Chef Niki Nakayama’s Grilled Tuna Recipe

In Japanese cooking, grilled tuna is a type of yakimono, which refers to a range of dishes that chefs marinate, skewer, and grill. This gluten-free tuna preparation consists of marinating fresh tuna steaks in a mixture of soy sauce, sake, mirin, garlic, sugar, and fresh ginger, before skewering the protein and cooking it on a hot grill. Chef Niki Nakayama uses binchotan charcoal made from pure hardwood for her yakimono because it burns slowly at higher temperatures.

Ahi, swordfish, bluefin, or yellowfin tuna are the best types of tuna for a yakimono preparation—these thick-cut selections are sturdy enough to withstand the grilling process.

You can serve grilled tuna as an appetizer, hors d'oeuvre, or main course along with steamed rice and green beans or Japanese potato salad. Garnish the grilled fish with sesame seeds and serve with a warm glass of sake.

Here are some tips from acclaimed chef Niki Nakayama that will help ensure your grilled tuna is the highlight of your weeknight dinner or BBQ:

1. 1. Shopping for tuna: When you're shopping for tuna at the market, take note of the color, which should be bright, red, and vibrant. “You don't want it to be overly vibrant because that may suggest unnatural additives to it, so you want to make sure you ask your fishmonger or your fisherman a little bit more about that tuna and where it comes from,” Chef Niki says.
2. 2. Use pure hardwood if possible: When grilling with binchotan charcoal, the fat from the fish or meat that hits the charcoal makes less smoke and instead produces vapors, pumping up the flavor. One type of binchotan is made with compressed pieces of wood, while the original is made of pure hardwood (it’s more expensive but burns more slowly at higher temperatures). Chef Niki prefers the latter: “Something about it is always reminiscent of the woods,” she says.
3. 3. Serve with cucumbers and sake: In Chef Niki’s grilled tuna steak recipe, the tuna marinates in a soy sauce-and-sake glaze that caramelizes as it grills. The dish pairs well with cucumbers and sake to counterbalance the marinade. “Generally, you’ll find that a chef will serve you just the fish,” she says. “Traditionally, yakimono is to be enjoyed with a little bit of sake. In order to keep in line with what the flavors are without confusing your palate too much, it’s really great to just do something simple [like] a cucumber to cleanse your palate as you’re eating it.”