Surprising Fresh (Frozen) Tuna Taste Test

While Bev and Pat won’t eat fresh tuna (canned only), Cindy and I both enjoy the fresh version but we’ve never had a taste test.  When I buy fresh tuna from Joe Patti’s in Pensacola, it looks like this:

But when I buy it at the local Food City, it looks like this:

A couple of years ago, I’d posted about the color difference but here is a reminder:

"TUNA COLOR:  One obvious difference between the two is the color of the flesh so I did a little research and discovered that for most tuna "Bright red or pink tuna means it has been gassed. The industry's use of carbon monoxide is used to treat tuna to cease the oxidation process and prevent browning, which permanently alters the color of tuna to bright pink, no matter what the storage temperature or conditions are.  In its natural state, fresh tuna is dark red, almost maroon, sometimes even chocolatey looking."

For this test, I let the tuna come to room temperature then only seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Then I seared it in very hot peanut oil for 90 seconds per side.  

Then we tasted it.

After we tasted a couple of bites of each piece, I topped them with lemon, butter, caper sauce for supper.

The Verdict:

Wow, what a difference.  The purple piece was tender, moist, and flavorful while the red piece was chewy, with much less taste, and had a drier texture.  I would say the purple one was several times better and I’ll never buy the red one from our grocery store again – except maybe for dog food.  If they carry tuna, I’ll try a piece from the local seafood store (Shrimp Dock) to check it out as a local source - it's almost 500 miles to Joe Patti's.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/27/24 meal date