So, half an hour before I leave work yesterday, my boss calls me:
"Do you like tuna?"
WTF?? "Uh...yea?"
Short story short, one of our clients caught a 100lb. blue fin tuna and brought a bag of meat each for me and my boss. Definitely a good $30-40 worth in my bag alone. Two good sized steaks and a bunch of belly meat, which the client said was good for sushi (he was just cutting it off and eating it with wasabi).
Now I like sushi, but have only had in restaurants with someone else preparing it. But I would assume that what the client said is relatively safe assuming I eat the right parts and not a chunk of raw fat or something like that?
Sushi aside, the only fish I've cooked other than various shellfish is baked haddock. I'm gonna be poking around on the internet, but does anyone have good recipes for tuna steaks? I'm pretty clueless on this one.
It's a little old now for sushi.
However, you can still sear it ultra-rare.
Cut a steak about 1.5" thick
Season with salt, pepper, and sesame seeds.
Get a pan over very high heat.
Oil in the pan. Get it to the smoking point.
Steak in the pan, flip after 1 minute, take off heat after another minute (maybe two).
Serve with soy, ginger, and wasabi.
I came into some a few months back by the same method :mrgreen:
Main thing I noticed was there is a definite "light meat" and "dark meat" to the tuna. The white meat is easily the most worthwhile bit.
Cutting and eating it as sushi is my preffered method too.
Other people were obsessed with having it cooked though, so I just seasoned it lightly with lime juice and pepper before cooking QUICK in sesame oil
Quote from: LMNO on October 16, 2008, 03:18:34 PM
It's a little old now for sushi.
However, you can still sear it ultra-rare.
Cut a steak about 1.5" thick
Season with salt, pepper, and sesame seeds.
Get a pan over very high heat.
Oil in the pan. Get it to the smoking point.
Steak in the pan, flip after 1 minute, take off heat after another minute (maybe two).
Serve with soy, ginger, and wasabi.
Yea, I would have preferred to have it yesterday but as soon as I got home from work we went fishing (lol) then straight to the bar for his brother's 21st birthday.
But I'll try going with the ultra rare/seared method instead. From the sound of it, I'm guessing minimal seasoning is the best way to go, especially if there's going to be soy/ginger/wasabi on the side. Speaking of which, what is/are the best brand(s) of soy sauce to look for? La Choy and Kikoman are the perfect ways to ruin any meal with their sodium content (and this is coming from someone who LOVES salt). I have two half-decent seeming ones at home that my mom gave me. Sadly, the best soy sauce I think I've had is the one that comes in the little packets with a panda on the front when you get take-out.
Quote from: Richter on October 16, 2008, 03:23:47 PM
I came into some a few months back by the same method :mrgreen:
Always a wonderful thing :mrgreen: Yesterday was a random free-food extravaganza for me yesterday. My mom brought a bunch of cherry/yellow/striped tomatoes from her garden to my work, the tuna from the client, then when I went to drop my boss's portion off at his house, his wife gave me a bunch of corn muffins and chocolate chip cookies (and was trying to offer me some of the tuna before I told her I got my own, lol).
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Main thing I noticed was there is a definite "light meat" and "dark meat" to the tuna. The white meat is easily the most worthwhile bit.
The meat I got seems mostly dark, with some light/white meat on the smaller chunks.
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Cutting and eating it as sushi is my preffered method too.
Other people were obsessed with having it cooked though, so I just seasoned it lightly with lime juice and pepper before cooking QUICK in sesame oil
That's similar to what my boss told me he usually does with it, except mixing the lime juice with a little bit of sugar.
Dammit, I want sushi now :( But seared will have to do.
Ooh, I love it when you get serendipitous quality tuna! We did just just this same thing over the summer...got some sushi-grade tuna and made tuna rolls and then used the rest for tuna steaks...I think I did a ginger-garlic-blood orange marinade for that one.
Quote from: Jenne on October 16, 2008, 06:10:17 PM
Ooh, I love it when you get serendipitous quality tuna! We did just just this same thing over the summer...got some sushi-grade tuna and made tuna rolls and then used the rest for tuna steaks...I think I did a ginger-garlic-blood orange marinade for that one.
:lol: I originally read that as ginger-garlic-blood-orange marinade and was thrown off for a second there. That sounds pretty good though too. Mmmm blood oranges.
For added deliciousness, serve with a blend of tamari and balsamic vinegar, and some minced green onions. Yum!
as for soy sauce brands, try San-J's wheat-free organic tamari. best soy sauce for under $20 a bottle.
I think that's the kind I usually get, but I'm out so I couldn't check.
wheat is added to most soy sauce to speed up the brewing process.
what-free tamari is not only edible for your Gluten-allergic friends, it tastes better because the longer brewing time allows it to develop a deeper flavor without being as salty.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 12:23:14 AM
as for soy sauce brands, try San-J's wheat-free organic tamari. best soy sauce for under $20 a bottle.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 05:36:52 AM
wheat is added to most soy sauce to speed up the brewing process.
what-free tamari is not only edible for your Gluten-allergic friends, it tastes better because the longer brewing time allows it to develop a deeper flavor without being as salty.
Thanks! I'll take a look for it next time I'm out. Doubt they'll have it at the Market Basket, but Shaw's and Hannafords usually have a better organic selection. Few other specialty(expensive) grocers relatively close I can check if not. Actually I think there's a Wild Oats(?) a few towns over. There used to be an Asian grocery store about 15 minutes from me, but apparently it got turned into a Fudruckers.
Boyfriend went out 4-wheeling with his mom yesterday and didn't get back til late so we didn't do the steaks. Definitely tonight. Did slice up some of the belly meat for sushi. Just served on a bed of cooked/cooled white rice. With wasabi and soy sauce on the side. Delicious! Had our friend come by from next door for some. My boyfriend doesn't really like sushi, but he loved this.
I just had tuna steaks last night. Just find a good marinade, like a good soysauce or peanut based one. Cook them until medium rare. Serve with your favorite type of starch.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 05:36:52 AM
wheat is added to most soy sauce to speed up the brewing process.
what-free tamari is not only edible for your Gluten-allergic friends, it tastes better because the longer brewing time allows it to develop a deeper flavor without being as salty.
I didn't know this but it explains a couple of "tasting like" issues I have had when trying to make a recipe I have had elsewhere!!!
Thanks!
Quote from: Khara on October 17, 2008, 04:24:16 PM
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 05:36:52 AM
wheat is added to most soy sauce to speed up the brewing process.
what-free tamari is not only edible for your Gluten-allergic friends, it tastes better because the longer brewing time allows it to develop a deeper flavor without being as salty.
I didn't know this but it explains a couple of "tasting like" issues I have had when trying to make a recipe I have had elsewhere!!!
Thanks!
Same here. Overly salty soy sauce definitely kills a good recipe, even when I've tried reducing the amount of soy sauce I added. Also, a lot of recipes I've seen called for both "thick" and "thin" soy sauce. I 1) didn't know there was a "thick" soy sauce before this and 2) have yet to find any anywhere. There's only one grocery store near me that I think
might carry something like it because they have a lot of specialty foods. Otherwise I'm going to have to hunt down an Asian mart or order online.
actually, a better translation would be "light" or "dark" soy sauce.
Kikkoman, LaChoy, San-J, et al would be considered dark soy sauces.
the lighter version is more typically used in Malay/Indonesian/southern Thai cuisine and should be available at any asian store that tends more towards that and less towards japanese/chinese/korean.
also, San-J is almost always available at Hannaford, not so much at Shaw's.
waittaminute....
Hannaford and Shaws? are you in American Siberia also?
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 05:46:19 PM
actually, a better translation would be "light" or "dark" soy sauce.
Kikkoman, LaChoy, San-J, et al would be considered dark soy sauces.
the lighter version is more typically used in Malay/Indonesian/southern Thai cuisine and should be available at any asian store that tends more towards that and less towards japanese/chinese/korean.
Thanks alot for this. When I tried looking up more info on it previously, really wasn't able to get much of any information on the differences for some reason. Unless I can find I can find that sort of asian market hiding somewhere I might have to try to find some online since I'm not all that inclined to drive into Boston or god knows where just to find soy sauce.
Quotealso, San-J is almost always available at Hannaford, not so much at Shaw's.
Cool. There's a Hannaford's relatively close by so I'll have to make a run up there. I've only been in there like twice, and it may sound pretty lame, but that store amazes me because they have so many more specialty type fun looking food things that I could never find at Market Basket.
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waittaminute....
Hannaford and Shaws? are you in American Siberia also?
Heh, right on the border of MA and NH.
Hannaford around here is hit or miss depending on which town it's in, but the Hannafords that are in the wealthier coastal towns tend to have a very good selection of organic, ethnic, free range, gluten free, etc.
generally better or at least comparable to any of the local co-ops and almost always ALOT cheaper.
Hannaford's had everything I needed/wanted, save the "light" soy sauce. BTW one of the bottles of soy sauce my mom had given me was actually the San-J. Forget what the other one was, but it wasn't too bad either.
So last week we used up belly meat with our first try at sushi rolls. Was very pleased the rice I cooked came out perfectly (eh, first try a little burnt on bottom despite following directions, peeled that off and used rest. Second batch was perfect with shorter cooking time). Rice on outside some, inside others. Carrot and cucumber as filler. Some with mixture of wasabi & chili sauce. Considering first time every trying to make it, they came out excellent. Dave, who doesn't like sushi, even liked it a lot. Brought a few into work with him to hand out. Everyone liked it, no-one died or got sick*, so I will consider it a success.
The steaks I tried with lime juice and a little bit of seasoning. Seared briefly on each side then served with rice on the side. Honestly, think I might have preferred medium-rare as opposed to ultra rare, but was still very good. Could also have to do with the fact that I had just wolfed down a shitload of sushi too and my stomach can only handle so much raw fish at one time, no matter how fresh and delicious it is.
Overall a success. Will have to send that guy a thank you card since we never would have tried it otherwise.
*Not an indication of our cooking, just my trust of raw fish
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 17, 2008, 07:47:05 PM
generally better or at least comparable to any of the local co-ops and almost always ALOT cheaper.
Hmm, really? I really like the selection of foods they have there but always thought it was more expensive than where I usually shop. (Is it typically more expensive than Shaw's, because I know Shaw's is more expensive than Market Basket?) I'll have to go back and look around to compare prices. The things I got last week probably weren't too bad and I picked up a bottle of wine that is usually $1 than where I usually go. If anything, I'd go there for specialty/higher quality foods when I need them.
Shaw's is not a local co-op.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on October 21, 2008, 04:13:57 PM
Shaw's is not a local co-op.
Yea, sorry, my brain just skipped right over that. In that case, I agree.