Ingredients: Seaweed, rice, grilled salmon skin, avocado

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Niche

Generally we’re told in North America to throw away the skin of any meat or seafood we might cook.

"Don’t eat chicken skin, it’s full of fat!"
"Peel the fish skin back so you can get at the meat!"
"Pork rinds? Ugh!"

But anyone who has tried a Salmon Skin Roll can tell you that not all skin is bad. In fact, a nice baked or grilled salmon skin inside an avocado filled inside-out sushi roll is quite the taste sensation.

Not only that – fish skin isn’t bad for you. It’s got loads of oils, such as Omega-3, and nutrients that often find their way into over-the-counter health products.

Just make sure it’s scaled first…

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, salmon, crab, avocado, cucumber, mayonnaise

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Low

So you’ve tried the California Roll, and you’re like, okay, not bad. A little bland, but good lunchtime filler.

So what’s the next step up? Try the Tiger Roll.

The Tigey is a California Roll with baked salmon draped over the top, which while it might sound like only a slight variation on the usual theme, if the fish is fresh, it’s really frickin’ good.

Of course, the majority of Americans will order this because it has a funky name and the white and orange of the salmon gives it a somewhat tiger-like appearance, but there’s more to this dish than meets the eye (alone).

Think of it this way – if you usually order salmon sashimi and a california roll… doesn’t it make sense to save time and combine the two?

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, spicy tuna, salmon, white tuna, scallions, gold tobiko (flying fish caviar)

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Small, but growing

This is one tasty piece of sushi roll, especially if you like yourself a little seafood in your diet.

The inner portion varies from restaurant to restaurant, but our default dish has two types of tuna (white and spicy, but you could use yellowtail or, really, any kind of flavorful fish), with salmon alongside for a flavor contrast, and the bite of the scallions giving it a little tang to finish.

The gold tobiko is more for looks than taste, but it does the job and completes a really memorable sushi roll menu item. We likey! 

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp, avocado

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate in the US, not so much in Japan

If you like stuff the comes from the sea, this is truly the sushi dish that will get you there. A Rainbow Roll is essentially seafood on seafood on seafood on seafood, wrapped in seaweed, with a California Roll in the middle.

The salmon usually comes in the form of a piece of sashimi draped over the top of the roll, leaving the tuna, crab, shrimp mix to combine inside, often with Japanese Mayonnaise as a means of keeping it smooth and together.

Usually, to create the ‘rainbow’ appeal of the dish, sushi chefs will add lines of tuna, yellowfin, albacore, and shrimp to the top, so that each piece has a different colored (or even multi-colored) appearance.

The Rainbow Roll is part of the California-family of sushi, which is all made inside-out, and frequently comes with cucumber, avocado and mayonnaise.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, grilled salmon (with skin), cucumber, mayonnaise, eel sauce

Prepared: Inside-out

Popularity: Huge on the US West Coast, moderate elsewhere

The BC Roll is named after the Canadian province of British Columbia, which is renowned for its salmon, and was where this roll originated. It’s not exactly a beginner’s sushi dish, but at the same time, it doesn’t take an ironclad stomach or an educated palette to enjoy.

The worth of a BC roll comes almost entirely from the salmon being used in it. If it’s fresh wild salmon, cooked properly, this is an incredible dish. But if the salmon is frozen, or is farmed (and thus less flavorful and colored with dye), you’re going to find it a very average eating experience.

The skin of the salmon is integral to the dish. Yes, we know, eating fish skin doesn’t sound fun, but trust us – it really does add to the flavor, and because it’s cooked, if you didn’t know it was skin, you wouldn’t know it was there.

Sesame seeds or flying fish roe on the outside completes the dish, and sweet sauce (otherwise known as eel sauce) gives it a nice kick.