Catching, grilling, and smoking tuna:
  A fishing and culinary adventure

Before and after.

This past September I embarked on one of the most memorable vacations of my life, a long-range fishing adventure in search of the yellowfin (Ahi) tuna. It truly was a trip of a lifetime, which left me with what seems like a lifetime supply of tuna. Fortunately, for a barbecue enthusiast like me, grilling and smoking the fresh Ahi is just as rewarding as doing battle with these hard-fighting fish.

The fun part: catching them.

Sorry Charlie. Henry Joe Peterson with an 80-90 pound Yellowfin tuna.

We're talking big fish here. My smallest tuna was 50 pounds, with my largest going to 90 pounds. And these are just teenagers. Winter time long range trips routinely pull in tuna weighing 150-250 pounds, with a few 300 pounders mixed in.

Yellowfin tuna are tough fish, and none too happy when they're hooked. They can peel line off your reel in seconds, and have the muscle to dive down deep. Meanwhile, you punish every muscle you have in your upper body to just to haul these things up. As soon as they see the boat, they take off again and the whole grueling process starts over. After a day or two of battling these fish, you're exhausted and sore from head to toe.

Calamari it ain't. Believe it or not, this big-ol' squid is the bait.

We caught these fish using 6-8 inch live sardines or live squid. The squid were rigged to a kite, which keeps the bait suspended on the surface of the water. Fish come up under these baits and attack them with a vengeance. The explosion looks like someone dropped a Volkswagen in the water.

Wahoo! These incredibly fast fish have razor sharp
teeth that slice easily through 100-pound fishing line.
 It's like catching a chainsaw that swims 60 MPH.

The fun part: eating them.

This is a red-orange colored chili sauce that comes in a squirt bottle, and is readily available in most Asian markets. Some folks cut the hot sauce with a little bit of mayonnaise. But your really only need the hot sauce.

Tartare
My personal favorite is an Asian style tuna tartare, which looks great served in a martini glass. Simply dice a sushi-grade tuna fillet into 1/4-inch cubes. Add some finely diced red onion, finely diced chives, a dash of soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil. I like it simple, but you could easily add the spice of your choice to the liquid ingredients. Small amounts of chipotle or wasabi powder are welcome additions. Put a generous scoop in a martini glass and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Seared
Served cooked around the edges and bright red and rare in the middle, seared tuna is cooked for a short time over very high heat. The fish is cooked only 1/8 to 1/4-inch down. The tuna is then sliced and served with a variety of accompaniments.

Searing tuna is definitely not a slow and low proposition. To sear tuna on the grill, place a large chunk or loin on an extremely hot fire. Allow the tuna to cook for no more than 1-2 minutes per side, checking carefully to see how far down the meat has cooked. This is accomplished using the point of a sharp knife. You don't actually cut the fish, just open up the little crevices between flakes to see how deep it's cooked. Remember, all meats tend to continue cooking even off the heat. So remove it from the heat immediately after it has cooked down about 1/4 inch and slice immediately.

On Food TV's Good Eats, host Alton Brown demonstrated a fascinating way of searing tuna using only your charcoal chimney and a cooking grate. Brown never pours his lit coals out of his chimney. Instead, he leaves the hot coals in the chimney for the entire cook, placing a small cooking grate on top of the chimney for searing the tuna. According to Brown, the small space and high sides of the charcoal chimney help concentrate the heat into a smaller area. He used tongs to turn the tuna to sear it on all the sides.

I've found searing in a cast iron skillet, indoor and on the stove, to be easier and offers more heat control. Not as much radiant heat comes off the cast iron, so it's easier to avoid overcooking. The key is to get your skillet as hot as you can possibly make it before adding the tuna. Otherwise, the procedure is exactly the same as on a grill.

For searing, any number of rubs and accompaniments can be used. I use a simple rub consisting of salt, black pepper, lemon pepper and sesame seeds. But you could use any rub that you think will complement the tuna. Tuna is delicate in flavor, so I don't apply as much rub as I would to a brisket. Just a light dusting works fine for me.

Again, purists will insist on only soy, wasabi, and pickled ginger to accompany their seared tuna. That is delicious, but I like to be a bit adventuresome. A simple balsamic reduction can be made easily by boiling down about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar to a syrupy consistency. (Open the windows before you do this -- trust me on this!) The reduction process concentrates the flavors and creates a sweet and tangy syrup to drizzle over the seared tuna slices.

Grilled
No matter how expertly prepared it is, there will always be some folks who absolutely will not eat raw fish. Not to worry, that's where grilling tuna steaks comes in handy.

As with any other meat, you can ask guests how they want their meat prepared, and cook accordingly. You can cook the tuna anywhere from seared to cooked all the way through.

I usually cut steaks from the loin about 3/4 of an inch thick. To season the steaks, the approach is similar to searing. Any type of rub you like for fish or chicken will work, just don't apply too much. A light dusting will do.

For an extra treat, cook a few slices of bacon about halfway done in a frying pan. Then using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place, make a bacon-wrapped fillet with your tuna steaks by wrapping the bacon strips around the outer edge of the steak. Because the tuna cooks so quickly, it's important to pre-cook the bacon a little bit before grilling the wrapped fillet.

I grill the steaks over a hot fire, moving them on and off the heat as needed to avoid burning. Use the poke and flake method described above to see how far down the meat has cooked. Even for well-done steaks, I remove them from the heat while still a little pink in the middle. They will finish cooking through and stay moist while off the heat.

The danger in grilling tuna is drying out the meat. Tuna gets really dry, really fast. Because tuna can dry so quickly, sauces and salsas are very important for serving.

You can get very creative with sauces and salsas. I have included three recipes here -- a simple vinaigrette, a roasted pepper coulis, and a simple mango-kiwi salsa. See also Bill Wight's extensive salsa pages for some great recipes and pointers on how to create your own salsa.

Smoked
Like many fish, tuna is delicious smoked. The texture of hot-smoked tuna is firm but flaky. Smoked tuna is amazing on bagels, served as an appetizer on a cracker with crème fresh, on salads, or in any number of recipes that call for tuna. What's more, compared to the time consuming and labor intensive process of smoking a brisket or a pork butt, smoking fish is a snap.


Ahhh, that smell! Chunks of fresh tuna on my Weber Smokey Mountain smoker.

Begin by prepping and trimming the tuna. I smoked Ahi tuna, but the technique is identical for albacore or bluefin tuna. Remember, it's going to be tough for smoke to penetrate massive chunks of fish, so I tend to smoke smaller fillets and loin-end trimmings, each piece weighing no more than 8 oz. If all you have is a large loin, simply cut it into smaller chunks for smoking.

Brining is the next phase and is absolutely critical to the process. Brining involves soaking the tuna in a salt, sugar, and water solution for one hour prior to smoking. This not only flavors the tuna, but draws water into the meat to help prevent it from drying out on the smoker.

I use a simple brine consisting of:
1/2 gallon of water
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 whole lemon, cut into slices.

Just add the fish to this solution and put it into the refrigerator for no longer then 1 hour. After the hour has past, take the fish out of the brine and rise it thoroughly. Be sure to really rinse the heck out of the tuna, otherwise the finished product will be way too salty.

The nest step is drying the tuna. When the tuna dries, the surface of the flesh becomes tacky to the touch. This thin, sticky layer is called the pellicle. The sticky pellicle helps tiny particulates of smoke and smoke flavor stick to the surface of the fish during cooking, yielding much more smoke flavor. After rinsing the tuna, thoroughly dry each piece with a paper towel and place on rack to dry. The pellicle takes anywhere from one to two hours to form. You'll know it's ready to smoke when the surface of the fish is shiny and tacky to the touch. For food safety's sake, it's best to do this in the refrigerator.

I fired up my smoker and dusted the tuna with a light sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper. By far the most popular wood to smoke fish with is alder, which has a mild flavor that doesn't overpower the fish. However, I had no alder wood on hand. So I substituted mild fruit woods instead. I used a combination of plumb and apple. I have heard people using citrus woods like lemon and orange with great success. Avoid using strong woods like oak, hickory, or mesquite. You don't need to use as much wood as you would for other meats, since fish can over-smoke very quickly. As for charcoal, I avoid using mesquite lump charcoal because it can impart a strong flavor.  I use Kingsford and have had great results.

I held my smoker at temperatures a bit cooler than normal, ranging form 180 to 200 degrees F. After only 2 and a half hours in the smoker the tuna was cooked through but not dry yet, had a wonderful golden color from the smoke, and tasted delicious!

Go catch some tuna!
When you buy tuna in the store, you can't always guarantee its quality and freshness. Nor is it cheap. For an avid fisherman like myself, the answer is simple: go fishing! Any excuse for a fishing trip will do. I highly recommend going on a long-range fishing trip on the Royal Polaris, or any of San Diego's long-range fishing vessels. The quality and quantity of fish you catch on these trips is unparalleled.

That being said, not everyone has the stomach for the high seas. Yet it seems like everyone has at least one friend or neighbor who goes fishing. Well, it's time to become better friends so you can get your mitts on some fish. If you know someone who fishes often, offer to smoke some fish for him. They'll be thrilled with the outcome, you'll have fun smoking it, and you'll probably get some fish out of the whole arrangement. It's a situation where everyone wins. Except for the tuna, of course.

Roasted Red Pepper Coulis

Yep, you're going to make a coulis, the very stuff you see on the bottom of your plate at all those swanky restaurants. Truth is, a coulis is a very simple sauce made primarily form roasted and pureed vegetables. They're fast and easy to make, not to mention delicious.

This coulis uses roasted red peppers, but you could really use any kind of vegetable you want. Peppers of all types and colors, tomatillos, tomatoes, or any combination thereof all make for great sauces.

4 Roasted red peppers -- blackened skin removed -- roughly chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup onion -- diced
4-5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste.

Over a hot grill or a gas stove flame, char the skin of 4 red peppers.
When the skin is blackened and blistered, put into a Ziploc bag, sealed, for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove the peppers cut them in half, lengthwise, removing the core and seeds.
Lay flat on a cutting board skin side up, and scrape away the blackened skin. It comes right off after steaming in the bag. I prefer leave some of the black parts still on because I like the charred flavor.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions and garlic in the butter and olive oil until just cooked through. If you prefer, you can continue cooking them until they begin to brown, giving them a complex caramelized flavor, but it's not critical.

Put the onion and garlic mixture in a blender or food processor. Add the peppers and all the other ingredients.

Puree to a smooth consistency.

Spoon coulis onto a plate and place the grilled tuna steaks on top.

Kiwi-Mango Salsa

If you don't like kiwis, mangoes, or both, you can substitute virtually any type of fruit you like. I try and stick to the tropical ones. I chose kiwi and mango because I like their flavors and textures together. Plus the green and orange together really looks nice.

2 ripe mangoes -- cut to 1/4 inch dice
5 ripe kiwis -- cut to 1/4 inch dice
1/2 cup red onion -- diced
1 jalapeno pepper -- finely diced
1/4 cup cilantro (or more to taste) -- chopped
juice of one lime
dash of salt

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss thoroughly. I know the salt thing sounds crazy, but just a tiny pinch of salt really enhances the flavor of this salsa.

Spoon salsa over grilled tuna steaks. Start eating.

Vinaigrette sauces

Good old vinaigrette -- the stuff you put on salads. We're not talking the bottled stuff with Paul Newman's face on it. We're talking the high quality, home made kind. A good, room temperature vinaigrette is a simple and delicious way to sauce a piece of grilled tuna.

The basic recipe is this. 3 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, herbs, a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Whisk it all together and you're done. Here are suggestions for each category.

Oil - start with a high quality extra-virgin olive oil. There are flavored olive oils or nut oils that are also quite tasty.

Vinegar - there are many to choose from. Red wine, balsamic, champagne, cognac, etc. I generally avoid using stronger vinegars like cider vinegar or white vinegar. Otherwise, find one that you like best.

Herbs - use chopped fresh herbs wherever possible. Basil, cilantro, thyme, and tarragon are all good choices.

Texture - some folks, myself included, like little crunchy bits in their vinaigrette. I like to use finely minced shallots, red onions, or fresh garlic.

Sugar - you can use granulated white sugar, brown sugar, or honey. Use just a small amount, to help take the edge off the vinegar.

Salt and Pepper - use freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt, wherever possible.

Other seasonings - there are those who swear it's not a true vinaigrette unless it has a tablespoon of mustard. It's an option, but if you do use some mustard use a high quality Dijon mustard.

Directions: Whisk up your vinaigrette and spoon it over your grilled tuna. Difficult, huh?