The 5000 Dollar Fish

By ThorNews on September 22, 2015 • ( 0 )

Grilled Atlantic bluefin tuna served with orange glazed sweet potatoes and kale. (Photo: Kirsti Kringstad / NRK)

Last week, the restaurant Søstrene Karlsen in Trondheim bought a piece of the world’s most expensive fish, the Atlantic bluefin tuna. They bought 140 kg (309 pounds) at staggering 42,000 kroner (approx. 5000 dollars).

– It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We will never serve this fish again, says Chef Atle Karlsen to NRK.

Atlantic bluefin tuna is highly rare. Several restaurants in Trondheim were offered to buy fish after a local fishing boat caught it as bycatch.

– It is a wonderful product, with a mild flavor. There are numerous serving methods.

Karlsen has no previous experience with the Atlantic bluefin tuna, but emphasizes that the taste experience is worth the price.

– Atlantic bluefin tuna is not really an expensive product in Norway, in Japan however, it is very exclusive. In local fish markets, there are prices over 600 dollars per kilo. It is called a million fish.

Chef Atle Karlsen is serving the Atlantic bluefin tuna in various dishes, either raw or partially raw.

– It is similar to meat, and has much of the same flavor. However, it melts inside your mouth.

Facts (National Geographic):

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is one of the largest, fastest, and most gorgeously colored of all the world’s fishes. Their torpedo-shaped, streamlined bodies are built for speed and endurance. Their coloring—metallic blue on top and shimmering silver-white on the bottom—helps camouflage them from above and below. And their voracious appetite and varied diet pushes their average size to a whopping 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length and 550 pounds (250 kilograms), although much larger specimens are not uncommon.

Unfortunately for the species however, bluefin meat also happens to be regarded as surpassingly delicious, particularly among sashimi eaters, and overfishing throughout their range has driven their numbers to critically low levels

Text modified by: Anette Broteng Christiansen, ThorNews