# Need Fresh tuna help



## Phil (Mar 6, 2007)

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.


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## Caine (Mar 6, 2007)

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.


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## jennyema (Mar 6, 2007)

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.


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## JohnL (Mar 6, 2007)

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


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## CharlieD (Mar 6, 2007)

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.


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## jennyema (Mar 6, 2007)

CharlieD said:
			
		

> 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.


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## Phil (Mar 6, 2007)

*Ok, thanks...*

...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


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## Caine (Mar 6, 2007)

What kind of medicine do worms take?


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## TATTRAT (Mar 6, 2007)

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.


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## BraiseMeUpBeforeYouGoGo (Mar 6, 2007)

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


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## kitchenelf (Mar 6, 2007)

An important question is - is this tuna Ahi tuna or a tuna steak?  A tuna steak is fine done medium to medium wellish - if it's ahi medium rare at the most - but it's all a matter of personal taste.

Tuna has previously been frozen so you don't have to take worm medicine - and I STILL don't know what medicine worms take either!


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## Phil (Mar 6, 2007)

*Okeedoakee.....*

Thanks again, everyone. I grilled it about 3 min. a side. Used a little olive oil and seasoned cracked pepper. Had a bottle of Teriyaki and used a little. Really good. I'll have it again. The only thing that bothers me is the internal temperature was only about 100. So I remembered that lemon juice, or citric acid will cook fish. So just in case, I drank a bottle of Jack Danials to be sure


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## eatsOats (Mar 6, 2007)

Like someone mentioned previously, I S&P both sides and sear for 1.5-2 minutes in olive oil in a very hot pan.  I like most of the center to be raw.  I only do this with sushi-grade Ahi.  I like it dipped in soy sauce.


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## kitchenelf (Mar 6, 2007)

Phil said:
			
		

> So just in case, I drank a bottle of Jack Danials to be sure



GOOD BOY!  You can NEVER be TOO careful!!!!! 

I also like to marinate maybe 10 minutes in a mix of soy, rice wine vinegar, a bit of sesame oil,  spread some wasabi on it and cut a piece of nori to match the shape then cook as usual.


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## TATTRAT (Mar 6, 2007)

Phil said:
			
		

> ... So just in case, I drank a bottle of Jack Danials to be sure



Well, it is Mr.Daniels, but either way, I try to kill off all germs that way too

...but if you know him well, he just goes by Jack.


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