Tuna fish sandwich, what is your best recipe?

Hi,

I am a more classic tuna fish* person: minced onion, mince celery, salt, lots of ground pepper and enough mayo to keep it together, then spread on white bread (and sometimes toast).

At Graziano's they make tuna fish sandwiches to order with ingredients ranging from mayo, roasted red peppers, celery, onion, artichoke, hot or mild giardiniera, lettuce, cheese & tomato. Clearly there are approaches to making tuna sandwiches I had never considered.

I would welcome ideas from your experience in making tuna sandwiches. I will be using some of these ideas for tuna fish served at next week's talk on American Tuna.

Am I alone in wanting to write tuna fish as tunafish?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I am a more classic tuna fish* person: minced onion, mince celery, salt, lots of ground pepper and enough mayo to keep it together, then spread on white bread (and sometimes toast).

Regards,

yes, that's excellent, maybe sub Old Bay for some of the salt & pepper. And there's also:

Special Deluxe Gourmet Tuna Salad Delight

Genova tuna in olive oil (not drained), San-J Szechuan hot & spicy sauce, low sodium soy sauce, lime juice, garlic-stuffed green olives. Eat from a bowl accompanied by a croissant or two, or apply to a baguette.

I'm not a celery fan, I'd prefer diced bell pepper.

My current favorite, and much lower fat, is
1 3oz can tuna
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 scallions, sliced fine
1 sprig cilantro, chopped fine
1/2 jalapeno, diced fine
1/3 cucumber, diced
4 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Variations include replacing the fish sauce, chile and cilantro with soy and sesame oil and some togarashi.

I'm a man of plain tastes:

Tuna
capers
hard-boiled eggs
finely chopped celery
finely chopped scallions
garlic + herbs mixture
salt
lots of pepper
enough mayo to keep it all together.

Lettuce on the sammie.

Geo

I like the giardinara idea. I'll have to add that to my usual onion, hot dog relish and mayo dressing.

I prefer a simple tuna salad(about as simple as you can get):

drained albacore(I prefer Sunkist...the nice, olive oil poached tunas don't work for me unless we're talking salad nicoise or pane bagnat)

so, drained Starkist albacore
capers in salt, rinsed
fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Honduran temple 5th aspect creme sel de mer from The Spice House(kidding)...any salt should suffice
black pepper(I like Lampong)
Hellmann's mayo
yellow mustard(just a squeeze)
secret ingredient: Chipotle Tabasco, a few dashes(the umami factor, not enough to say, "oh, yay, chipotle...yet...again")
ratios enough to wet the tuna
forked until it's all incorporated, not emulsified

then schmeared on wheat bread, or mounded on a toasted english muffin with a slice of sharp cheddar melted atop

---

I am not a fan of cucumber pickle(dill or sweet) in my tuna salad

the only thing that surprises me about all your tuna additions is that of salt. i love salt, but it's never occurred to me to add salt to my tuna.... (my standard, eaten often: tuna, not albacore; lemon juice; mayo; sweet relish; onion; celery salt or a tiny bit of celery. occasionally, a little hard boiled egg. preferably broiled with some pineapple and sharp cheddar and black pepper, open faced on an english muffin.)

J-Joan,

A nice grainy salt makes interesting local areas in the salad-sammich.

BTW, I prefer to use Kirkland's solid albacore, which is a bit undersalted to begin with.

Geo
PS. I'm surprised at the number of you who choose pickles of some sort to use in your salad. Never, ever, would have thought of that... not sure I approve.

My tuna recipe is fairly standard:

tuna -- white chunk
mayo
dill pickle relish
shallot minced (white onion if I'm out of shallots)
celery minced
salt & pepper

i love it on toasted bread with tomato and lettuce.

I like the idea of lemon juice.

I either go the plain route (pretty much yours, but always red onion and a bit of dill relish and a squirt of mustard) or curried tuna salad.

This includes tuna, mayo, scallions, curry powder, diced green apple, and chopped toasted almonds (my husband can't eat raw apples, so for him I'll substitute quartered green grapes).

Solid / chunk white in water
Ichimi Togarashi to taste
tobiko or masago
sesame oil to taste (hot sesame oil for me)
Mayo - real stuff. Sugary glop + fish = gag.

Use as normal - starch + tomato + lettuce + avocado.

From birth, I have been an albacore. minced onion and celery, S&P and mayo guy. However, I once worked for a south side chef who had us make it with albacore, celery and onion, with relish, minced red pepper and Miracle Whip. I thought it was blasphemy. What did I know. It was just one more variation of a standard, and I grew to enjoy it as just one more variation on a basic favorite. I'll try anyone's recipe for tuna.

Lately I've been doing a recipe my friend taught me, an escabeche of sorts. Dead simple and a great topper for a simple lunch salad: chopped pickled jalapeño (Mexican escabeche style w/ carrot, preferably homemade) mixed into a can of good quality tuna packed in olive oil. And that's about it.

I follow my mom's recipe:

Tuna in oil, drained
Mayo
Stone-ground mustard
Capers
Red onion
Celery
Crumbled blue cheese

A great tuna fish sandwich depends on three main ingredients.
The tuna, the bread and lastly the Mayo.
Any of the mixings and/or go withs can provide variety but if all of the aforementioned 3 ingredients are not top notch, then its an average or worse sandwich.
Chunk light or 'mush' to me is simple not acceptable, most of the canned varieties are suspect and I poach my own in a fume from a high grade variety of tuna. Poaching in oil is optional but not required.
I use QP(Japanese) mayo, yes it has monosodium-glutamate but the taste is spectacular or I make my own, even better. Most mayo's are pale compairson's of the real thing with Hellman's having the best egg flavor, Light Hellman's is just on the fringe of being passable and non fat is no go.
The bread has to be robust, course grain and toasted, factory loaf white bread is simply not acceptable to be able to hold the mix and provide a taste.
Chop up whatever you want and add whatever seasoning you want but if the 3 key ingredients are not top notch, then your tuna sandwich will suffer.-Dick

In our Salad Days, we often made a batch of TunaFishSalad that resembled back-of-the-stove soup, in that it cleared the refrigerator of all the items that had reached the use-it-or-lose-it stage.

At various times, this might include most of the basic food groups:

CHOPPED VEGETABLES – from anise to zucchini, with intermediate stops at carrot, celery, onions (red, white, green), bell peppers, hot peppers and cucumber

HERBS & SPICES – salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic and (occasionally) an available spice blend (does anybody remember Beau Monde?)

BINDERS & FLAVORING AGENTS – mayo, hard-boiled eggs and (gasp!) sweet pickle relish and its juice (we rationalized that including this as a binder reduced the amount of nutritionally disastrous mayo)

Large batches were assembled and stored in the fridge for easy and quick eating for up to a week (or, until it all smelled funky). Similar strategies were employed for meatloaf.

Forty-five years later, this all seems reckless and naïve. Then, why do I remember it so fondly?

Quick & simple tuna fish, no idea on proportions, just until it looks right:

Solid White Albacore
Light Hellmann's Mayo
Red onion, minced
Celery, minced
Bread & butter pickle slices, chopped
Pickled jalapeno, minced
Dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Lawry's seasoned salt
Cracked black pepper
Curry powder, only a dash

budrichard wrote:Chunk light or 'mush' to me is simple not acceptable, most of the canned varieties are suspect and I poach my own in a fume from a high grade variety of tuna. Poaching in oil is optional but not required.

While I agree with your assessment of most canned tuna I find that the Kirkland, BumbleBee Gold and Wild Planet are pretty darn good.

Every time I'm thinking I have no idea what I want to eat, all I have to do is check LTH and problem solved!

I am on the traditional side when it comes to tuna salad. I like white chunk tuna packed in water, Hellmans mayo, finely chopped celery, onion also finely chopped but only sweet onion such as maui, vidalia, etc if possible, and some fresh cracked pepper and a pinch of other seasoning such as dill weed, old bay seasonings, etc. I can see a shake of hot sauce for a final touch. I do not usually put salt as the mayo has enough. I like to serve it on a fresh ripe tomato scooped out from my garden or on whole wheat bread or white toast. Lettuce leaves too. Done. Eat. Yum.

If I could re-create the Tuna Salad at Lakeside Foods in Winnetka, I would be really happy. As far as I can tell, it's solid white tuna, mayo and celery. But there is something about the combo of the brand of tuna and the brand of mayo that is amazing. I wonder if they make their own mayo. My tuna tastes nothing like theirs using those three ingredients.

Treasure Island also makes a great tuna salad. Theirs is just solid white tuna, mayo, celery and a little white pepper. Again, when I use those same ingredients, it doesn't taste the same.

I'm a tuna salad purist-the simpler the better.

One of the top recipes for Tuna salad on allrecipes calls for a tiny bit of curry powder and a few spoons of parmesan cheese. I have not tried it.

I very much like curried chicken salad, but I'm not sure about it with tuna. And parm on the tuna? Sorry, that sounds nasty.

I rarely eat tuna salad sandwiches cold, exception being some 90 degree days I dont want anything hot and head over to Vinnie's Sub Shop for their fantastic tuna salad sub. I much prefer a tuna melt, always on an English muffin, always made better with bacon. My recipe for those can be seen HERE and includes my best of the bunch tuna salad.

- Real Italian Canned Tuna (Cant stand the other crap)
- Chopped Celery and Green Onions
- Touch of Yellow Mustard
- Sweet Relish
- Chopped Sport Peppers
- Chopped Cornichon's
- Sometimes I add Capers
- Little bit of Mayo
- Some Juice from the bottle of both the Sport Peppers and Cornichon's

Now I've got the taste for a tuna melt. I think I'll be making them later this week as a matter of fact.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I am a more classic tuna fish* person: minced onion, mince celery, salt, lots of ground pepper and enough mayo to keep it together, then spread on white bread (and sometimes toast).

At Graziano's they make tuna fish sandwiches to order with ingredients ranging from mayo, roasted red peppers, celery, onion, artichoke, hot or mild giardiniera, lettuce, cheese & tomato. Clearly there are approaches to making tuna sandwiches I had never considered.

I would welcome ideas from your experience in making tuna sandwiches. I will be using some of these ideas for tuna fish served at next week's talk on American Tuna.

Am I alone in wanting to write tuna fish as tunafish?

Regards,

Wasn't there a rock album released in the '60s or early '70s titled "You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tunafish?" I don't remember the band off-hand (could it possibly have been Hot Tuna?? That would be too easy ...).

Anyway, I digress. A scant tablespoon of parsley has been added to my standard tuna salad recipe, which is the same as yours. (However, I don't salt the salad, since DH isn't a saltaholic like I am; I salt my sandwich separately.) If I have it, my preference is to use red onion over white or yellow, and I prefer white or albacore chunk vs. that other stuff masquerading as tuna.

Over the summer, I went through a phase of adding hot giardiniera to my tuna sandwiches -- very tasty! DH loves tuna melts with sharp cheddar. I am totally against adding pickle relish to tuna salad.

Sharon

sdbond wrote:
Wasn't there a rock album released in the '60s or early '70s titled "You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tunafish?" I don't remember the band off-hand (could it possibly have been Hot Tuna?? That would be too easy ...).

REO Speedwagon!!

I've done curry powder with tuna salad. It works.

I always add chopped hard-boiled egg to my tuna salad. Otherwise, I do pretty much a standard mayo, chopped celery (for crunch, sometimes I use cukes), dijon mustard, pepper. I like to add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce rather than salt. I also have used curry powder on occasion. When I was a young bride, I was astounded to see my MIL make "tunafish" sandwiches with chunk tuna straight from the can mixed with Miracle Whip (avert your eyes, seebee) that she spread on white bread that she first applied margarine to. No seasonings but a double helping of fat on smushy white bread. No wonder my husband thought he didn't care much for tuna salad.

I really like the ATK recipe, the addition of garlic and lemon really adds something. It's so good that I've been guilty of eating it straight out of the container on saltine crackers.

http://www.food.com/recipe/classic-tuna-salad-210594

after reading all these different recipes, i've been persuaded to add salt and try garlic.