Albacore Filets?

Zedd, check out the the Seafood Archives, below. August 23, your neighbor,balboajohn, starts a 10 entry thread on albacore. (You
Californians have all the luck. All I get is mullet.)

I am a new Cookshack owner as well and, actually, not a big tuna fan. I once did an online grilling class (through Cook's magazine) and they suggested marinating tuna overnight in extra-virgin olive oil, and gave scientific reasons for doing so, which I can't seem to remember. I overcooked it a bit but it was very tasty.

In the couple of weeks that we've had the Cookshack we've done quite a bit of salmon and have gotten rave reviews.

Zedd, after checking my notes on my computer at work I found that I was mistaken about marinating the tuna overnight in olive oil. Apparently an hour is sufficient. Following are the exact notes from the class:

"Olive oil�extra-virgin olive oil, to be exact�solved our problem. We discovered that marinating the fish in extra-virgin olive for at least an hour produced a remarkably moist grilled fish. Our next question was, why? According to food scientist Shirley Corriher, the oil was tenderizing the fish in much the same way that marbling (strands of white fat running through the meat) tenderizes beef. The oil coats the strands of protein, making a tuna steak feel moist in the mouth even after most of the moisture has been cooked out of it."

Further they suggested serving it with a fruit salsa. I made the recipe using mangoes and it was lovely with the fish:

SIMPLE PEACH SALSA
Makes about 3 cups
If you don't have peaches, you can substitute a number of other yellow-orange fruits, including mangoes, pineapples, and papaya.
2 ripe but not mushy peaches, pitted and chopped coarse
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced thin
1 small red onion, cut into long, thin slices
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup pineapple juice
6 tablespoons juice from 3 medium limes
1 jalape�o or other medium hot chile pepper, minced
Salt and ground black pepper
Mix all ingredients, including salt and pepper to taste, in
medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate to blend flavors, at least 1 hour or up to 4 days.

That sounds simply wonderful! Thanks you for the research.

I always keep jars of Gilroy Farms minced and crushed garlic in the fridge. I'm thinking some added in the olive oil would be nice.

Welcome to the Cookshack "club". I'm sure you will enjoy using it as much as I have.

Now, and take this for what it is worth, and as my humble opinion.

When I cook tuna, I grill it on a really hot fire so that I quickly sear the outside and leave it quite rare in the middle. I'm talking about cooking temps of 400-600 degrees, and maybe 2-3 minutes per side for a 2 inch filet. I use cracked pepper and toasted sesame seeds on it's surface after coating it with olive oil. Usually, I serve it with soy-ginger dipping sauce and wasabe; sort of like it was served to me when I lived in Japan, only cooked a bit more then raw sushi!

A low and slow cook which is what the Cookshack is made for will not do this! If you like tuna well done, go for it in the Cookshack- but be prepared for your filets to be somewhat comparable to what comes out of a can, in my opinion.

Zedd

Smoked albacore tuna is great, the only better is blue fin tuna. Brine overnight, dry real well with fan, smoke in cs to 160. Use a flexible therm. that goes through the vent hole. I use a smokette and it takes about 1 1/2 hours. Best served with triscuit crackers, if want as main meal I would grill to medium rare rather than smoke.

Make sure tuna is fully defrosted before brining or it will be a lttle mushy. Brining receipe I got on the phone from Angler Center in Newport. Tried variations but original seems the best. I don't have it here, but if you want it let me know.

All I know is that friends like the cs smoke tuna so much better than other types, they give me part of their catch is I smoke it.

It freezes well in a vacu pack, in fact I defrosted a bunch on Tues. night and it was great.

Good luck

Thanks for all the input! I have definately decided to grill it as it will be a main course.

On a side-note, I did find a good source for CanAgra cryo briskets today. I picked a couple up today for the 'maiden run' this weekend getting ready for Christmas dinner.

I hope UPS doesn't let me down and shows up tomorrow as planned!