Sushi for everyone. Sushi Walker is Japan's largest sushi media.

Maguro (Tuna) Sushi III- Premium Edition

Maguro (Tuna)

Red Fish

Share Post LINE

Order Perciformes, Family Scombridae, Genus Thunnus

Of the eight species in the genus Thunnus, only the Pacific bluefin tuna, Atlantic bluefin tuna, and southern bluefin tuna yield otoro. In particular, wild bluefin tuna, known as honmaguro, is extremely expensive and can fetch over 100 million yen at the first auction of the year.

Among tuna, the bluefin is considered especially premium, followed by the southern bluefin (Indo-maguro). Bluefin in the Pacific are called Pacific bluefin, while those in the Atlantic are called Atlantic bluefin. Some consider them separate species, but since they look and taste almost the same, they are not distinguished as sushi toppings. The Atlantic bluefin is larger, reaching 4.5 m in length and 680 kg, the largest in the family Scombridae. In Japan, bluefin is called honmaguro and is regarded as the finest tuna for its high toro content. However, after it was designated an endangered species and its catch was restricted, and after Kindai University succeeded in full aquaculture, farming became widespread, and it is no longer rare to see farmed honmaguro lined up at market. Bluefin is in season in winter when it has stored up fat, and its flavor drops sharply once the early-summer spawning season passes. On the other hand, the southern bluefin tuna, which migrates through the Southern Hemisphere, stores fat in summer, so its season is summer, reversing its value relative to bluefin. Southern bluefin is the next most expensive after bluefin, and basically only bluefin and southern bluefin yield the cut called otoro. Southern bluefin has strong umami and acidity, a flavor favored by sushi chefs and connoisseurs, but because this species is also under strict catch regulations, farmed fish are the mainstay.

King of Kings: Otoro of Wild Bluefin Tuna

Honmaguro was a common sushi topping in the Edo period, but it is now the finest of sushi toppings, and at some restaurants a single piece of honmaguro otoro costs over 5,000 yen. Because the otoro of farmed honmaguro has fat soaked throughout the flesh, it is often slightly cloudy in color, with a mellow taste and little acidity, whereas wild honmaguro has strong sweetness and well-balanced acidity. Its akami too has a dense, rich umami, and its toro is rich yet not cloying—truly the king of sushi toppings—but wild fish account for only 2%, making them extremely rare.

The Yamato Spirit Embodied in the Tuna Knife

Have you ever seen a tuna-cutting show? Tuna is broken down using tuna knives. As the name suggests, a tuna knife is a knife for butchering tuna. There are various types, such as the saw, the tachiwari (splitting) knife, and the oroshi (filleting) knife, and the longest reach 1.8 m, just like Japanese swords.
When breaking it down, the head, tail, and fins are first removed with the saw, the body is divided with the tachiwari knife, and the flesh is separated from the central bone with the oroshi knife. The blocks of tuna are then portioned with a deba knife or a yanagiba knife, eventually reaching the table as sushi toppings or sashimi.
The sight of someone elegantly butchering a huge tuna with a sword-like tuna knife is truly that of a Yamato samurai. Be sure to watch one if you get the chance.