It All Started with a Tuna Bloodline Skewer at CudaCo.

Chef Shaun Brian Sells and I met early in our careers, and, over the years, we’ve eaten some wild meals together (among them: chugging hot sauce late-night at a diner and devouring the stinkiest fermented tofu imaginable). So when I showed up to CudaCo., Sells’ seafood market/restaurant on Johns Island near Charleston, I figured I’d eat something offbeat (this guy has nothing if not an imagination and a sense of fun). But I didn’t expect to get something as outrageously delicious as skewered yellowfin tuna bloodlines. The tuna off-cut, when marinated and seared, tasted a lot like premium wagyu.

That dish was the inspirational springboard for a technique piece I wrote for Plate’s July/August Heat issue, featuring skewers from chefs with all sorts of kitchen setups and cooking styles. Click here to learn how to make traditional satay, Iraqi-inspired short rib, lamb dibi, beef heart anticucho, and, of course, CudaCo.’s dynamite tuna bloodline skewers.