Fresh tuna requires special treatment.

James Beard thinks that this is actually a case where the canned fish is better than the fresh or frozen. Most will agree. Consequently, fresh tuna is sometimes available at a relatively inexpensive price, providing an opportunity if we can only think how to take advantage of it.

While difficult, the challenge of fresh or frozen tuna can be met!

Beard himself provides a blunderbuss solution, introducing a spectrum of sauces, including your favorite barbecue sauce. Delicious in themselves, these divert your attention from the underlying fish itself.

For an interesting tuna salad see Fresh Tuna Salad with Sweet Onions and Bitters in the Salad Section.

Or try it, as in the recipe below, with a simple lime-dill butter, the same used for salmon.

Serves 4

Rinse tuna steaks in cold water. Place them in pan in a single layer so that they are not touching.

Add water to cover bottom of pan. Add a little white wine. Cover pan and bring rapidly to simmer. Simmer-steam gently until tuna is done, 130 degrees F. on the instant dial thermometer (see Basics). For 1 inch steaks, this will be about 10 minutes. Salt to taste during cooking.

Remove fish to a plate. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice.

Serve with lime-dill butter.

Compared to James Beard's myriad sauces, Marcella Hazan has a more subtle approach. She found a combination of flavorings, from the Trapani region of Sicily, that actually do have an affinity for tuna.

An adaptation of her recipe follows. To prevent drying out, she says, steaks must not be too thick, and they must be cooked quickly.

To brown onions, about 45 minutes

Place oil and onions in the pan. Sauté gently until onions are well-browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer onions to a plate.

Preliminary sauté,  3 minutes

Dredge the thin steaks both sides in flour.
Add another tablespoon of oil to pan and turn heat up. Cook steaks 2 to 3 minutes, turning once.

Brief braise with seasonings, 2 minutes

Add the onions, together with sugar, vinegar, wine, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook 2 minutes.

Pan juices

If juices remain in the pan, boil down, scraping up cooking residues.
If no juices remain, add a tablespoon of water, boil, and scrape up cooking residues.
Pour pan sauce over steaks, decorate with parsley, and serve.

A similar technique, using much thicker steaks, is used by James Beard to good effect with swordfish. The rosemary does indeed, as he says, impart "a rare and unusual" flavor.

This is a simple sauté and can be done in 15 or 20 minutes overall.

Dredge steaks both sides in flour. Press the rosemary into the fish, using the heel of your hand. Brush with oil.

Place a generous amount of butter in pan. Add the fish and sauté until nicely browned on both sides. Turn once during cooking.

Season to taste and remove steaks to a hot platter.