The Best Spices for Tuna Steak: Pepper, Coriander, Ginger, Garlic, Soy and Sesame

A tuna steak is firm and meaty, and the two named recipes on this page season it in two different directions: a crust of white pepper and coriander seed in the au poivre style, or a sesame crust with a soy, ginger and garlic dressing. Both sear the fish for under a minute a side. This page covers the seasonings, the two recipes side by side, and how their rare centers compare with the federal temperature guidance. Quantities appear only where a named recipe gives them.

At a glance

Two ways to season a tuna steak

Pepper crust: tuna au poivre

Rick Moonen’s tuna au poivre, from the James Beard Foundation archive, pairs 2 tablespoons of white peppercorns with 4 teaspoons of coriander seeds for four 6-ounce steaks, seasons with coarse salt, and sears the fish in a very hot cast-iron skillet for 30 seconds on each side.¹ Britannica attributes pepper’s pungency principally to piperine and explains that white pepper is made by removing the dark outer part of the fruit’s pericarp.⁵ Black pepper works the same way in a crust if that is what you have (our note; Moonen’s recipe uses white). In our judgment, coarsely cracked spice gives a crunchier crust than fine powder. See white pepper vs. black pepper and cracked vs. ground black pepper.

Soy, ginger, garlic and sesame

Bill Leung’s seared ahi tuna for The Woks of Life coats 12 ounces of 1½-inch-thick yellowfin or bigeye steaks in black and white sesame seeds (2 tablespoons of each) with ¼ teaspoon of sea salt, sears them in 2 tablespoons of neutral oil for 30 to 60 seconds a side, and serves them with a dressing of mandarin or clementine, 1 teaspoon each of grated garlic and ginger, a scallion, 1½ tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, plus lime wedges.²

The core seasonings and what each does

Ginger

Katzer notes that Chinese cooking uses fresh ginger both boiled and fried, and that cooking fresh ginger increases its pungency but costs it freshness.⁶ In the Woks of Life dressing it goes in raw.² Pickled ginger is the other way to serve it: Tasting Table describes gari, ginger pickled in rice vinegar and sugar, as a palate cleanser eaten with sushi.³ See cooking with ginger.

Soy sauce

Soy sauce brings salt and savory depth to the Woks of Life dressing.² Since it is salty, taste before adding more salt to the fish (our advice). If a dish ends up too salty, see too much soy sauce.

Sesame: seeds and oil

Toasted sesame oil is for flavor, not frying: Katzer says dark sesame oil is not suitable as a frying medium unless it is diluted with another oil.⁷ The Woks of Life recipe follows that split, searing in neutral oil and putting 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in the dressing.² The seeds form the crust. See sesame seeds and black sesame seeds vs. white.

Oil

Both recipes sear in a neutral oil (vegetable oil for Moonen, canola, vegetable or avocado for Leung).¹² Olive oil can be used, but neither recipe calls for it.

Dill and other herbs

Britannica lists fish among dill’s uses,⁸ though neither tuna recipe here uses it. If you add dill, stir it into a mayonnaise or yogurt sauce or scatter it at the end: America’s Test Kitchen classes dill as a delicate herb to add at the last minute.⁹ See cooking with dill.

Smoked salt

SaltWorks suggests rolling ahi tuna in a smoked-salt rub before pan searing.⁴ See smoked sea salt uses.

Two recipes side by side

These are the named cooks’ recipes, not a house standard.

Doneness: rare tuna and the official guidance

The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements groups tuna with the fatty fish, but its table lists only 0.09 g of DHA per 3 ounces of cooked yellowfin (one of the two species The Woks of Life names for ahi steaks²), against more than 1 g for cooked Atlantic salmon.¹⁰ The Woks of Life says ahi is best served on the rare side because fully cooked it can be dry, and describes the seared steak as cooked outside and still raw inside.² It advises buying tuna labeled “sushi grade” while noting that the term is not official or regulated.²

The federal guidance is different. FoodSafety.gov lists tuna among the fin fish to cook to 145°F (63°C), or until the flesh is no longer translucent and separates easily with a fork,¹¹ and the FDA says most seafood should be cooked to 145°F.¹² The FDA advises people at greater risk of foodborne illness (pregnant women, children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems) to avoid raw or undercooked fish.¹² A 30- to 60-second sear leaves the center raw by the recipe’s own description, so serving tuna rare is a choice made against that guidance. Anyone in a higher-risk group should cook tuna through.

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• Fresh dill vs. dried dill
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