Tuna is the twin brother of salmon in US at the very least.   In fact, US restaurants like to “abuse” salmon and tuna in my opinion.  Their creation rolls are mainly made from salmon and tuna.

Regular tuna has a much milder taste, since it does not have a high level of fat like salmon does, however it’s taste is pungent and sharp in a mild way.    Since tuna has a high level of iron, you can really feel the iron in the fish.

Once again, tuna in the US might look bright red and that might not be the best ones that you should eat.  Tunas are not suppose to look glossy red again,  the best ones that I’ve had in Japan are actually darkish red with a watery texture on the outside.   Since regular tuna has quite some iron inside, it should look a bit dull in color naturally.

However, fatty tuna are considered an expensive fish in Japan, especially for its variant blue fin tuna and even more so their fatty part, otoro.   The more expensive variant is almost 5 times more expensive than the regular ones.

Grade S blue fin fatty tuna is not available for export though.   Most likely the otoro that is offered internationally is “chutoro” (mid-section fatty tuna) instead.  You really need to eat it in Japan and right next to the fish market sometimes to make sure it’s ultra fresh.

Tier 3: Regular Tuna

Tier 2: Chutoro

Tier 1: Otoro