Time For Some Tuna

[Pop_Rivit]

It's been a few months since I've made tuna steaks, so while I was in town today I picked up a couple for dinner tonight.

Ready to be seasoned with some olive oil, lime zest, thyme, and pepper.



Seasoned, and some flax seed added to give it texture and a slightly nutty flavor. The lime zest, tuna and flax seed work well together.



All it takes is about 2 minutes on each side in a nice, hot cast iron pan with a touch of olive oil.



On a bed of salad greens drizzled with the juice from the lime that I used for the zest. The lime juice is all that I use on the salad greens.



It takes about 15 minutes start to finish, and it costs about $5/person. With the flax seed it's somewhere around 400 calories per plate. The flavors are bold enough to go well with a red blend wine, and I just happened to have a bottle in my cellar that was a perfect match.

I do love fish.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Nicely done, Pop!

 

[SLCraig]

I love fish too. I was looking online today @ the store flyers and none on sale so no dice, but I have been craving some salmon or something delicious like that for a bit now. I ended up making a tuna casserole tonight. (just canned tuna variety)

 

[Red91]

Nice.

 

[R80RS]

Looks good. Fine dining at Pop's house tonight.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Just finished dinner and now this good looking tuna, my stomach is full but my brain is hungry again.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
It's been a few months since I've made tuna steaks, so while I was in town today I picked up a couple for dinner tonight.


It takes about 15 minutes start to finish, and it costs about $5/person. With the flax seed it's somewhere around 400 calories per plate. The flavors are bold enough to go well with a red blend wine, and I just happened to have a bottle in my cellar that was a perfect match.

I do love fish.


Just happened to have a bottle huh? Perk of the job I suppose.


Looks very good- you've inspired my wife and I to duplicate it! Thanks for posting up

 

[JHZR2]

Very nice. I've never really thought to cook with flax, though we do consume a good amount other ways. There are some indications that some of the oils in flax, which are super healthy as-is will go rancid, and even decompose to hazardous free radicals when heated. Given the lack of oxygen exposure when inside the seed, it's likely a non-issue, however it is something to consider, as the analytical chemistry proving its a non-issue in seeds has not been entirely compelling to me as a chemical engineer with a phd related to research on physical chemistry changes in real systems at the atomic level.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Very nice. I've never really thought to cook with flax, though we do consume a good amount other ways. There are some indications that some of the oils in flax, which are super healthy as-is will go rancid, and even decompose to hazardous free radicals when heated. Given the lack of oxygen exposure when inside the seed, it's likely a non-issue, however it is something to consider, as the analytical chemistry proving its a non-issue in seeds has not been entirely compelling to me as a chemical engineer with a phd related to research on physical chemistry changes in real systems at the atomic level.


Interesting. I would have assumed with your PhD you'd know better, especially given the number of studies done on that subject.

For example, a 2002 study by Dr. Frank Manthey and Dr. Clifford Hall III titled "Processing and cooking effects on lipid content and stability of alpha-linolenic acid in ground flaxseed" showed that, while flaxseed oil should not be heated, the same effect was not seen in whole seeds and ground flaxseed when used in cooking.

The ALA content of cooked and baked goods containing 25 grams of flaxseed was not significantly altered after baking or cooking. Researchers speculated that the omega-3 fats in flaxseed are resistant to heat because they are present in a matrix of other compounds that the flaxseeds contain, including the lignan phytonutrients.

 

[JHZR2]

Yes and I'd assume that you would know that even if things are peer reviewed or out in the open literature, that some group of the population can disagree on the analytical work or the outcomes. One would think that someone as intelligent as yourself could grasp this without just going and doing a cut and paste of one paper and thinking it's the end all, be all.

I won't go into details on the analytical work, as you'll not understand it, but I'd recommend you grasp the possibility that there are other things going on that can be rather difficult to discern and that the techniques used may not be fully indicative. If you'll notice, with all your grand research, it appears that all the funding on this related to Drs. Manthey and Hall was related back to incorporation into macaroni. Was that your situation, or were you putting seeds right on the hot cooking surface?

Even that which you cite may or may not have relevance. For full disclosure, why not recognize that it was only a conference proceedings at a flax conference pertaining to macaroni, not direct heating? The only citation out there in google and google scholar with the title you claimed was this one:

Quote:

Manthey F., Lee R., and Hall C., “Stablility of Alpha-Linolenic Acid in Macaroni containing Ground Flaxseed” Proceedings of the 59th Flax Institute of the U.S. (2002): 14-20.
Summary : Macaroni was fortified with 20% (by weight) ground flaxseed and sampled every 2 weeks for the first 12 weeks and then every 4 weeks for the following 20 weeks (study lasted for 32 weeks). Macaroni was cooked in boiling water for 12 minutes. ALA remained the same during the whole storage process and after cooked.



Perhaps it's the estrogenic or laxative effects of flax that cause you to create such a crabby reply; regardless I'd recommend you re-read my comments, as it may not be an issue, but one can (and should) question the approach, analytical processes and statistics on same when these people report in percentages while not necessarily having proper resolution at the ppm level as a result. When were talking about retention kinetics and therapeutic doses in the grams or less per hundred kilogram level, this all becomes important. And especially when we know the rancidity and free radical characteristics of the oils themselves.

Were here to share information to discuss. I'd recommend you remember that before trying to play armchair expert because you can cut and paste.

I sure hope its nothing, that using flax in higher temperature cooking is ok, etc., but Im just not convinced based upon what I've read in terms of the extraction processes and analytics to prove that point. I've seen the "literature", I'm just not convinced. So in my house we don't cook flax seed (yet).

Congrats on a beautiful piece of tuna, it looks truly delicious, and makes me want to go catch one and cook it up. And I sure love your food threads, as well as most all of your other posts. But no need for such crabby replies when we are here to dicuss.