whitefish
Kampachi
The names on a sushi menu are three fish, not one.
Kampachi is farmed almaco jack, Seriola rivoliana, raised in offshore pens and sold mainly to be eaten raw. The flesh is firm, close-grained and faintly pink, with enough oil to stay moist under a hard sear. It is an amberjack, and it is not the same fish as hamachi.
In one line
Firm, faintly rosy amberjack farmed for crudo — sear it rare, or don't cook it at all.
Buy it if
You are making crudo, sashimi or tiradito — or you want a fish loin you can sear rare and slice like a steak.
Three fish, two names, endless confusion. Japanese menus use hamachi for Seriola quinqueradiata and kanpachi for Seriola dumerili. What is sold in the US as Kampachi is usually a third species, Seriola rivoliana — the almaco jack. All three are amberjacks and all three eat similarly, which is exactly how the names blurred.
Farmed on purpose, not by accident. Almaco jack is one of the few species that took well to open-ocean pens, and nearly all the kampachi on a US counter is farmed rather than wild-caught. That is why it is available year round, and why it is sold sashimi-grade — the trip from pen to pack is short enough to sell it raw.
Killed by ikejime. At harvest the fish is spiked through the brain and the spinal cord destroyed, rather than left to suffocate on ice. A fish that thrashes as it dies goes into rigor faster and softens sooner; handled this way it stays firm and clear for days. The pens are ASC-certified, but it is the handling at the moment of harvest that gets the fish to a sashimi counter.
Pale is not the same as lean. Raw, it is pale with a faint rose cast and a visible bloodline. It carries far more oil than cod or halibut, which is what lets it survive a grate and what makes it worth eating raw. Cook it through and the buttery quality goes: the loin firms up and turns ordinary.
Sear it like a steak. The loin takes a hard, fast sear the way a tuna loin does — colour outside, raw in the middle, sliced across the grain. Anything that leaves it sitting in wet heat pulls the oil out and wastes the fish.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | whitefish |
|---|---|
| Subprimal | loin, fillet and collar |
What else it’s called
How to cook Kampachi
| Best methods | Raw Pan sear Grill Oven roast Broil Deep fry |
|---|---|
| Skip | Braise Stew |
| Cook to | Raw, or seared rare. Past medium the oil renders out and the loin turns firm and plain. |
Kampachi vs Cobia
Both are farmed, moderately oily fish sold as expensive fillets, and both take a hard sear. The practical split: cobia is the one you cook, kampachi is the one you mostly don't.
| Kampachi | Cobia | |
|---|---|---|
| Usual use | Raw — crudo and sashimi | Cooked — seared or grilled |
| Raw flesh | Pale with a rose cast | White |
| Family | Amberjack (Seriola) | Cobia (Rachycentron) |
| Best method | Raw, Pan-sear or Grill | Grill or Pan-sear |
If Kampachi is sold out
Cooks like
Cobia
Farmed, firm and moderately oily, and it grills the same. Takes cooking through better than kampachi does.
Easier to buy
Salmon
If the point is sashimi at home, sashimi-grade salmon is the far easier fish to source.
Common questions
Is kampachi the same as hamachi?
No. Hamachi is Japanese amberjack, Seriola quinqueradiata. Kampachi in the US is usually almaco jack, Seriola rivoliana. They are cousins and they behave alike on a plate, which is why the names get swapped, but they are different fish at different prices.
Is kampachi a yellowtail?
Loosely. "Yellowtail" gets applied to several Seriola species and is not specific enough to buy on. A menu that says yellowtail might mean hamachi, kampachi, or California yellowtail. Ask which one.
Can you cook kampachi, or is it only for sushi?
You can cook it, and it grills better than most fish because it is firm and oily enough not to stick or shred. The mistake is cooking it through. Treat it like tuna: hot, fast, rare in the middle.
What does kampachi taste like?
Clean and mildly sweet with a buttery finish — richer than a white fish, far milder than mackerel. Firm enough to slice thin without tearing, which is why it works as crudo.
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