Everything You Need To Know About Maguro

Sushi is one of Japan's greatest gifts to the world, right up there with anime, ramen, and Shohei Ohtani. It's been a signature of Japanese cuisine for over 1,000 years, working its way into national folklore. PBS recounts a legend that says that thieves were coming after an old woman's rice, so she hid it from them in an osprey nest. She returned much later to find the rice had fermented and mixed with fish scraps left over from the osprey's meal. While that may not sound particularly appetizing, she loved it, and sushi was born.

Of course, this is just an old wives' tale, but a few details stick out, namely the use of fermented rice. According to PBS, the earliest form of sushi contained not only fermented rice but also preserved fish, and was called nare-zushi, meaning "aged sushi." Interestingly enough, sushi likely originated with freshwater fish, specifically golden carp pulled from Lake Biwa. It's not the kind of thing you'd expect to find on sushi menus these days, which are dominated by ocean dwellers like tuna, eel, and sea urchin. Since they're typically served under their Japanese names, you might not know exactly what you're ordering, so let's catch you up on a critical term. It's something you're almost guaranteed to find at a sushi bar: maguro.

The first step in preparing maguro is to fillet the whole fish. This is not something you can do at home, for myriad reasons. Firstly, you'd have to lug several hundred pounds of fish into your home. Furthermore, buying a whole bluefin tuna would put most people in debt. The BBC reports that the current record for the most expensive bluefin, sold in 2019, is $3.1 million. You also need to invest in special equipment to fillet a whole tuna, specifically a type of knife called a maguro-bocho. Per NHK World-Japan, the blade of a maguro knife can be as long as 150 cm, just shy of five feet. You can buy one from New York knifemaker Korin for a minimum of $1,300.

So, clearly, it's better to buy bluefin tuna that's already been butchered. There are two basic cuts of maguro: akami and toro. Japan Guide explains that akami is the dark red meat taken from the loins of the tuna. It is lean and firm to the tooth. Toro is the belly meat with a pink hue. It is much fattier than akami, with a rich, buttery flavor. JW adds that toro is the most prized and expensive cut. Due to its high fat content, it practically melts in your mouth.

In addition to bluefin tuna, you'll also see yellowfin tuna on many menus. It is often referred to as ahi tuna, a name derived from the Hawaiian word for fire (via Go Fish'n Online). Yellowfin is smaller than bluefin tuna, but Ocean Info notes that it can still reach an impressive weight of 400 pounds while possessing the characteristic streamlined body we see with bluefin tuna. Unlike maguro, it's quite common to cook ahi, albeit just a little bit. It is typically served with a seared exterior and raw interior.

You'll often see hamachi alongside maguro on sashimi plates. MasterClass reveals that hamachi comes from young yellowtail fish, and this is where we encounter a bit of linguistic confusion. San Diego fishmonger Catalina Offshore Products notes that yellowtail is often listed on menus as "yellowtail tuna," but this is a misnomer. Yellowtail is actually a type of amberjack. Per MasterClass, there are three basic kinds of yellowtail: greater amberjack, gold-striped amberjack, and Japanese amberjack. Sashimi is typically made from Japanese amberjack, also known as "buri." There is no such thing as "yellowtail tuna," so watch out for this error on menus.