a somewhat cleaner process to make maki sushi with, as spreading rice onto a nori sheet can get somewhat messy if you're not careful. It is very easy to clean, as you can disassemble the tube. Also, it's always amusing to watch a giant tube of whiteness extruding out of a plastic caulk gun. On the other hand, it produces inconsistent results, which can be quite frustrating, especially when you can potentially ruin a whole roll very easily. It's not as fun when you end up having to clean the board of scattered rice and go through the whole process again.
The price isn't exactly cheap, either. $25 + $10 shipping basically makes it just slightly cheaper than Sushi Magic. If you're having really bad luck with using a makisu, then sure - give this thing a try. Otherwise, the makisu is still the best way of making maki sushi.
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