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Ravioli with raw tuna inside?

post #1 of 13
11/11/09 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 
I am a sushi chef and I like experimenting with different cuisines. I'm kind of stuck on this problem, how can I make ravioli with raw tuna on the inside? So the outside would be cooked but the inside would still be raw.

I was thinking of maybe freezing the filling and then wrapping them in the dough and lightly blanching them. Or to freeze it whole (dough and filling together) and just blanch it briefly and pan fry for a little bit. Or is there a way to cook the dough and wrap it around the filling afterwards?

Sorry if some of these questions seem super retarded but I do not cook much, being a sushi chef, I do not do too much cooking.
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post #2 of 13
11/11/09 at 4:57pm
I have no idea, but what a thrilling concept. I look forward to reading this thread as others in the know, offer you advice.
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post #3 of 13
11/11/09 at 5:08pm
That might work. If the tuna was originally frozen I'd hate to re-freeze it. If the tuna had never been frozen it would be even more of a shame to freeze it! The first thing I'd probably try would be to chill the tuna, then create my ravioli with wanton wrappers. A brief dip in salted boiling water should cook the wrapper but leave the tuna essentially raw. Deep frying the ravioli at high heat might also be interesting.
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post #4 of 13
11/11/09 at 5:40pm
You could get the highest smoke point oil that you can get your hands on(Safflower @ 480ish or Avocado @ 510ish). Crank up the fryer and flash fry the ravioli. Try egg washing and lightly breading the ravioli first for a little extra texture.
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post #5 of 13
11/11/09 at 8:48pm
Thread Starter 
I would be using fresh tuna (although the chances that it has been flash frozen is high but I have no control over that) and I was thinking of mincing up the tuna, adding a little garlic/ginger, soy sauce, maybe even a little fish sauce. And use a butter/garlic poke sauce, dunno if it'll be any good, guess I'll have to try it out when I work again haha. I'll tell you how it turns out. I'm glad I'm finally going to be able to use this pasta roller I bought a year ago though haha.

But I think I'm going to try the flash frying technique, thanks.
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post #6 of 13
11/12/09 at 6:17pm
No problem. You'll have to trial and error it to know where the threshold of cooked noodle/cooked filling is crossed. Also, you may have to have a bowl with a zipper bag full of iced salt water to stop the cooking process.(The bag is to keep the pasta dry, before anyone asks.)

Happy experimenting.
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post #7 of 13
11/12/09 at 8:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hmm... now I want to try something else also now, I want to make xiao bao long but with tuna on the inside with poke soup.

(If you don't know what xiao bao long is, its dumplings with soup inside, find a shanghai restaurant near you and see if they have it and go to asap!)

I would need to make the poke sauce into a gelatin, would just regular flavorless gelatin work? Or maybe agar? Will the sesame oil in the poke sauce be a hassle? Sorry for all the questions, just kind of excited about this one too.
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post #8 of 13
11/13/09 at 7:19am
Hi Onidzuka. How did your ravioli turn out?

Are you still running into problems keeping the tuna from cooking inside the ravioli. I was thinking...along with a decent chill you could try to use a buffer between the noodle and the tuna. I would think the slight buffer would offer good protection from the heat to cook the noodle. If you still need more protection you could chill or freeze the buffer offering more protection to the tuna inside.

good luck,
dan
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post #9 of 13
11/13/09 at 7:34am
I think you can wrap it first with some cooked pasta, then make the raviolis with raw pasta. That way you'll get a layer of insulation between the pasta and the filling. Might work? Maybe?
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post #10 of 13
11/13/09 at 1:04pm
Tuna and ravioli are two of my favorite foods, so however you do it, this sounds amazing.
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post #11 of 13
11/13/09 at 9:32pm
See, I'm thinking that freezing is just great as an idea, because (a) tuna doesn't suffer all that much from it, and (b) what does suffer is texture -- which makes no difference when you're mincing the heck out of the stuff anyway. So I'd say freeze the things hard as rocks and then experiment with how long it takes to boil them -- still frozen solid -- to get the wrapper cooked and the filling untouched.

You could also try making the filling in little flattened patties, using some kind of flexible pastry mold. Freeze that, and then put a frozen patty into each ravioli. Seal it, boil it briefly, and it's done -- the tuna is still basically frozen solid, and the wrapper is cooked. Oil them well, of course, while the fillings come to full room temperature. Then at the last minute drop them in a way-hot steamer to warm the wrappers.

Actually, I'm quite jazzed about this idea. I mean, you should be able to make a whole range of things this way. Why not gravlax ravioli that don't taste or feel like cooked salmon? The possibilities are endless.

The only thing is, you'd have to serve it in a way that's very unusual for filled pasta. I mean, you can't just present a plate of the things, or you'll lose the whole interest of it. You've got to plate one or two of these things by themselves, in some cool way.

Hmm. I'm going to play around with this, and no mistake.
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post #12 of 13
11/14/09 at 7:18am

I have had a passion for sushi ever since I lived in Japan in the early 90's. I could eat my weight in sushi.:chef:
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post #13 of 13
11/14/09 at 8:18am

Only issue i see with this is the possibility of excess moisture ruining the ravioli when the tuna defrosts, but then again as someone mentioned they have soup dumplings. So i guess just make sure your ravi is sealed well and it should work fine. Best of luck.
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