The Perfect Tuna Salad
 

This came up elsewhere and I thought it deserved a thread.

My tuna salad does not have a recipe. I make it with what I have if all ingredients aren’t available and don’t measure anything.

If yours is wildly different, I would not consider it heresy. But mine always pleases.

Ingredients

Tuna -any, but I prefer albacore or chunk white
Celery - not too small a dice
Onion - preferably sweet, not too small a dice
Sweet pickle relish - I will use diced sweet gherkins if I’m not rushed. Dill relish or diced dill pickles are fine too but not usually.
Seasonings: salt, pepper, paprika. Can add dill, onion salt or garlic salt. I’ve also used seasoned salts but eliminate all else.

Served on/in

I like it on top of lettuce with other salad ingredients like cucumber, onion, tomato, Kalamata olives. I’m also happy with it between 2 slices of bread with lettuce and tomato. I’ll eat it with a scoop of egg salad but never with chicken salad. I don’t eat cheese and don’t think it adds anything to tuna salad anyway unless you’re making a melt. And I hate saltines in the side. Also too much mayonnaise and not enough crunch spoil it for me.

Yours?

Isn't that an imperfect tuna salad since you don't have a fixed recipe (i.e. not perfected)?

David

Mine is almost exactly like yours. One difference. I try to use yellowfin tuna as my base. Preferably fresh…however Wegmans for example sells canned yellowfin. And always Hellman’s Mayo for me. If you use Miracle Whip, I throw it back at you!😀

Ideally, each one is better than the previous one. But since I don’t keep track of what I’ve done, if I ever achieve perfection, I’m not likely to duplicate it.

I’m not too fussy about Mayo and usually buy what’s on sale. It’s probably Dukes half the time. But I agree about Miracle Whip. Not so much the flavor, but the sticky, shiny texture.

I'm a tuna purist.

Tuna.
Mayo
Seasoned.

Maybe... and it's a big maybe... add some corn.

I’m not shocked at the corn. I’ve bought premade tuna sandwiches in the UK and found corn in them. I’ve never seen it here. And I don’t think it adds anything significant flavor or texture-wise.

Corn nuts?

David

Must one use a parka if in a warm climate? Or is this just for winter tuna salad? :)

I don’t like mayo so I use a nice thick yogurt (preferably Fage) instead. I love the tanginess it adds.

Omit the celery and it sounds perfect to me.

I would probably add a hard boiled egg or two and a small amount of shredded cheese into the tuna salad. The cheese would add some texture and the egg would add some creaminess. I would probably add both red and vidalia onions (both diced) and some green/spring onion for colour as well. But yeah, sounds tasty.

LOL. Fixed. I dunno what happened. The hall closet is full of paprika.

Sorry, but the egg and cheese sound really bad for tuna salad. I do use green onion for the onion usually.
I make my tuna sandwiches grilled more often than not, but never ever with cheese. Just doesn't mix for me.

It depends on the cheese. If you use something like parmesan, then yeah. But something basic like cheddar I find adds to the flavour. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two helps as well. But I use it sparingly. Too much and like mayo it becomes cloying.

Enlightening thread! I'm probably one of the few who didn't immediately realize Sen Warner's tuna melt tutorial was a joke; I thought with lots of mayo and cheese, what's not to like?