Maguro (mah-goo-roh) or hon-maguro, is the Japanese term for bluefin tuna, perhaps the best known and most commonly eaten fish in all of sushi dining. Used in many rolls, but often seen by itself, what is now the old stand-by was not always the most popular item on the menu. While currently suffering from incredible demand, tuna was, until the 1970’s, a sport fish commonly known as “horse mackerel” and sold to companies for cat food or thrown away. Now, its fatty belly meat, known as ‘toro’ is one of the more expensive items on the menu, prized for its taste, texture, and scarcity. The name “horse mackerel” is now used for the fish called “Aji” (or jack mackerel) as, for marketing purposes, seafood purveyors didn’t want the strong flavor of mackerel associated with the much less oily and fishy tasting bluefin tuna. Tuna has come a long way from being a fish the samurai considered unclean and would not eat, to one of the most popular fish in Japan, and the world around.

Tuna served in restaurants is generally one of two different species, the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), traditionally known as ‘maguro,’ which is usually fairly lean, and the yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), known as ‘ahi’ (ah-hee), which is a fattier species. Yellowfin tuna may also be labeled ‘maguro‘ but more often than not, if you see maguro it will be bluefin tuna. Tuna sushi is further broken up into subtypes, based on the fat content. Akami (ah-kah-me) is the leaner meat from the sides of the fish. If you ask for ‘maguro’ at a restaurant, or order any kind of tuna roll or sushi without requesting ‘toro,’ you will get this cut. Toro (toh-roh) is the term for the fatty part of the tuna, found in the belly portion of the fish. Toro is further broken up into two distinct subtypes, and they are more expensive due to their relative scarcity as a proportion of the entire fish. The two types of toro are: Chutoro (choo-toh-roh), which is sometimes labeled chu-toro, is the belly area of the tuna along the side of the fish between the akami and the otoro.

It is often preferred because it is fatty but not as fatty as otoro. Otoro (oh-toh-roh), which is sometimes labeled o-toro, is the fattiest portion of the tuna, found on the very underside of the fish. This cut is fatty almost to the point of falling apart and can literally melt in your mouth. Today, approximately 80% of the world’s bluefin tuna catch is used for sushi, and the species is actually close to being threatened, and due to this, they are becoming more expensive. Toro (and especially otoro) is generally the most expensive item in the menu by weight, and in fact the fish themselves can command record prices. On January 5th, 2001 in Tokyo, a sushi grade bluefin tuna was sold for an astounding $173,600 for a 444 pound fish (which equates to $391/lb). I have personally seen people waiting on the docks ready to buy the catch of those who have spent a day deep sea fishing for tuna. This diverse fish is now one of the most popular items on the sushi menu, but hopefully its culinary success will not be its downfall.

You can find sushi grade tuna at Catalina Offshore Products (among other sushi grade seafood).Be the first to tip!Tip me with bitcoin!1Kb1wCkjsXSk2re5H5cE43ndVh2262M4KYIf you enjoyed reading this post, please consider tipping me using Bitcoin. Each post gets its own unique Bitcoin address so by tipping you're not only making my continued efforts possible but telling me what you liked. sushi to go rymarskaIf you tip, thank you for helping me keep this website alive!sashimi grade tuna onlineCan you guess which types of tuna are on this plate?yo sushi dubai classesI’ll tell you in a minute, but first let’s talk about tuna’s success story.delivery sushi calgary nw

In the matter of a decade, this Rockefeller of fish, rose from rags to riches (or cans to sushi as we say in the fish world), drawing the looks of contempt, admiration, and envy from other fish. While salmon became the middle class of a fish – affordable, reliably available in any supermarket, and the token fish on restaurant menus – tuna has been making it big. It has grades, it has types, and it has that sexy rare center daring you to eat raw fish outside of a sushi restaurant.“It’s sushi grade, right?” we ask our waiter as if to make sure it was blessed by the local sushi board similar to a rabbi declaring meat to be kosher. “Absolutely,” he replies nodding his head so confidently, you’d think he saw the sushi board stop by just a few hours ago to inspect the fish.I still remember the first time I ordered a tuna steak, and the waitress asked me how I wanted it cooked. No restaurant has ever asked me to make that important decision about fish before and I was at a loss.

After a few moments of hard thinking, I chickened out and ordered it medium-well. I felt as if one of my college friends offered me a joint and I turned it down trying to be the good kid. I'd eaten raw fish for years in sushi restaurants, but that was a totally different story. That was like drugs with prescription from a doctor. Raw fish in a regular restaurant, or God forbid in my house, seemed every bit as scary and illegal as recreational drugs.Curiosity, of course, won over the fear of “unsupervised” raw tuna and I’ve been happily consuming it for the past 5 years with no adverse side effects besides temporary euphoria and random bursts of giggles. But besides gobbling up tuna tartare, sashimi, and steaks, I’ve also been reading a lot about this fascinating fish and bothering fishmongers with my never-ending questions.Have you ever wondered what sushi grade really means? And what about all those other words like bluefin, yellowfin, big-eye, ahi, Number 1, Grade 1, etc. When I have a question that all my fish books fail to answer, I pick up the phone and call Carl Fantasia at the New Deal Fish Market.

It’s amazing how much light a 10 minute conversation with Carl can shed on pretty much any seafood topic. Here is what I learned about tuna:When it comes to top tier tuna (the steak kind you pay big bucks for vs. the stuff in a can), there are 3 species you are most likely to see in fish markets and restaurants: Yellowfin (also sold as Ahi)Big-eyeBluefin is fairly lean, least flavorful, and thus the cheapest, retailing for about $16/Lb. is much fattier and more flavorful than yellowfin. It retails for low $20s/Lb and at its prime can rival bluefin. is the Rolls-Royce of all tuna, prized for its bright red color, fattiness, and flavor. At its prime (the end of summer and early fall) when it swims north and fattens up, it can retail for close to $30/Lb. Not even the sushi restaurants can market this tuna effectively to the US consumers, and 99% of this lovely bluefin that we catch in the North Atlantic waters gets whisked off to Japan.Correction about Ahi posted on August 7, 2006: I have written incorrectly in the original version of this post that Ahi is another name for Big-eye.

That's what happens when you use Internet sources -- they aren't always right (except for Beyond Salmon of course ;) Thanks to Carl for finding this mistake. Ahi is a marketing term used for Yellowfin, not Big-eye tuna.Of course, how good your tuna tastes depends not only on the species, but also on the season and even on each particular fish. That’s where the “grade” comes into the picture. When each tuna is caught, it gets pierced with a long probe and evaluated for color and fat content. The greasier the probe comes back, the higher the grade. Of course, it’s not a very scientific process, and what one distributor calls #1, the other might call 2+. The grades range from 1 (the best) to 3 (the worst). #1, 2+, and 2 all taste good enough to eat raw and can be sold for use in rare steaks, and sushi. This has nothing to do with the freshness of the fish, only with its taste. Since “#2+ Grade Tuna” sounds like they are serving you second grade fish, the restaurant menus will never use that terminology.

They’ll either say “#1 Tuna”, or use the species name to describe it, like “Ahi Tuna.” Of course all these words don’t mean much, and you don’t really know how good that tuna is until you taste it. If this wasn’t complicated enough already, another variable in this tuna equation is the cut. The mid-section near the belly is the fattiest and most expensive, and the tail is the cheapest.But what about the sushi grade? “Sushi grade” or “sushi quality” simply means the fish is fresh and has been properly kept on ice. A good fish market will take such care of all their fish and will be able to advice you on which fish are the freshest and good enough to eat raw. So “sushi grade” is more of a marketing term than a grade really. No authority gives this ephemeral “grade” out. Think about it this way. If you buy sushi carry out at a sushi restaurant, then take it home in a hot car on a summer day, and store it in your 42 degree fridge for a few hours, is that fish still “sushi grade”?

So don’t worry about the grade. A really fresh tuna is easy to spot since it has no pearly rainbow discolorations, no smell, and no sleazy discharge. Buy it from a reputable fish market. Bring it home in a cooler with ice-packs, store it in the fridge (yes, still between ice-packs), and eat it that day. If you’d like a “sushi grade” certification, just give me a call. I’d be happy to issue one, after a thorough tasting of your tuna.Keep in mind that the above advice only applies to tuna and a few other salt water fish. Most fresh water fish and some salt water fish are prone to parasites and are not safe to eat raw. So if you go fishing in the river, don’t serve that fish for sushi no matter how fresh it is.Now that I’ve tortured you long enough, here is the answer to the tuna mystery…The one on the top that is darker is bluefin ($18/Lb) from Court House Seafood and the one on the bottom that is lighter is big-eye ($22/Lb) from the New Deal Fish Market. How come the Rolls-Royce of tuna is cheaper than the big-eye?