Smoked Tuna Steaks

[David S]

A friend has asked me to smoke some small tuna steaks and some fairly thin yellowtail fillets. This is sushi grade fish. The info on the 'net is all over the place. Anyone have a recipe they've tried and can share?

[Henrik]

Here's a previous post discussing tuna. If the yellowtail fillets are "fairly thin" as you say, I wouldn't smoke them. Just give them a quick sear. You want it slightly raw in the middle. I would do the same with the tuna steaks actually.

If the tuna steaks are thick (1 inch or more) you could always give it a try and smoke them on indirect heat. If they are thinner they will finish too quickly, before absorbing any smoke, and you would risk overcooking them. In that case direct grill is the way to go. My primary wood choice would be alder wood.

Drizzle with lemon juice and some himalayan or sea salt and serve.

[David S]

Thanks Henrik. I elected to not smoke the meat. The yellowtail was too thin and I really didn't want to experiment on the tuna.