First can­ned, then oto­ro. Your first tuna? In our part of the world, it is usual­ly can­ned tuna that one eats in a toma­toey pasta sau­ce or with ple­nty of mayon­nai­se in a sand­wich. Only later does one dis­co­ver sushi—perhaps even with the most pre­cious bel­ly cut, cal­led oto­ro, which ide­al­ly comes from bluef­in tuna. It dis­plays a fine fat marbling that can be com­pared to wagyu. In any case, one quick­ly rea­li­zes: tuna is not just tuna; cle­ar­ly the­re are dif­fe­rent qua­li­ties, varie­ties, and „cuts.“

Bluefin for 1.2 mil­li­on francs. All tho­se restau­ra­teurs who par­ti­ci­pa­te each year in the tra­di­tio­nal tuna auc­tion in Japan at New Year have an inkling of this. This year, a 278-kilo­gram bluef­in tuna went under the ham­mer for the equi­va­lent of 1.2 mil­li­on francs! The Onodera restau­rant group secu­red the hig­hest-pri­ced auc­tion fish for the fifth con­se­cu­ti­ve time—not least a mar­ke­ting mea­su­re, as fish expert Luca Bianchi from the epony­mous fine-food sup­plier knows: „Whoever wins such a magni­fi­cent spe­ci­men is gua­ran­teed media attention!“

Yellowfin tuna for sushi. Expert Bianchi also helps with a clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on of the dif­fe­rent tuna spe­ci­es: The can­ned fish men­tio­ned at the out­set is, as a rule, „skip­jack,“ also cal­led „true boni­to.“ Although it belongs to the macke­rel and tuna fami­ly, strict­ly spea­king the com­pa­ra­tively small fish (maxi­mum 35 kilo­grams) is only a clo­se rela­ti­ve of the tuna that is offe­red fresh-caught here. „For sushi and sas­hi­mi, yel­low­fin tuna is most­ly used in Europe,“ explains Luca Bianchi. Yellowfin accounts for appro­xi­m­ate­ly 90 per­cent of consumption.

Family busi­ness Balfego. Other spe­ci­es: alba­co­re, which is popu­lar in the USA, then the very rare bigeye, and not to for­get the bluef­in tuna, which Bianchi calls the undis­pu­ted „King of Tunas.“ Only around one per­cent of glo­bal cat­ches fall to this spe­cial­ty, which is not infre­quent­ly pul­led from the water in the Mediterranean. The Spanish fami­ly busi­ness „Balfego“ in par­ti­cu­lar (who­se tuna is dis­tri­bu­ted exclu­si­ve­ly in Switzerland by Dubno) has per­fec­ted the pro­cess for this noble fish: Exhausted from its long jour­ney through the Atlantic (it fol­lows the schools of fish), the tuna is caught near Gibraltar. In enorm­ous bree­ding pens floa­ting free­ly in sea­wa­ter, it is ensu­red that the fish regains weight. The giants, weig­hing up to 650 kilos, are har­poo­ned and pul­led out only when an order is on the table. This approach pre­vents, not least, the bycatch of dol­phins and wha­les, one of the grea­test pro­blems regar­ding tuna. Moreover, in recent years—thanks in part to the strict­ly enforced quo­tas of the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) in Europe—the stocks have reco­ver­ed significantly.

Tuna car­pac­cio with goo­se bar­na­cles. Among the devo­tees of this noble tuna is Stefan Heilemann, 18-point chef at „Widder“ in Zurich, who dis­co­ver­ed this deli­ca­cy during his vaca­ti­on in Portugal in 2010: „At Vila Joya they ser­ved me luke­warm tuna car­pac­cio with goo­se bar­na­cles and Asian vin­ai­gret­te that I have never for­got­ten!“ However, two more years pas­sed befo­re he and his then-chef Rolf Fliegauf at „Ecco“ Ascona had found their source and were able to put Balfego on the menu.

Balfego: best luke­warm. To this day he works with the Spanish pre­mier firm—out of con­vic­tion: „Incomparable when the fat­ty, com­pa­ra­tively pale oto­ro cut, light­ly war­med, meets the robust aci­di­ty of citrus fruits or fine vin­egar.“ That the fish should be appro­xi­m­ate­ly 40 degrees is no acci­dent: „It is like butter—only slight­ly warm does the who­le won­derful fla­vor unfold!“ says Heilemann. A typi­cal dish from the Widder chef: Balfego and gam­ba blan­ca with dill, cucum­ber, and hor­se­ra­dish as a fresh, colorful appetizer.

„Taco with tuna.“ The twins Fabio Toffolon and Dominik Sato also work with Balfego. At the „Chedi“ in Andermatt, for exam­p­le, it is ser­ved as tar­ta­re in the „N25 Caviar Pop-up“ on the Gütsch; guests wrap the fish tog­e­ther with shiso, rice, and cavi­ar in a nori sheet—the „taco“ is rea­dy! At „The Japanese“ the­re has also been tar­ta­re of bluef­in ata­ki (back cut with low fat con­tent) top­ped with a seared pie­ce of chut­oro (medi­um-fat­ty bel­ly cut). The guest should be able to compa­re the dif­fe­rent cuts directly.

Even the Japanese swear by European tuna. Why do Toffolon and Sato not use tuna from Japan in their Japanese-inspi­red restau­rant (18 points)? Wouldn’t that be more fit­ting? „First, it is not available here,“ says Fabio Toffolon with a smi­le. Second, the qua­li­ty the­re could not be hig­her than tuna from the Iberian Peninsula—not for not­hing does the majo­ri­ty of tuna caught in Europe go to Asia. The twins at the Chedi hand­le the deep-free­zing of the fish them­sel­ves (requi­red in Switzerland to com­bat poten­ti­al patho­gens): „We wrap the fish in cling film and alu­mi­num foil—we find that it reta­ins its color bet­ter when tha­wed than in a vacu­um bag.“

Nose to tail! Even cheeks and head are used. Akami (often refer­red to as „loin“), chut­oro, or oto­ro? Mike Wehrle likes all three „cuts.“ Once or twice a year, the Culinary Director of Bürgenstock Resort the­r­e­fo­re orders a who­le fish for spe­cial occa­si­ons. The hea­viest so far came to a proud 220 kilo­grams, „a huge beast!“ The tuna was deli­ver­ed on ice in an enorm­ous Styrofoam box. The chefs of the hou­se were for­t­u­na­te: They enjoy­ed the par­ti­cu­lar­ly jui­cy, fat-rich cut bet­ween the gills and first fin, which is ide­al­ly gril­led. „All it needs is a pinch of Maldon salt and pon­zu sau­ce.“ But head and car­cass were also pro­ces­sed, into a robust Asian fish broth. „A bluef­in is a feast,“ says Wehrle, „and should remain so.“

Perfect lunch: sala­de niçoi­se. Will this chan­ge when, in an esti­ma­ted two to three years, tuna can also be far­med? The future will tell. Until then, in ever­y­day coo­king even Heilemann and com­pa­ny may well use can­ned tuna from time to time: „A beau­tiful sala­de niçoi­se with boi­led eggs, green beans, pota­toes, toma­toes, and tuna is real­ly a per­fect lunch in sum­mer,“ says Stefan Heilemann.