How Bobby Flay Avoids 'Tired' Looking Tuna Steaks
Famous chef Bobby Flay is known for his impressive cooking skills, which is why customers line up to eat his food at his various restaurants across America. Seafood fans particularly like his eatery Almafi, which specializes in the coastal flavors of Italy. The menu features items like squid ink fettuccine that comes with lobster and shrimp, as well as salmon carpaccio covered in pistachio breadcrumbs.
As an expert in all things shellfish, Flay has a number of great tips for home chefs. For example, if you want succulent lobster, he suggests not only boiling it but taking it out of the water and slathering it with canola oil, then finishing it on the barbecue. This technique ensures the most impactful flavor. If you're looking to get perfectly grilled fish, he recommends thoroughly cleaning your grill ahead of time, so your meat doesn't stick to the grates (via YouTube). The "Beat Bobby Flay" star also coats his halibut filet with oil, so that the fish is more easily flippable.
Thankfully for us, he's also offering up some more seafood wisdom. While cooking on "Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction," he recently showed fans how to create his grilled tuna with caramelized onions recipe. Before you cook up your next tuna steak dinner, Flay said it's important to look for specific signs to ensure you're getting the best fish at the grocery store.
The chef says tuna should have a glisten to it
While Flay was demonstrating how to make his tuna steak recipe, he revealed on Food Network that the fish you choose should be firm and have a certain brightness to it. "I always tell people when you go to the fish store, you can actually look at the fish and tell if the fish is tired," he explained. "It has this tired look to it if it's not as fresh, but if it's glistening that probably means it's really, really fresh."
Our Everyday Life also suggests getting your tuna steaks from a local fishmonger because they typically have a faster turnover rate than grocery stores. Additionally, it's important to keep away from fish that looks slimy or has a strange odor. It should also be uniform in color and not appear dry or flaky. The Spruce Eats recommends getting fresh tuna during its peak season of late spring and early fall. However, frozen tuna filets are available all year and the outlet says if you purchase them this way, you'll ensure that you're getting the freshest version possible.
If you're looking for an easy way to cook this type of fish, try our sesame-crust tuna steak recipe that only takes 15 minutes to make and is packed with umami goodness.