#News • 1 March 2022

Grilled tuna, the new feature at steakhouse restaurants

Steakhouses are true temples of meat. These restaurants specialize in different cuts of beef that emerged in the United States in the late nineteenth century and caused such a furor that they’ve managed to reach every city in the world. Now they are looking to return to the scene with new menus and one of the most successful dishes is undoubtedly grilled tuna.

Grilled meat vs. grilled bluefin tuna

 

Steakhouses are starting to include bluefin tuna on their menus. Those that dominate the grill know that the fat of a food is an advantage when grilling and one of the fattiest fish is Balfegó bluefin tuna, which guarantees between 8 and 12% of fat in each piece. This is an optimal and highly valued percentage in the United States. This high fat percentage ensures a show when cooking; watching the fat melt, bubble in contact with the heat, and melt with each piece is a guarantee of definite success.

In fact, bluefin tuna is the only fish in the sea that can compete with the big boys, like wagyu, the best meat in the US. It’s not even a fair competition in terms of flavor, texture, tenderness or size; we can make tuna steaks of one or even four kilograms.

In addition, another way to convince chefs and restaurant owners to introduce grilled bluefin tuna is that, although it seems strange, when we cook bluefin tuna, it doesn’t smell like fish – even when we eat it. It’s just another advantage for steakhouses that want to expand their menu and meet new demands.

Grilling bluefin tuna: the best parts

 

The fat in bluefin tuna is what determines the flavor, the quality, and the use of each part. Like meat, tuna is also very versatile in terms of the different cuts that can be obtained from the same fish.

When grilling, tuna fat adds flavor and texture and is key when cooking. The proportion of fat is not the same in all parts; for example, the fat of a tuna differentiates the akami and the chutoro, which are the two parts of the loin.

When cooking some cuts in their own fat, it’s best to opt for these three mainly: the loin (differentiating between the akami and chutoro), the ventresca, and the morrillo.

If we have to choose one of the fattest pieces of bluefin tuna, the undisputed queen of the grill is undoubtedly the ventresca of bluefin tuna, also known as otoro (in Japanese, it means “of superior mellowness”). It’s located in the ventral part of the tuna and is the most pink and mellow cut of tuna due to its high percentage of fat infiltration.