What spices go with tuna

A crust of coarsely cracked pepper on a seared tuna steak is a standard preparation, and it works because tuna is dense and meaty enough to carry a treatment that would overwhelm a flaking white fish. The pepper toasts in the pan and the interior stays raw, which is the whole point of the dish.

How: Pressed as a crust onto a steak before searing; With salt and lemon on grilled tuna

Add alongside: Salt, Sesame seed, Lemon

• Use coarsely cracked rather than finely ground — fine pepper burns in the short hard sear tuna needs.

The canonical use, and the mechanism is the opposite of what people assume. Wasabi is not covering the fish — raw tuna at sashimi grade has very little to cover — it is providing a brief sharp contrast against a dense, fatty, faintly metallic flesh, and then clearing completely so the next mouthful tastes of tuna again. Its volatility is the whole reason it works here where a persistent heat would not.

How: Grated to order and placed between fish and rice in nigiri; A small mound alongside sashimi, taken with the fish rather than stirred into soy

Add alongside: Salmon, Rice

• Stirred into soy sauce it loses most of its effect, because the volatile compounds disperse into the liquid instead of reaching the nose.

Tuna is oily and strongly flavoured, and chilli meets it rather than covering it. The pairing runs across Sicilian, Spanish and Japanese cooking, and it is as at home on a tinned-tuna pasta as on a grilled steak.

How: Bloomed in oil for a tuna pasta; Scattered on grilled or seared tuna

Add alongside: Garlic, Lemon, Parsley

Basque coastal cooking pairs the chilli with tuna in marmitako and with grilled fish generally. A mild fruity chilli seasons oily fish without the heat that would fight it, and the visible red against pale fish is part of the presentation.

How: Marmitako; Dusted over grilled or seared tuna

Add alongside: Paprika, Bay leaf, Garlic

Toasted and cracked coriander gives tuna a citric lift without adding liquid, which matters for a fish usually cooked hot and fast. It suits the seared preparation particularly, where a wet marinade would prevent a crust forming.

How: Cracked with pepper into a crust; In a dry spice mix for grilled tuna

Add alongside: Black pepper, Fennel seed, Lemon

Sourness is what oily fish wants, and sumac supplies it dry — so it can be scattered on at the end without softening a crust or thinning a dressing. It is a Levantine habit that transfers well to a seared steak.

How: Scattered over seared tuna with olive oil; In a dry rub with thyme and sesame

Add alongside: Za'atar herb, Sesame seed, Onion