Riviera Seafood Club's Fresh Bluefin Tuna Belly (Otoro), scientifically named Thunnus orientalis, is responsibly ranched and harvested using the Ikejime method in the waters surrounding Baja, Mexico. With each bite your palate is pleased with waves of full and rich umami flavor, complemented by a soft and buttery texture with the skin-off and no bones. Our Bluefin Tuna Belly is prepared as a sushi and sashimi grade Saku (block), which is typically only found at high-end sushi restaurants.
Otoro is the belly cut of the highly prized Bluefin Tuna featuring intense fat marbling resulting in a rich, melt-in-your-mouth buttery flavor and tenderness not found with any other fish. Our Bluefin Tuna is responsibly wild-caught as a juvenile and farm raised at Baja Aqua Farms in Mexico where they are raised into healthy adults. Riviera's Bluefin Tuna and other fish are NEVER injected with artificial colorings or carbon monoxide to retain color.
All orders of Fresh Bluefin Tuna Belly are individually packed and shipped in a refrigerated box using overnight express delivery. We guarantee our Bluefin Tuna is the best quality that you can find, perfect for sushi, sashimi or a light searing.
**WE ALWAYS RECOMMEND EATING OTORO THE SAME DAY IT IS RECEIVED**
For a quality seafood experience and maximum freshness, we recommend defrosting and using as soon as possible.
If the superfrozen fish is not going to be consumed immediately, it can be stored in a conventional freezer for approximately up to 2 weeks before losing quality (change color/oxidation).
We all know that if you put a bottle of water into a freezer the ice EXPANDS, breaking the bottle. On a cellular level, when fish freezes the ice crystals break through the membrane of the cell, and later when the fish is thawed there’s an accompanying pool of water, and a “spongy” texture to the thawed fish.
Maximum ice expansion occurs at -5°C, but CONTRACTS at lower temperatures. Superfrozen technology takes advantage of this property, wherein fish “flash frozen” at -60-70°C (superfrozen) temperatures, pass through the -5°C phase so quickly that ice DOESN’T HAVE TIME TO EXPAND THEN CONTRACT, thus never lysing the cell membrane. The result is firm, springy texture to the meat, with minimal loss of freshness and nutrients.
The most dramatic example of this technology is that after being stored at superfrozen temperature for 2 YEARS some pieces of tuna in fact can “curl up” into rigor upon thaw--as they didn’t have time to go into rigor at time of capture or harvest !
