B.C. roll — British Columbia, Canada

The B.C. roll is a sushi roll built as uramaki, meaning the rice sits on the outside of the nori rather than the inside, filled with barbecued salmon, often the skin, and cucumber. This entry reports the version associated with British Columbia, Canada, a region known for its wild Pacific salmon. The roll is said to have been created by Vancouver-based chef Hidekazu Tojo in 1974, who used salmon skin in place of the anago, salt-water eel, that was hard to find on the West Coast at the time, and it is now served in sushi restaurants across the province. Salmon skin, or a salmon fillet, is grilled or broiled until the fat renders and the skin turns crisp, then cut into strips. Sushi rice is spread over a sheet of nori, flipped rice-side out, and layered with the salmon and cucumber strips before being rolled tight, sliced, and finished with a drizzle of sweetened sauce. The use of salmon skin, prized for its crisp texture and rendered fat, and the sweet sauce drizzled over the finished roll set the B.C. roll apart from other uramaki fillings, while some kitchens add mayonnaise to the filling for a richer version.