The techniques employed by highly skilled cooks in Shimonoseki to assess the quality of puffer meat were examined to develop a quality evaluation system for migaki fugu, or dressed puffer fish. A total of 130 Tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes) and 215 Purple puffer (Takifugu porphyreus) were evaluated five classes for quality by cooks. The cooks were asked to rate the quality of puffers based on color of the fish body surface, texture of fish meat and fish freshness. Statistical analysis of their quality evaluations revealed that the cooks evaluated the freshness of the fish meat most highly. Quality indicators were not related to the texture of fish meat, but rather to a combination four colors on the dressed fish surface. Models were developed using color as the antecedent variable and simulations using a cache of tests were performed. The quality scores assigned by the models agreed with the evaluations of the cooks for range (e.g. 80 - 90%) of the samples tested.