To the uninformed, tuna might just be tuna and the idea of paying millions for a pound fish seems ludicrous. It's important to note, though, that the bluefin sushi roll you might get at a high-end sushi restaurant has very little in common with your mom's tuna salad recipe.
For starters, canned tuna is a species known as albacore or longfin tuna. They're a lot smaller than bluefin, can be farm-raised, and are much more abundant than the bluefin.
Albacore might not have the marbling of bluefin, but it has the benefit of being seafood that you won't feel guilty about eating. You won't find bluefin in the canned fish aisle of the grocery store Shutterstock.
Bluefin tuna is used in salads, sushi, sashimi, soups, salads or as a steak served with fresh or grilled vegetables and rice. Bluefin tuna can be used for cooking burgers, tartare with avocado, or tuna bowl with rice, edamame, nori, cucumber and soy sauce.
Bluefin tuna can also be eaten raw. Bluefin tuna is caught mainly in Japan and the USA. Japanese tuna is much more expensive than American tuna, but restaurant owners and chefs worldwide are willing to shell out a fortune for it. Japanese fishers are the most professional in the whole world as they kill tuna with a precise shot of a harpoon in the head and almost never miss.
Bluefish tuna is sold on actions that make the price skyrocket. First, the fish undergoes quality control to get to the auction, then a careful selection of chefs and large wholesale buyers. Only then the best of the best Bluefin tuna representatives get to the end consumer. How good is bluefin tuna? Bluefin tuna has extremely tender and juicy, creamy marble meat known for its unique, delicate structure. Bluefin tuna is rich in vitamins A, B, D, Omega-3 and Omega-6, selenium, potassium, magnesium and is served in the most expensive restaurants in the world in sushi, sashimi, salads or as a steak.
Why do the Japanese pay so much for tuna? Japanese pay so much for tuna as it is the most popular and rare fish used for sushi, rolls, soups, salads. It has a very soft, fibrous texture and delicate creamy flavor. Bluefin contains very few carbs and is rich in useful vitamins A, B, D, selenium, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements. Real bluefin tuna is a rarity.
Only a professional will distinguish its meat by its appearance. Bluefin tuna has no fishy taste at all and no hint of the smell of the sea. The Japanese, when selling tuna, make an incision on it: the buyer comes, tastes it, looks at the color. The Japanese treasure tuna very much. It is like gold for them. For example, Akami is tuna meat that is only used in sushi and rolls.
Such meat is not too fat and dark; as a rule, it is part of the back from the head to the base of the tail. They try to use this part as an appetizer or topping for soups. Narrator: According to Wilcox, tuna from Japan is better than American tuna during the peak winter months.
While Boston tuna is best during summer and fall. But it's the tuna that comes from Oma in Japan that's widely considered to be some of the best in the world. Wilcox: Peak-season Oma tuna will, in Japan, cost a kilo. Narrator: Besides its superior fat content, another reason fish is more expensive from Japan is that it has further to travel, and it goes through a rather lengthy process before making its way to your plate. Wilcox: There's more hands that it passes through in Japan, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Narrator: Wilcox says the fish is also handled better in Japan than the US. So there's less damage and more precise cutting. Wilcox: We get like a Boston bluefin, it goes from the fisherman, to the distributor, to our door. Whereas in Japan, it's going from the fisherman, usually to a collective or cooperative, to the government that's running the auction, to a middle wholesaler, to a final wholesaler, to a restaurant or a hotel.
All high-end fish are auctioned in Japan. Fish that's more sought after, that's caught in a better place, that's handled better, that's clearly better quality will go for a higher price, and that fisherman will get more of the money. Narrator: The first auction of the year in Japan is when you'll see ridiculously high prices for fish. Mostly as a symbolic gesture, or a publicity stunt.
Wilcox: In Japanese culture, that first thing you do all year is the most important. It sets the tone for the whole year. That first tuna of the year always goes for the highest price that any tuna will go for the whole rest of the year. Narrator: And the different parts of a bluefin tuna also vary drastically in price.
Wilcox: If you imagine a tuna as like a torpedo, they'll split it into quarters lengthwise, cut off the head, and the collar, and we will take one of the two belly quarters. Narrator: Here's what one quarter looks like when it's delivered. This piece came from Boston, and was caught the previous day. Wilcox splits up the meat based on type.
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