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How To Make An Amazing Tuna Fish Sandwich?

5K views 45 replies 21 participants last post by  rick alan 
#1 ·
I often make tuna fish sandwiches for my lunch and they are good but nothing to write home about. I was wondering what others do to prepare a great tuna fish base? Here are my basic ingredients.
  • Canned Tuna Fish (what brands do your prefer?)
  • Small-fine dice onion
  • Mayo (what is your preferred brand (See this thread I started a while back: [thread="89525"]What Is Your Preferred Brand Of Prepared Mayonnaise [/thread] ). Or do you make your own?)
  • Fresh dill
  • Little Dijon Mustard
  • Few drops of Tabasco
  • Few drops of Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and Pepper
 
#2 ·
To the recipe from Nicko I add chopped hard boiled eggs and a small amount of canned mashed cannellini beans ,The beans give it a wonderful creamy  mouth feel .
 
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#9 ·
Wow so many different preferences in tastes and textures!  Everyone knows that tuna sandwiches are sacred.  For my husband I use only a little bit of mayo, a dollop of dijon, cracked pepper, some finely chopped red onion, dill pickles, and celery, servedon crusty bread with thick slices of tomato.  My best friend likes tuna on white wonder bread and adds potato chips in the sandwich.

Me, I'm a purist and eat my tuna sandwiches the way most 4th graders do.  Tuna, lots of mayo, and salt.  Whole wheat sandwich bread is a must, not toasted.
 
#11 ·
Well I just saw the thread. lol Fact is, one of my most common lunch specials to get when I go out to eat during the day is a tuna melt on grilled sourdough.
To me, perfect tuna essentially includes fine diced onions and fine diced celery, mayonnaise and dijon or poupon mustard. And yes, cheese goes quite well with tuna, as does avacado and diced tomato.
 
#12 ·
Starkist Chunk lite in water, Mayo (Best Foods), small dice celery, chopped small dice homemade sweet pickles, salt and pepper, and toasted slivered almonds.  Fresh bread usually whole wheat, mayo on the bread, lettuce or spinach, and home grown tomato.  I also like the same thing made with high quality canned salmon. 

Had tuna salad yesterday for lunch, no bread.  The tomatoes were fresh out of the garden and really good.  My tomato plants are 7 to 8 feet tall and growing.
 
#13 ·
I really don't think it's as much as how it's made rather being what you do with it. I Chefed in a Hospital many years ago. For lunch I would make a tuna sand for myself. I would use a good multigrain bread along with sprouts, sliced onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, sliced cucumbers. In describing the sandwich I would say the tuna was as much a part of the sandwich as every other item on it. I feel it takes good crunchy vegetables along with a great tasting bread to build a great sandwich. I think in sandwich making, the balance of flavors and the amounts of ingredients are the biggest factors. Most people will take a lot of care in grilling a steak. But, when it comes to a sandwich they will just throw it together. Make everything you eat important.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Since @chefbuba seems to be hoarding his home canned tuna I am reduced to using mass produced tuna from the supermarket /img/vbsmilies/smilies/frown.gif.

Most likely Chicken of the Sea chunk white (packed in olive oil) if for some reason I cannot find an import Italian brand (brand name escapes me) also packed in olive oil.

Drain and then add Texas 1015 onion (tiny dice) along with mayo (@Nicko I switched from Hellman's to Duke's after your mayo thread), a sprinkle of lemon pepper...sometimes a bit of mustard and if the Grand's will be joining me for lunch a dollop of sweet pickle relish.

If it is just me.... I 86 the pickle and add chopped Golden Delish apples.

I also like the bread toasted (sourdough) and almost completely cooled off....warm toast soaks up what ever moisture is hanging around in the tuna and makes it soggy.

Nothing worse than soggy toast IMO.

mimi
 
#15 ·
I really don't think it's as much as how it's made rather being what you do with it. I Chefed in a Hospital many years ago. For lunch I would make a tuna sand for myself. I would use a good multigrain bread along with sprouts, sliced onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, sliced cucumbers. In describing the sandwich I would say the tuna was as much a part of the sandwich as every other item on it. I feel it takes good crunchy vegetables along with a great tasting bread to build a great sandwich. I think in sandwich making, the balance of flavors and the amounts of ingredients are the biggest factors. Most people will take a lot of care in grilling a steak. But, when it comes to a sandwich they will just throw it together. Make everything you eat important.
I agree!

Especially with sandwiches (and a great sandwich is at the top of my list of favorite meals).

mimi
 
#17 · (Edited)
Honest to god, I've never eaten your typical 'american' tuna fish sammy. It looks and smells vile to me (I'm employing hyperbole for effect, btw). However, when I first visited Paris, I got caught famished before visiting Père Lachaise Cemetery (quite beautiful, by the way - with many famous people buried there) and found a small place closeby that sold sandwiches. The only one they had left was tuna since it was late. On a baguette, and it changed my view ever since. It had chunky pieces of tuna (I believe it was in fact, canned), just the right amount of mayo (less than here), and finely diced vegetables. Unlike the mash/ paste homogenous stuff deli's and diners make here in the US.

Since then, canned "tuna" for me is simply a vehicle for everything else. And the mayo as a binder. Usually tuna in oil (sometimes add some of this oil), but in water is ok too. I use the brand Tonnino in a can, not the jarred one. I usually use finely diced celery, red onion, carrot, and sometimes cucumber. Yesterday I used finely sliced fennel. Sometimes fresh oregano, maybe thyme, parsley, lemon zest. Sometimes a squirt of dry white wine. Sometimes hard boiled egg. Definitely on toasted bread or sometimes in a pita with a green leaf lining - romaine or spinach or rocket. The type of vegetables and bread also depends on what I have, but sour dough, whole wheat, rosemary loaf, it's all good. The only thing I don't seem to use is mustard, but now that many of you have listed it as an "almost requirement" I'm going to try it (and Worcestershire sauce as well). The amount of veggies depends on the tuna. Each separate veg is the same size pile as the tuna, so if I have four veg, then it's one fifth tuna. The one thing I noticed is that if you add salted chopped tomato, it will add a lot of moisture to your sammy and make it drip and runny. Drier results are achieved by adding a slice at the end. I also don't mash it into a paste. I created the dressing in a bowl, add the veggies and toss thoroughly. Then I add the tuna and fold it in, retaining some chunks. I've also altered the base tuna using various ingredients like chipotle, cumin, pimenton, fresh basil or cilantro, and even fish and/ or soy sauce. Not all of them together, though! : )

It has now become a lunch staple that is open to all kinds of variations.

Sorry for the long post. . .
 
#19 ·
I love tuna sandwiches!  Along with the mayo, dijon, celery, chopped cornichons, black olives, minced parsley and a bit of minced jalapeno, I, like berndy, also add some mashed cannellini beans.

Brands - for some reason, I think our Canadian canned tuna is a little different than the brands I've bought in the US. I prefer our local versions, though I'm not sure why they'd be so different in taste/texture. I also like Costco albacore. Line-caught & local small-batch tuna is getting more available here, too, along with the European tuna with olive oil.
 
#20 ·
Love Tuna Fish sandwiches and dont make then often enough. For me its well drained tuna, mayo-sorry no mustard of any kind-just enough mayo to bind. Nothing worse than a runny tuna sandwich. Add to that some hot sauce, finely diced onion, celery, dill pickle and fresh cucumber. Mix and season with salt and pepper. Slather on soft white bread with iceberg lettuce-for crunch factor. Only make enough to eat in 1 day, 2 days max. After that the veggies lose their crunch, and the whole thing ends to get watery which is no good.
 
#22 ·
The war in the former Yugoslavia brought many Bosnian refugees to my neighborhood and with them came new-to-me foods. One of my favorites was a roasted pepper and eggplant condiment called Ajvar. There are mild and hot varieties, imported in jars from Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia. It may not be easily found everywhere, but a healthy spoonful of the mild variety transformed my tuna salad recipe from tasty to delicious. It's good on eggs and in egg salad, too. It is possible to make it at home, as well.
 
#24 · (Edited)
A quick and easy way to take mayo based tuna salad up a level, combine your mayo with some finely minced anchovy and blitz with stick blender, processor, or whatever. Nam pla will also elevate mayo. A slightly more heretical way is to add some nori komi furikake. One last approach is kewpie mayo, it is an umami flavor bomb.
 
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