I’m honored to be writing a post for this prestigious site. My wife is the technology manager and photographer while her brother and sister-in-law are the creative directors behind the mouth-watering goodies featured regularly on Extraordinary BBQ.
Me, I’m just the guy who has the fortunate task of taste testing many of the items. Needless to say, I probably have the best job. While I am not acting as a guinea pig, my real job keeps me on the road, traveling the globe. To-date, my job has taken me to 17 different countries, and I have developed a simple guideline for eating while on the road: If it’s not moving, I’ll eat it. Trust me, I’ve had to enforce that rule once or twice in my career.
The reason I was asked to explain this particular dish has a rather humorous story to it. Let me state something up front – I prefer fish and poultry over red meat any day of the week. This may offend some readers of this site, but it’s just the way I am. That said, one night several years ago before all this competition BBQ stuff had started, my wife and in-laws and some friends had a night out. We went to a steak house in St. Louis and I was immediately drawn to the tuna offered on the menu. While placing my order, the waiter asked me how I would like it cooked. I stated “seared”, which essentially means, I want it warm and very pink on the inside. To put it more bluntly in red meat terms, I want it “blue” – as close to raw and flopping on my plate as I can get it. Have I painted the picture for you? Having spent time in Taiwan, Korea, and both coasts of the US, this is how I’ve developed a preference for most seafood, but especially tuna.
Back to that fateful night at the steakhouse. The waiter looked at me and repeated the question. I thought I had been pretty clear in my preference, but apparently he was looking for another, more fulsome description. Not fully grasping what I was being asked, I directed him to prepare it “house” style and left it at that. Not exactly sure what “house” means, he dutifully took down my order and went to the kitchen where the chef interpreted it to mean that I wanted the tuna to be cooked thoroughly, all the way through so it was tough as rubber. Moral of the story…Never order “house” style tuna from a steakhouse.
The others who accompanied me for that meal have never let me forget this hilariously awkward and confusing moment.
Wasabi Tuna Steak with Sesame
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 4 teaspoons wasabi paste
- 2 ahi tuna steaks
- sesame seed
Instructions
- Mix the soy sauce and wasabi with a whisk.
- Marinate the tuna steaks for at least 10 minutes but up to a day ahead of time.
- Set your grill up for direct, high heat
- Take tuna steaks out of marinade and roll in the sesame seeds.
- Put tuna over hot coals for 1 to 2 minutes depending on desired doneness. The tuna in the picture was cooked for 1 minute on each side.