For many people, particularly Americans, tuna (fish) has become a standard component of everyday diets. Whether it be shredded, mixed with mayonnaise, and celery to become tunafish salad, or eaten straight from the can,with lettuce and tomato, or perhaps in a Nicoise salad, tuna fish is a tasty,economical food staple.Despite periodic gloom and doom warnings concerning mercury levels, and inadvertent inclusion of dolphins in tuna- catches, tuna is the second- most popular seafood product in the U.S., surpassed in consumption only by shrimp. Although Americans consume over 500 million pounds of canned tuna per year,and is served in three- quarters of U.S. households, many of these people have never eaten fresh tuna. The only form of tuna that many consumers are familiar with IS canned, which is actually cooked( usually by steaming or boiling. )
To view fresh tuna for the first time, can be somewhat shocking. Vividly red, with a hint of deep purple, fresh tuna bears no resemblance to its canned cousin. Personally, in my progression as a line cook, when I began working menus featuring fresh tuna, I was both fascinated and apprehensive about cooking it. Through the years,after watching other cooks and chefs prepare and serve fresh tuna, I wondered why they left the center of most fresh tuna steaks ‘blood’ rare. I was told that most people prefer to eat it rare. That may be true,but I doubt that most people prefer their tuna to be raw.I feel it is more an artistic statement of aesthetic presentation than dietary preference. While Tuna Tartar ( raw tuna ) and sushi are very popular items, I consider leaving the center of cooked fresh tuna essentially raw to be a culinary mis-step and I have long desired to cook fresh tuna more sensibly. Compare it to eating a cheeseburger from McDonald’s, only to discover that the center is uncooked.
Consider this.. many times while rinsing a needed pan or searching for a utensil, in the ‘dish’ areas of various restaurants I have worked at, I look at what people leave behind on their plates. The uneaten portions of diners’ meals often include breads, vegetables and starch (potatoes, rice, pasta ) items.When a plate contains the remains of a fresh tuna dinner, more often than not the uneaten portion is the ‘rare’ center of the tuna.While recognizing that many people prefer their fresh tuna to be rare, yet not raw, the way that I now cook fresh tuna, is a happy compromise.
Here is a great way to sensibly cook fresh tuna to the temperature of rare, yet cooked. First, heat a small amount of vegetable oil in saute’ pan at medium- high heat. Apply salt and pepper to all sides of fresh tuna. When pan and oil are hot,add tuna (steak) and sear on all sides. Reduce heat to simmer and let tuna cook for 1- 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and tuna from pan. Gently slice tuna into equal size pieces and return to pan to lightly brown ( approx. I minute ). The tuna will be rare to medium- rare, with just a trace of purplish- red flesh showing.
Even though modern art on a plate is nice to look at, if practicality, logic and flavor are discarded in favor of presentation, then what’s the point ? One might as well eat plastic fruit and cellophane noodles.As with runny omelets and overuse of pesto, I consider undercooked tuna to be positively unacceptable.To hungry seafood lovers everywhere, may I suggest that next time you order fresh tuna in a restaurant, request that it be sensibly cooked to medium- rare. You might be able to eat the whole piece, for once.
