Opah

Common Name:

Moonfish, Hawaiian moonfish

Product Information:

One opah has four types of flesh, each a different color. The tender meat of the loin, which runs along the backbone from eye to tail, is a light salmon-orange. The less-tender, stringy side flesh is the same color as the loin at the top but becomes paler at the bottom. The cheek meat is dark red. All cook up white except for the bright-red breastplate meat, which turns brown.Opah has a rich, creamy taste and firm, fatty texture. The flavor is a cross between tuna and swordfish — distinctive but not overpowering.

Cooking Tips:

The opah’s large-grain, fatty flesh offers a versatility of use that appeals to chefs. It also works well with assertive sauces. The loin yields steak-like fillets that are good for grilling, broiling or sautéing. Opah top loin meat makes excellent sashimi. The rest is too fibrous to be good raw but becomes very tender when cooked.

Cooking Methods: