Albacore tuna is one of my favourite West Coast fishes, and the way we purchase it makes it very easy to use. Today on Island Artisans, I featured one of a growing number of fishers on the BC coast who have turned to catching and adding value to albacore tuna. His name is Ian Bryce, and his company is called Natural Gift Seafoods. Ian has fished all kinds of species on the West Coast in a career on the ocean that has lasted over 40 years. He still does some salmon trolling, but albacore tuna is a more lucrative fishery to be in these days, and most of his product is shipped off to Japan.
I joined him for lunch the other day at his home in Nanoose Bay, just north of Nanaimo, and we feasted on his tuna lox, lightly smoked and thinly sliced albacore. Ian was always getting requests from people he knew for tuna, so he would bring home some whole tuna. Then he decided to see how it would taste canned, so he had some done up, liked it, and started to sell that. Soon he had got into smoked loins, frozen whole loins and smoked, canned tuna. His latest invention is tuna candy, modeled after salmon candy, using his own adaptation of that classic recipe. He uses Vancouver Island honey to sweeten his tuna candy.
Here's a trio of albacore tuna presentations. At the bottom of the photo, Ian's albacore tuna candy, which can be served as is. In the middle, a slice of raw loin, served Italian crudo style. I've served it with a bit of julienned orange rind, a squeeze of orange juice and then a squirt of very high quality extra virgin olive oil. Finally, at the top of the photo, a slice of loin dusted in Organic Fair's Ultimate 'Que rub and then quickly seared on both sides in a hot frypan with just a bit of olive oil. Yum!
Natural Gift Seafoods albacore tuna is certified sustainable by both the Ocean Wise and Seafood Watch programs, and the company recently received certification from the Marine Stewardship Council. And it is loaded with healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. What more could you want in a food?
