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The great thing about a summer sushi party is that everything is pre-prepped and there is little actual cooking. This is the kind of party you can host while being out all day in the pool. When everyone gets peckish, you can put everything on a tray and set it out for people to gobble up, while never turning on a stove or oven.
Keep it simple.
You don’t need to offer weird combinations, or take a maki rolling or fish cutting master class. You are not opening a restaurant. You are not trying to be a sushi master. YouTube has a lot of tutorials and you can wrap and cut whatever way you like, as long as your knife is sharp. People mostly like to eat the usuals—salmon, tuna, yellowtail, shrimp, crab, roe. To keep costs down, do one or two kinds of fish and vary the inexpensive vegetables and add-ons.
You have only one job: take care of the fish.
The most important thing is that the fish is fresh, has been properly frozen to kill parasites, and that you keep it cold (a platter sitting on a tray of ice is a great, no hassle idea). There is nothing more dangerous or unappetizing than room temp raw fish. And you absolutely can make someone sick with long-sitting lukewarm fish, so be attentive.
Debunking the myth of sushi grade fish.
Sushi grade is largely a marketing term. The FDA doesn’t regulate what fish can and can’t be eaten raw. Tuna and farmed fishes tend to be safe without freezing. But generally, you want the best quality fish you can get that has been previously frozen. Buy your fish from a dedicated monger or talk to the people behind the fish counters at H Mart, 99 Ranch, 168 Market, Nakata Market of Japan, Shun Fat Supermarket or International Marketplace, all of whom have busy, high-turnover fish departments.
Kick off the party.
Make a simple pot of miso soup, put out a stack of small bowls and spoons, and keep it low and warm on the stove for guests to serve themselves.
Make it pretty.
The food is the table landscape, so arrange your fish and vegetables beautifully, surrounded on the table with extras, condiments and tools. Tools like mats, chopsticks, rice paddles and tweezers can be fun accents on the table. Because there are lots of colorful ingredients in bowls and laid out in rows and circles, your guests will be blown away with the bounty of it. Have fun.
Variety is the point of the sushi party.
It’s always good to make a couple fish choices with different preparations. Take some of your tuna, chop it coarsely, add scallions, Kewpie mayo, salt and Sriracha for spicy tuna. Crab loves Kewpie mayo as well. Combine salmon pieces with some chopped seaweed, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, red pepper flakes, scallions, squirts of lemon, and dress with chopped cashews and sesame seeds for a poke that’s always a hit with guests.
People love make-your-own anything.
People love to make their own and choose their own ingredients—so much control! And a lot of people will have never made their own sushi before. Feel free to do a rolling demonstration, if you think it will help your guests. You can roll the maki with a mat, have folks make a rice bowl, or hand-roll a cone. There is no sense being persnickety or worrying about technique. This is about using our own hands to make ourselves a meal that we eat together.
End simply.
End with a sliced fruit platter, mochi ice cream in a variety of flavors, Japanese candies, chocolates or fruit jellies.
Make the leftovers count.
Leftover rice, proteins and veg can be repurposed and cooked to make fried rice, bibimbap, hot pot, chirashi sushi or congee. Or, if you have chickens, they will lose their minds!
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