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Grilled tuna

Meat, fish & cheese· seafood

Grilled tuna

What it is

Grilled tuna is tuna cooked briefly and directly over an open flame or hot grate, often left rare in the center.

What it tastes like

On the nose: saline, citrus. Among its measured molecules: 2-Undecenal, (z)-4-heptenal, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, trimethylamine, 2,4-nonadienal.

What goes with it

129 more go with it. See them all in the full library →

Salt and acid

Salt

Salt not measured yet.

Acid

Acid not measured yet.

Unusual pairings

Pairs the library can cite that almost nobody makes.

Every one of its 11 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

  • caprylic acidaromaacidreads as slight odor (PubChem)Measured in 21 of 338 ingredients.cite
    a unique key odourant of grilled tuna among the seven species compared, described as fatty/rancid, high concentration derived from heat treatment — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • caprylaldehydearomaaldehydereads as strong, fruity odor (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 338 ingredients.cite
    a unique key odourant of grilled tuna among the seven species compared, described as citrus/sweet, high concentration derived from heat treatment — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • trimethylaminearomanitrogen compoundreads as saline taste (PubChem)Measured in 6 of 338 ingredients.cite
    'also appeared only in the tuna flavour wheel' among the seven species compared, described as fish-like/ammonia; the paper argues this contributes a PLEASANT fish-like aroma at the level found in promptly-cooked fresh tuna — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • capric acidaromaacidMeasured in 10 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as leather/musty — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • decanalaromaaldehydereads as citrus odor (PubChem)Measured in 36 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as green/marine; corroborated by the paper's own citation of an independent cooked-tuna study (Zhang et al. 2019) — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • 2-UndecenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
    one of three compounds (with octanal and octanoic acid) the paper names as a 'unique key odourant of tuna' among the seven seafood species compared -- present at high concentration, described as fatty/green — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • 2-acetyl-1-pyrrolinearomanitrogen compoundMeasured in 5 of 338 ingredients.cite
    present at high concentration among tuna's heat-treatment-derived odourants (the same compound the paper separately identifies as the single most influential odourant in grilled shrimp/prawn -- see grilled-shrimp.json) — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • 2-heptenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 12 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as grass/roasted — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • 2-NonenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 20 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as earthy/green — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • 2,4-nonadienalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 8 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as fatty/green — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)
  • (z)-4-heptenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 2 of 338 ingredients.cite
    high concentration, heat-treatment-derived, described as fish-like/potato — Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X (Section 3.5.7 'Tuna', results prose)

Sources

  • Luo et al. 2025, Food Chemistry: X
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