You know, I am vaguely remembering something about salting and grilling a fish skeleton until the bones are crunchy like potato chips. I'm sure I saw it on some cooking program. Anyone know what or how this is?

Searching for "tuna pate" turned up this tuna tartare which sounds like a doctored up ceviche. Sort of interesting? Certainly a make ahead. But the photo looks like spoonfuls of cat barf. And the sidebar says "0 cooks want to eat this". Pass?

http://food52.com/recipes/15311_two_holiday_hors_doeuvres_tuna_tartare_and_chicken_liver_pt

Searching for "tuna pate" turned up this tuna tartare which sounds like a doctored up ceviche. Sort of interesting? Certainly a make ahead. But the photo looks like spoonfuls of cat barf. And the sidebar says "0 cooks want to eat this". Pass?

http://food52.com/recipes/15311_two_holiday_hors_doeuvres_tuna_tartare_and_chicken_liver_pt

Nothing leaps to mind but a lust for an invitation.

If my mind churns out an interesting idea, I'll share.

E

Is this it?

Here is a link that might be useful: John's 17lb tuna thread

My local fish monger had fresh albacore on special last week and their newsletter included this recipe. I didn't make it, but it looks fabulous....I cheated and went out to a local restaurant and had an albacore soba noodle with braised Asian greens dish that someone else cooked instead of me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Albacore skewers

I don't eat much bacon, but doesn't it make everything better?

Here is a link that might be useful: Bacon wrapped albacore

bbstx, that's the thread I couldn't find! Thanks! That helps a lot as I see there were many suggestions that I didn't try then but can now use.

The bacon wrapped albacore looks great. I don't know about grilling tuna for 10 minutes, but maybe I can parcook the bacon, then wrap and grill for a shorter period.

I found a recipe for grilled tuna collar, which will only work if I can figure out how to portion it. Also a mention of grilled tuna heart.

Although I've never made it with any fish other than salmon, I wonder how gravlax would be if made with tuna. You could make it ahead of time and if you serve it with rye bread or crackers, it would present a different flavor profile than the ones you're planning.

I've linked to a basic recipe for it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gravlax recipe

I'm finding enough references to tuna lox (gravlax) that I'm comfortable putting it in the list. The make ahead aspect is veeeery appealing. I may actually get to sit down and eat this time.

Your story about the cat had me laughing but feeling bad too. I hope you can keep kitty away until there are only plates with tiny scraps.

You might consider Poki for a raw tuna dish. Spicy, easy, yummy and make ahead. I haven't made it but have watched friends put it together very quickly. The online recipes all look very similar and suggest a several hour chilling, flavor melding time.

Your neighborhood party sounds like a lot of fun.

Lee

Excuse me Johnliu, but I would love to be your neighbor.
All I have to do is drop a dead fish on your doorstep
and that afternoon come over to a vertible feast.
I'm sorry, but it sounds as if you are being taken
advantage of.

Any excuse for a party counts. Dead fish included!

Seriously, how often does one get to play with $300 worth of sashimi grade tuna, for free?

The neighborhood - our block, anyway - has a few parties each year. One neighbor throws a dinner party every Christmas, complete with a hay wagon to take everyone on a ride. Lately a few of us have taken to pooling tools, stuff like lawn mowers, drill presses, chop saws, we share them. Dead fish neighbor waters my plants and takes care of my cats when I'm gone. It all works out great.

Smoked tuna is a treat.

dcarch

I make a classic Mediterranean style tuna salad with white beans, olives, tuna, celery and red onions, and a lemon olive oil dressing. There are many additional variations fo things to put in it like capers or parsley, fresh ground pepper, cherry tomatoes, whatever, but the basic idea is soemthing I love. I make this all the time. Better than tuna pate IMHO but I have never had that with fresh tuna. I love sashimi tuna though! So yum with sushi too! I'm jealous. We got a little bit of fresh Atlantic tuna from a friend once. We just savored it just lightly seasoned and from the grill. How I envy you the amount to play around with!

Sounds heavenly to me....but with such supreme ingredients...I think simpler might be the best way to go.

Well this is turning into a chaotic mess. Way more people have been invited than originally expected. If everyone shows, we'll have 40+ people. How this happened, I have no idea. Too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.

Obviously I can't portion each block of tuna into 40 servings, and I can't prepare and plate 40 servings every 15 minutes.

So I am asking some guests who enjoy cooking to bring more stuff, and I don't care what it is or if it all goes together, as long as it is suitable for buffet service and eating from paper plates outside. One neighbor owns a tapas restaurant - helpful, eh? - and he will bring some cool stuff. I'll throw together a big batch of wings and potato salad.

The tuna, therefore, is being demoted from the central raison d'etre of the event, to a series of hors d'oeuvres that will be intermittently brought to the buffet table for the benefit of whoever happens to be standing there at the time. This is going to be your standard end-of-summer BBQ with grilled skewers, roasted weenies, summer salad, and plenty of beer, that happens to include some fish. Kind of an underwhelming fate for a 20 lb albacore, but oh well.

After all, the reason raison d'etre is to get together with neighbors . . . and friends . . . and friends of friends . . . and neighbors of friends of friends . . . and friends of neighbors of . . . and I will simply grit my teeth and remember that I welcome them all, even if I've never seen them before.

Put another way, I will simply crank out my fish bits and otherwise try to be Zen.

The fishy bits are planned to be

1 - blast-seared with sesame seed crust and tangy sauce
2 - simmered in miso, served as a soup with a little ramen
3 - chirashi bowl, tuna and unagi
4 - bacon wrapped tuna balls
5 - tuna gravlax, a quickie version involving miso and sea salt and tobiko, no time to do the whole 3 days in sugar and salt thing (I'm traveling this week, which makes things complicated)
6 - spicy tuna rolls
7 - pan-seared with ginger-shiitake sauce, a recipe FOAS suggested last time
8 - as a poki or maybe a ceviche, I've not decided

Any thoughts as to correct order, like what should be 1st, 2nd, etc? As if it matters?

I'm going to save the collar, heart, head etc to cook later. For myself. [Chortles.]

This is a biggish fish.

How fun, John! My DH is out on his annual tuna fishing expedition now - they left Sept. 9 and are due back Monday. Hope they have tuna! I am not as creative as you. We just cut steaks for the freezer, poach some in olive oil and herbs, have some locally canned, and share some with neighbors. It's no one's turn on our boat this year to provide the tuna for the annual end-of-season pig and tuna roast so we get to keep the catch. Your party's tuna ffeast sounds like more fun than ours. Plus, DH will come home tired and cranky 'cause they stand 4-hour watches 24/7 and he likes his beauty sleep.

Have a great party even with the additional guests!

/tricia

I'm sorry John, obviously you have better neighbors than
I do. I once had a neighbor that went out fishing
on a Saturday morning, and two days later, dropped
off two day old Lake Trout, that stunk already,
(no, they were not even gutted.)
And, he expected me to make a gormet meal out of them,
and invite him and his 'extended' family to a huge
feast, complete with all the fixins and drinks were
to be included. Thank God his boat sunk.

Whew. Party's over. We've cleaned up, kind of. Got to bed at 1:30 am.

The tuna turned out pretty well. It was different from the previous fish. Flesh was softer, fattier, not as firm. I skipped the chirasi course because I didn't think this fish was all that suited to sashimi. And I skipped the last course because it was getting late and people were full.

The third most favorite dish was tuna marinated in miso and lots of sea salt for 24 hours. Served with a topping of wasabi tobiko (wasabi-infused flying fish roe, buy it at a Japanese market) and a smear of honey-wasabi sauce (exactly what it sounds like, honey mixed with a-not-quite toe-curling amount of wasabi powder).

The runner up was the blast-seared tuna. Mix soy sauce, honey, and wasabi. Marinate tuna loin block overnight. Roll loin in sesame seeds to coat. Light charcoal in chimney starter. When coals are ready, put blow dryer at base of starter, so that white flame is roaring from top. Place grill on top, sear loin, each side 20 sec. Slice loin into medallions. Top with reserved marinade.

The favorite, by far, was a variant of the pan-seared tuna with ginger shiitake sauce. FOAS posted a link to this dish in the previous tuna thread. I made some modifications - pan-browned the shiitake slices first, omitted the soy sauce, omitted the lime juice, added lime zest. Several people asked for this recipe, so here it is, and thanks again to FOAS -

- slice shiitake mushroom caps to 1/4 to 1/8 inch, dice stems
- brown diced stems in butter, set aside
- brown cap slices in butter, working in single layer and turning each slice individually, to crusty, set aside
- chop 1/3 c green onions, 1/4 c cilantro, 2 tbsp fresh ginger, 4 garlic cloves
- cook in pan medium heat a few minutes, add mushrooms, then 1 1/2 c whipping cream, heat to low, cook until sauce thickens, set aside
- heat to high, get pan very hot, add olive oil, sear tuna just long enough to get 1/8 inch cooked layer on each side
- reheat sauce, add zest of 2 limes, add a teeny splash more of cream if sauce looks tired, salt to taste (for me, about 1 tsp kosher salt)
- plate and be sure to credit FOAS

The last dish, which we skipped, was tuna and scallop ceviche with a salsa of my own tomatoes, peaches, and kiwi. It was something I should have served earlier in the evening. Well, I'll have it for lunch and deliver some to the neighbors.

I'm glad that the recipe - or your version of it - worked out for you. I haven't made it in a few years and I think I'll try your variation next time I do. It won't offend me to omit the soy sauce which I already reduce significantly from the original version, nor to make use of the $9/lb shiitake stems which I usually throw out.

Too bad you didn't get to the ceviche, but I agree it sounds like it'd have been best served earlier.

Got pics?

I only managed to take pictures of the tuna disassembly process, which are interesting but gory, and of the ginger-shiitake sauce. Things were too busy and at one point I misplaced my iPhone, which passes for my camera.

Photobucket is acting up for me Not uploading. So no pictures of tuna butchery.