Grilled Fish Collars (Kama): The Best Cut Most Divers Throw Away

A grilled yellowtail collar (hamachi kama), finished with bonito flakes — the rich, fatty cut most divers throw away.

Ask a Japanese chef what the best part of a yellowtail is, and many will point to the collar - the cut known as kama, the meat behind the gills and around the pectoral fin. It is rich, fatty, tender, and full of flavor, and on a big fish it is a substantial piece of eating. Yet most divers fillet right past it and toss the head and collar with the carcass. Learning to save and grill the collar is one of the highest-value, lowest-effort upgrades you can make to how you eat your catch.

What the Collar Is

The collar is the wedge of meat just behind the head, framing the gills and surrounding the base of the pectoral fin. On a fish that swims hard - yellowtail, tuna, white seabass - this muscle works constantly, and it carries marbling and fat that make it the most luxurious meat on the animal. There is one collar on each side. On a large fish, a single collar can be a generous portion, and a pair makes a meal. It is the cut restaurants charge a premium for and home cooks usually never see.

Which Fish Give the Best Collars

The bigger and fattier the fish, the better the collar. California yellowtail collars are outstanding - rich and meaty, the classic hamachi kama. White seabass yield large, mild, tender collars. Tuna collars, when you are fortunate enough to land one, are spectacular and large. Big rockfish, lingcod, and other sizeable reef fish all have collars worth saving too, though they are smaller and leaner. As a rule, any fish big enough that the collar holds a real portion of meat is worth the few seconds it takes to cut it out.

How to Cut the Collar

Cutting collars is quick once you have done it. After you remove the fillets, or before, work on the head end. Make a cut behind the gill plate and the pectoral fin, angling to follow the contour of the head, then cut down and around to free the wedge of meat with the fin attached. You can take the two collars as separate pieces, or on some fish leave them joined across the top in a single horseshoe-shaped piece that includes the throat. Trim away the gills. Rinse, pat dry, and you have a premium cut ready to cook that would otherwise have gone in the bin.

The Simple Grilled Preparation

Collars need almost nothing. The classic treatment is salt: season the collar generously with salt on both sides, let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes, then pat off the moisture. This dry-brine seasons the meat and helps the skin crisp. Grill over medium-high heat, skin side down first, until the skin is crisp and browned and the meat is just cooked through and pulling from the bones - typically a few minutes per side depending on size. The fat in a good collar bastes the meat as it cooks, so it stays moist even with a hard sear.

Yellowtail collars. Almost no prep — just season and heat.

Serving Kama

Serve grilled collars hot off the grill with wedges of lemon and a small dish of ponzu or soy with grated daikon for dipping, the traditional Japanese accompaniment. Eat it with your hands and chopsticks, picking the tender meat from around the bones and fin - this is finger food, and the meat tucked into the nooks of the collar is the best of it. A cold beer or crisp sake, a bowl of rice, and a simple salad make it a complete meal built around a cut you used to throw away.

Key Takeaways

• The collar (kama) is the rich, fatty, tender meat behind the gills and pectoral fin - the best cut on a big fish.

• Yellowtail, white seabass, and tuna give the best collars; big rockfish and lingcod are worth saving too.

• Cut behind the gill plate and pectoral fin, follow the head contour, and trim the gills - it takes seconds.

• Salt generously, rest, pat dry, then grill skin-side first over medium-high until crisp and just cooked through.

• Serve with lemon and ponzu or soy with daikon, and eat it with your hands.

Saving the collars costs you nothing but a few seconds at the cleaning table, and it turns the part of the fish most divers waste into the best meal of the week. Next time you land a big yellowtail or white seabass, cut the kama, fire up the grill, and find out what you have been throwing away.

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Photo credits: Grilled hamachi kama and grilled salmon & yellowtail collars by RightCowLeftCoast (CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).