Pan Seared Sesame Crusted Tuna

[bentherebfor]

But I want to change that

This is one of my dishes to order in a restaurant, yet at home, the one attempt I've made at it was disastrous. However, I've reached the point where my desire to eat has overcome my fear of attempting.... can anyone help me on my quest?

Recipes, thoughts, tips.....all are welcome

Thanks

[Susan G]

Check the back issues of Cooks Illustrated........about a year ago, this was the subject of the test kitchen.

[get in my belly]

well you get your tuna a little wet i use some lime juice or just water and then coat the tuna in the seeds . simple . then get your pan smoking hot and with a pair of tongs carefully put the tuna in the oil . some of the seeds will fall off but just try not to mess with the fish as much as possable i used to just put it in the pan and then throw it in the oven for a sec then flip it the seeds seem to adhere better . once you get that down you can try the by color seed trick half black half white

[oneidaone]

This has always worked for me - oil both sides of fish with olive oil or peanut oil or even grapeseed

oil, coat in sesame seeds and then sear on hot pan, always works! Roy Yamaguchi taught us this

in one of his PBS shows. The fish does not come out overly cooked/saturated in oil, perfectly seared.

Try it, see how it goes. a hui ho....

[Malawry]

If you have serious problems with sesame adherence, I'd try crusting the tuna as described and then letting it sit uncovered in the fridge for an hour or so before cooking. The fridge will help dry out and set the crust. I often do this with anything I'm breading or crusting or coating.

[eunny jang]

Try it by first coating the tuna steak in a runny paste of sesame oil and wasabi powder (taste it first; this stuff packs a punch that isn't softened much by cooking). The seeds will nestle down in the paste and the whole thing will turn into a thick, crunchy crust. Do it with mayonnaise if you're really having trouble.

[bentherebfor]

Awesome!

[arielle]

If you mix the sesame seeds with some miso paste (or miso and wasabe! mmmmm), it can help the seeds adhere better to the tuna. Also, as someone else (sorry, I forgot who) mentioned before, DO NOT MESS WITH YOUR FISH WHEN IT'S IN THE PAN!!!!!! It's really important not to make the mistake of turning it over again and again, not pushing it around the pan too much etc. Place in in there, turn it when it no longer sticks to the pan, and other than that, leave it alone.

Also, be careful to not burn the sesame seeds. The pan should be hot, but if it's too hot you'll have burnt-crusted raw tuna with a cold center (not too appetizing!)

Good luck!

[aidensnd2]

If you are aiming for the raw in the middle thing then make sure you let the tuna come up to room temp before you cook it or it will be cold in the middle...

[ereidy]

I actually just made this dish this past saturday. I marinated the tuna in some soy sauce and honey prior to dipping it into the seeds, which seemed to help.

Good luck!

[Bond Girl]

I use a thin paste made of powdered wasabi, pressed the seeds into it. Make sure you oil is really hot and smoking and take the tuna out as soonas the outside is cooked if you are aiming for rare. Also, get the quality tuna you can find, I find that quite often tuna tasted yucky because the fish is not up to par. If you live in the east coast area, and have a good fishmonger, you know it's blue fin season until the end of November.

[bentherebfor]

I actually made this dish last night, and it turned out really superbly. I had none of the problems that I have experienced before.

I loosely based the dish off a recipe that I found here and also used some of the tips that you guys gave me.

If I could figure out the darn image gullet I'd post a picture.....but anyway.....sucess!