Credit: Stephen Recchia

How To: Break Down a Bluefin Tuna Like a Sushi Master

5 Minute read

25 Aug 2025

Kiki Aranita

Writer

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Chef Carlos Wills of Ogawa in Philadelphia shares his step-by-step method for breaking down a whole bluefin tuna, from removing the head to transforming every cut into an omakase feast.

At Ogawa in Philadelphia, tuna cutting isn’t just dinner prep—it’s theater. The restaurant has built a following for its ticketed tuna butchery omakases, where guests watch in silence as chef Carlos Wills breaks down a massive bluefin with the precision of a surgeon. Wills, who leads Ogawa’s 12-seat sushi counter, delights in showing every cut and explaining the anatomy, turning an intimidating 250- to 300-pound fish into a series of prized morsels. Here, in his own words, is exactly how he does it.

Step-By-Step

1. “I cut off the head. Tuna has very thick skin close to the head. I open it where the gills are and look for the bone which contains the marrow. I cut the head off there.”

2. “I remove the jaw.”

3. “I take off the fin, which is also where I start breaking the fish down into quarters.”

4. “I divide the belly loins and the back loins on one side.”

5. “I flip the fish over and remove the other two quarters.”

6. “I scrape the bones for the most delicious parts of the fish. The flesh closest to the bones is the creamiest and has the most intense flavor.”

7. “I take the marrow out of the bones. It’s a delicate flavor with a slippery oceanic juiciness.”

8. “Trimming and cooking! You can use everything except the fins and teeth. We smoke the head, which you can consume all of, for six hours or we roast it. Even the baked eyeballs turn into a nice jelly which you can scoop out and eat.”

9. “We make stock for sauces from the skin. The oil from the skin can also be used to cook other types of fish.”

Wills makes it clear: nothing is wasted. By the end, the towering bluefin that arrived as an unyielding whole is reduced to gleaming loins, delicate marrow, simmering stock, and platters of sushi-ready cuts—each destined for its own role in an omakase feast.

The Chef

Carlos Wills, executive chef of Ogawa in Philadelphia, is a Honduran-born sushi chef trained under Minoru Ogawa, specializing in edomae-style omakase with over a decade of precision and passion.

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