Bonito

[Magictofu]

I went to Chinatown today trying to find an ingredient discussed in another tread.

I did not find what I was looking for but found a whole bonito at a very decent price. The problem is that I never cooked bonito and am a bit intimidated by the fish. At first I thought I would just filet it and try the meat in different recipes (it is quite big) but after reading online I realized that most people make 4 filets out of the fish instead of the usual 2 filets. I assume that people cut it like fish mongers do with the larger tuna.

It was cheap so I am willing to experiment and will try to cut it into 4 filets. I will also try to make a soup with the head and bones.

So far, I mostly found recipes for grilling bonito (e.g. in steaks or filets), has anyone tried it in ceviche or a stew? Other suggestions?

(edited for clarity)

Edited October 3, 2008 by Magictofu (log)

[Magictofu]

I now have 4 filets and a few smaller pieces. Although the fish was big, the total amount of flesh salvaged is relatively small since the blood line was fairly large (most of the comments I have read online suggest to remove the blood line).

So far, what is interesting is that most of the recipes and cooking technique that I was able to find came from fishing forums on internet.

People seems to:

1) eat bonito sashimi or sushi style

2) grill or pan fry bonito (often after marinating it)

3) smoke bonito

4) cure bonito in either salt or sugar before cooking it (according to proponents of that technique, this allows you to keep blood line while getting rid of that strong taste/smell found in this darker meat)

At this point, the extra bits were turned in a ceviche for an appetizer and I plan to grill 2 filets for main course. I still do not know what to do with the 2 other filets.

[budrichard]

No matter what the fish, it must be extremely fresh and graded as sashimi/sushi quality before eating raw.

Bonito is a strong fish so usually when served as sashimi/sushi, the outside is grilled briefly and then when cut there is a pronounced interface between what was cooked and what stayed raw.

Your 2,&3 are good way to prep. In my experiences there is no way to make the bloodline palatable in these type fishes and it is usually removed.

Bonito is a strong somewhat oily tuna and these types of fish do not make good stock or stews which is why it is normally grilled, fried or smoked.-Dick

[Recoil Rob]

There can be much confusion between the names of several fish caught in NY waters, bonito, bonita, false albacore and little tunny.

True bonito and false albacore are very similar looking fish with completely different table qualities, bonito being excellent and false albacore usually released to fight again.

Here's a link to telling them apart.

Bonito are excellent on the grill with a soy base flavoring, and as the referenced link explains, can be substituted for mahi mahi or bluefish in many recipes.

Edited October 5, 2008 by Recoil Rob (log)

[Magictofu]

There can be much confusion between the names of several fish caught in NY waters,  bonito, bonita, false albacore and little tunny.

True bonito and false albacore are very similar looking fish with completely different table qualities, bonito being excellent and false albacore usually released to fight again.

Here's a link to telling them apart.

Bonito are excellent on the grill with a soy base flavoring, and as the referenced link explains, can be substituted for mahi mahi or bluefish in many recipes.

←

My first experiments were far from successful and now I understand why: I had a little tunny... that probably explains the cheap price.

[sanrensho]

Just to be clear, bonito in Japan refers to skipjack tuna. Skipjack tuna is delicious prepared as sashimi or tataki (grilled on outside, raw inside).

Skipjack tuna = bonito = katsuo

[Peter the eater]

. . . . Bonito is a strong somewhat oily tuna and these types of fish do not make good stock or stews which is why it is normally grilled, fried or smoked.-Dick

Dick, you are quite right but I'd replace "good" with "conventional". Twice a year we jig buckets of mackerel from the pier down the street -- most get fried or grilled but some are used for fish stew (with salmon) and it's, well, transcendental.

[David A. Goldfarb]

True bonito and false albacore are very similar looking fish with completely different table qualities, bonito being excellent and false albacore usually released to fight again.

Here's a link to telling them apart.

←

That's a very handy link. So now I know I bought a true Atlantic bonito at the Union Square Greenmarket this morning, took it home and filleted it, tossed the bloodline, but saved the bones, head, and attractive trimmings for the stock bag. The flesh was softer than I had expected, so I ended up with a little more trimming for stock than I'd planned, but I still got seven nice pieces, cutting it into four fillets, then three of them in half and trimming the fourth that I messed up a bit to the same size as the other six pieces.

I'm planning to grill it indoors or maybe saute it tomorrow. Normally I'd fillet right before cooking, but the recommendations I found advise cleaning and bleeding the fish as soon as possible. I bought the fish cleaned and scaled, but I figured it was probably best to remove the bloodline sooner rather than later to avoid an excessively strong flavor permeating the rest of the flesh, but maybe that was unnecessary.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I decided to keep it simple and just grilled in a cast iron grill pan with salt and pepper, adding a little butter and parsley after flipping it, and it worked fine, and there were no overly strong flavors. It holds up well to grilling and should function anywhere tuna--fresh or canned--works. I have several pieces left, so I'll grill all the rest tomorrow and any leftover will go into salads and cold things.

I also put the head and bones in stock with the remains of what I think were three black sea bass, and it made a tasty white stock--not oily or fishy at all.

Edited August 17, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)