Need Fresh tuna help

[Phil]

I'm sure this is an old subject, but I've never prepared fresh tuna. Wife hates anything that swims, but I thought, after 40 years, I'm grillin' this sucker. Problem is the "doneness" of the fish. Everything I've seen from the grill appears rare, and I mean red, rare. How do you grill yours? Olive oil, pepper, and ???? Your help is appreciated, as always.

[Caine]

Rare is the accepted doneness. Anything more than that and the tuna starts getting dried out.

Try smearing it with dijon mustard and rolling it in cracked peppercorns before cooking.

[jennyema]

IMO it's a tradeoff -- if you don't like partially raw fish, you'll have to put up with it being dry.

I'll eat tuna with a reddish center and I'll eat it cooked through.

IMOP tuna really only needs liberal salt and pepper, but a light teriyaki marinade is nice, as is a miso-based marinade with sugar and mirin.

[JohnL]

HI phil,
As others have said doneness is sort of a personal thing.
That being said, tuna like other seafood sorta has a built in thermometer.
Whether you cook it on the grill or in a pan, you can watch the flesh change color as the fillet or fish steak cooks. The flesh will change from it's raw red color to an opaque or whiteish color as it cooks. Personally I love the taste of fresh tuna without a lot of extras. Just salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil to prevent it from sticking to the grill or the pan. I usually cook it untill there is approximatley 1/3 of "doneness" (gee is that even a word ) on each side and 1/3 red in the center. It continues to cook after you pull it from the heat. I don't know your preferences but just remember, over cooked seafood is usually dry

[CharlieD]

Even though doneness is a personal thing with tuna, you have to be very careful. If it is over cooked, it will taste like a sole of an old shoe, like a piece of hard rubber. Depends on how thick the fish is I’d say no more than couple of minutes on each side, on a very hot grill.
As far as cooking, I’d use simple salt and maybe lemon pepper, but when you serve would be nice to serve with some kind of sauce or dressing. The simplest one that comes to mind is soy sauce.

[jennyema]

Originally Posted by CharlieD

Even though doneness is a personal thing with tuna, you have to be very careful. If it is over cooked, it will taste like a sole of an old shoe, like a piece of hard rubber.

IMO it never "tastes" like the sole of a shoe or rubber. The texture may possibly be such but it still tastes like tuna.

[Phil]

...and I should have said something about the thickness of the tuna. Isn't fish about a minute an inch? Thought I read or heard that, but it's frying, I think. My sweetie can't handle med steak, she'll gag when she sees this. Do I need to take worm medicine before eating

[Caine]

What kind of medicine do worms take?

[TATTRAT]

It all depends on the grade. If it is sachimi grade, rare to med rare at the MOST. If it is "grill grade", medium. Well Done tuna can be a little tough and way dry.

I do a jamaican jerk rubbed tuna steak, grilled, and served with red onion marmalade. Pretty tasty.

As for the worms, a little extra protein never hurt.

[BraiseMeUpBeforeYouGoGo]

I prefer my tuna to be raw on the inside (only works with sashimi grade tuna). I salt and pepper the outside and then sear both sides over extremely high heat. I slice it and serve it with ponzu sauce and some thinly sliced white onion.


Alex