Otoro Sushi – Enjoy the most valued part of the tuna belly with sushi in two ways, seared and drizzled with yuzu juice or just with a touch of soy sauce. Either way, the sushi literally melts in your mouth!
Lately, I started to make my own Nigiri Sushi (握り寿司), which is the most common type of sushi with a slice of raw fish on top of sushi rice pillow. Today I’ll show you how to make this delicious Otoro Sushi (大トロ寿司) two ways; seared and un-seared.
Watch How To Make Otoro Sushi
Otoro Sushi – Enjoy this prized part of the tuna two ways, seared and drizzled with yuzu juice or just with a bit of soy sauce. Either way, it melts in your mouth!
What’s Otoro (大トロ)?
Otoro is the most prized part of the tuna belly and it’s also the fattest part of the tuna/maguro (鮪). This delicious cut tuna belly is located at the lowest section of the tuna belly and it is highest in fat content and light in color. The well-marbled Otoro is so soft and tender that it literally melts in your mouth.
Otoro is very rare so you may not see it offered in most of the sushi restaurants, and the price is usually ridiculously high because less than 1% of the tuna body can be categorized as Otoro.
Image from Metropolitansushi.com
Sushi-grade tuna for Chutoro & Otoro Sushi
Online sashimi stores like Honolulu Fish Company, Sizzle Fish, and Seattle Fish Company carries varieties of sushi-grade fish, including Otoro and Chutoro. For those of you who don’t have access to high-quality sushi-grade fish in your local area in the US, you can now enjoy sushi at your own home by placing the order online!
Making Otoro Sushi at Home
I highly recommend serving Otoro with sushi rice because Otoro can be too fatty to eat on its own.
For Otoro, a very popular way for sushi restaurants to serve is slightly seared (Aburi, 炙り). Simply use a blow torch to lightly sear Otoro pieces to bring out the latent flavors and umami. Seared tuna resembles more like a slice of marbled steak than a piece of fish.
Now just close your eyes and let it melt away in your mouth…
Just a quick note, true Otoro is really fatty and it’s like eating a stick of butter. If you haven’t tried it before, I recommend trying Chutoro first. Chutoro also has a very high-fat content but with a bit more red meat.
What alcoholic beverage goes well with sushi?
Typically with sushi, we love enjoying it with sake or beer as an alcoholic beverage of choice. But did you know wine goes well with sushi too?
For today’s Otoro sushi, we decided to try it with a 2013 Rose of Pinot Noir- Central Coast from Dolin Malibu Estate Vineyards.
The Otoro sushi and this rosé wine paired really well. The crisp light fruity rosé cleaned the palate perfectly after the fatty tuna. This rosé wine had a really light and refreshing smell, almost like walking in a field of flowers during the springtime. As you drink it, it is smooth and light with strong hints of berries and a slight hint of citrus. The finish is clean and leaves you wanting for another sip, after you take another bite of the Otoro sushi. Enjoy this wine on a warm day or with your favorite sushi!
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Otoro Sushi Two Ways
Video
Ingredients
- sushi-grade otoro (fatty tuna)
- sushi rice pillows
- yuzu
For Serving
- soy sauce
- wasabi
- sushi ginger (for my homemade recipe, click here)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Remove the skin and trim around the piece.
- Slice to desired thickness. Due to the high fat content, a thinner slice is recommended.
- Scrape the meat off from the skin. This part is considered one of tuna’s most delicious part and you can use it to make negitoro donburi.
- With a kitchen blow torch, sear the otoro to bring out the latent umami flavors.
- Place on the sushi pillows… and squeeze yuzu juice on top of the seared otoro. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and sushi ginger.
Thanks for sharing the steps to preparing otoro sushi! I was always curious as to what technique is commonly used to get the sear. Time to break out the blowtorch. =)
The holidays are really creeping up quickly, but I like preparing for the holidays since it can just be another excuse to spend time with family. I hope you’re enjoying the lead-up to this year’s end!
Thank you so much for your comment Kimmi! It’s fun to use a blow torch. I think I use it more for savory dishes than sweet dishes though. =P I hope you have wonderful holiday with your family and friends. Thank you for your sweet comments all the time. They make me very happy! 🙂 xo
Hi Nami,
Thank you so much for sharing all your recipes! This reminds me of the seared ōtoro they serve at Sushi Sam’s in San Mateo, though they do it with just sea salt instead of yuzu. Sadly I’ve left the Bay Area for London, but we cook your recipes so often in our house 🙂 and you’ve taught me so much.
I’ll be trying this soon… we finally found a good Japanese supermarket called Atari-ya where I can get good fish here. They were suuuper kind and even gave me some kama-toro. I was so overjoyed 🙂
Hi Doug! Oh, Sushi Sam! We enjoy sitting at the counter and talk to Osamu-san…but haven’t gone back for a while.
I’m jealous you’re now in London. I would love to live there if I could… one of my ex-coworkers work at Atari-ya (in office). How’s the store like? Is it like Nijiya or Suruki level? Or it’s less things at the store…?
Unfortunately such a select cut of tuna isn’t available in very many sushi restaurants nearby. I envy your choices as I sit looking at the gorgeous pictures.
After reading this post I am craving for sushi right now. Fortunately, you’ve made it easy for us readers to follow your recipes. I’m bookmarking this one to make soon. Thanks for sharing, Nami.
I learn so much from your posts! Never knew what otorio was — thanks for the lesson. And thanks for this recipe — it’s wonderful!
This is seriously making me drooollllllllll……that’s a common occurrence whenever I come across sushi and raw fish. 😛 I was just wondering yesterday what OTORO actually meant! I’m planning to make some kind of sushi in the near future so thank you for teaching us your ways! ^_^
Another really pretty dish, Nami. I’m finding those Rose wines are becoming more and more popular. They’re really delightful right here right now as they’re quite refreshing with the heat. And I think a glass of something rose-coloured is quite festive. I’ve done my Christmas cards too but I’m way behind with the present-buying xx
Well making this will have to remain a bit of a dream for now but I am so pleased to have the knowledge! The word ‘otoro’ definitely lies in distant memory banks but I had no idea there could be a seared version: funny, however fatty, I do believe I would still prefer it raw. So glad your business is growing now even including sushi rice pillows.
Hi Eha! A lot of people who order our sashimi can’t get Japanese short grain rice, so these rice pillows (as well as sushi rice sheet for rolls) are very popular! I had no idea! 🙂 Before I tried seared sushi, I was very skeptical, but it’s amazing how a simple searing can bring the sushi so flavorful. I’m totally a fan now. 🙂
Now I’m drooling all over these! Otoro is my favorite sushi, next to salmon! I had some best of sushi in Tokyo and I was so surprised the price was actually reasonable. So sad that it’s very difficult to get access to very fresh and high quality otoro here and the restaurant ones are just too pricey.
For the cooking side, I’d say I’ll only eat them raw. They are just too good to be cooked!
Mouthwatering! I’d love to taste those sushis.
Cheers,
Rosa
Wow I could never imagine making such lovely sushi at home! Beautiful and I learn so much time I visit 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Wow Nami, so informative. I always learn a lot about Japanese cooking when I visit your page.
Hubs is a big fan of sushi, he will not mind if I could make some at home, I really need to give it a try. You do make it look so simple thoug.
Nami, my husband will thank me if I make this at home. He loves sashimi so much that he always craves for it. Otoro sushi definitely bring a new flavor to our home.
What a great recipe. Simply love the way you presented it.
I have not been lucky enough to try Otoro yet, sound wonderful. The rosé is a great pairing!
Haven’t visited your blog for a while, your photos are looking so good! Love the new site layout too! You are making me so hungry right now…and making me miss Japan!
You do such a beautiful job with sushi making. Looks great!
If only I lived closer I’d order sushi grade fish straight away! It would be wonderful to have it for Christmas or New Year’s Eve! Thank you for this useful and very informative post.
Nami you are making me really hungry early this morning, thats a nice cut of fish,
This was a great video and thanks for the wine pairing info. My husband has made sushi twice and I know he’ll want to make this as well!
I once had it in a very fine five star hotel Japanese restaurant and i didn’t much appreciate it for it’s flavour,
my friends said the tuna belly is very fresh but i guess i can’t handle it as a personal preference, even when i think about wagyu beef marbled fat, but that thought won’t help too, lol
Tuna belly is my favorite! I’ve only had prepared as sashimi but not torched. I definitely want to give that a try now! Your blog is very educational and I really enjoyed this blog post!
Dear Nami-san,
My husband really loves maguro and I want to try to make my own nigiri sushi. Is there any rules on how to cut the fish (or which angle is the best)? Because he said if I cut it wrong the flavour will be bad (I don’t know if it’s even true). Thank you very much
Hi Cindy! What he says is kind of true. The texture of sashimi cut kind of affects the overall experience. For example, a long sashimi knife is used to cut sashimi so that it’s cut in one stroke motion. No zig zag sewing motion. So… yes it’s important to cut against the grain and cut nicely… You may not get it done perfectly, but it’s more economical to eat at home than eating a few slices at the sushi restaurant. So it’s all about what you (he) want… 😀