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?

Mine is similar although no paprika and I replace sweet relish with dill. What matters most of the quality of the fish. If you have left over cooked tuna or salmon and use it in salad you'll never want to used canned again.

Sounds good as long as you hold the tuna.

Amen! And if you catch the tuna, cook it that night, then use in a tuna salad…you ever want any other tuna again. I realize this is not possible for most….but if you live near a fishing port, do yourself a favor.

Not perfect in any way, but the way I prefer pantry-style tuna salad:
Tuna in oil, drained, smashed
Olive oil
capers
parm shavings
black pepper
maybe a few shavings of sweet onion
serve on crusty bread

Shredded cheddar is actually quite good in tuna salad. Of course, it's really good melted on top too, so if you don't like that you won't like it mixed in.

Yes on the dill pickles/relish. Occasionally, like today, I skip the pickle and add giardiniera relish instead. I realize a lot of people outside of Chicago aren't familiar with it, but if you've ever had the spicy pepper mix on an Italian beef sandwich, that's giardiniera. When it's chopped up fine like pickle relish, that's giardiniera relish.

Hold the onion, add thin sliced almonds. Turmeric if I'm feeling daring.

Try to get a pickle relish without gobs of sweeteners, dyes or artificial flavors, so it actually tastes like real pickles were involved in the making of it.

Also, added salt? I find between the tuna itself and the relish, tuna salad is more than adequately salty.

Not necessarily. Warm melted cheddar is an entirely different flavo(u)r profile than cold cheese shreds.

I like the turmeric thought. I’ll have to try it next time.

Not much salt. A sprinkle. Sometimes garlic salt or onion salt. But still just a sprinkle. I generally use 2-3 cans of tuna so the salt is proportionally slight.

Tuna (not Albacore, it's too dry) preferably in olive oil, drained. Add mayo, celery (smaller dice), a pinch of salt, curry powder, relish (better than chopped pickles or gherkins IMHO).
On toast. Or, if done as a melt, then with emmentaler, not cheddar.
And definitely no onions.

Duke’s Mayo
Tonnino or Otiz tuna packed in olive oil, drained
Dill
Dill or gherkin pickle relish
Capers
Lemon zest
Slight squeeze of lemon
Black pepper
no salt needed

When in Hawaii will add Maui onion

Awesome on dill rye bread or sourdough.

Tuna, Solid White packed in water (drain and finely crumble so all the ingrediaets mix well)
Onion, small dice
Celery, small dice
Squeeze of lemon
DUKE'S Mayo - absolutely the best mayo on the market and added bonus of no sugar added
Celery Salt
Chopped parsley if on hand, otherwise no big deal.
Served on toast, lettuce optional

It always gets raves from my husband who considers himself a life-long tuna connoisseur!

Hands down, Duke’s is the best. I have to order it.

Start with good tuna -- that, of course, is defined differently by different people. Beyond that:

If I'm making it just for myself, I use mustard instead of the white glop. I'm going to put mustard on the bread, anyway, so I just mix it in from the start. If I have to share it with somebody else, I'll use Miracle Whip; I hate mayonnaise with a passion!

Extra ingredients? Usually pickle relish -- dill or sweet, depending on my taste at the time, but well drained. Chopped or sliced black olives are good. Never considered onion before, but that sounds good. Too lazy to boil the eggs, but they're good when someone else is making it! With enough onion I don't need the crunch of the celery (another vegetable I'm not thrilled about).

In any case, the most important thing is to have just enough wet stuff to hold it all together. A good tuna salad, in my mind, should be moist but not dripping.

I never got the mustard and tuna connection. The first time I ordered a tuna sub at Firehouse, I agreed to get it “fully involved”. I had to ask for a redo when it came with mustard. I love mustard, but I think it gets into a fistfight with tuna and wins by a TKO.

LOL and I think Miracle Whip is vile. Agree on using good tuna. I only use jarred packed in olive oil. I think the sweet relish is not my fave - prefer dill but it’s a Southern thing and I grew up with sweet relish in my tuna.

Yeah! For me, Best Foods mayo is an essential item when it comes to tuna, especially since, until recently, I've always just assumed it was the only thing used to prepare it. If we ever ran out of Best Foods here, I'd go to the ends of the Earth to find it before having to resort to Miracle Whip.

The OP's recipe sounds about like my mom's tuna salad when I was young - except no seasonings and she probably used Miracle Whip (ick). At my advanced age I'm lazy - just tuna and mayo. And I like the smoky flavor tuna in a pouch. I put it in a pita bread or on saltines.

Best mayo is Dukes. I order it online So good.

I’m a fan of the pouches too. I especially like the Thai chili one. We just open them over a salad or a baked potato for a quick lunch.

Wildflower puts almonds and apples in their tuna salad, with scallions, celery and mayo. i would never put mustard on tuna salad sandwich, but their grain mustard is so good, I let them leave it on. I'm going to try making it at home one of these days.

Oh! As a mayo enthusiast who can't (refuse) to eat any sandwich or burger without it lathered on generously, I'm going to try it asap. I assume that it can be ordered on amazon or something like that?

Looks like it's at Target and a far better deal - 32 oz. is cheaper there than 8 oz at Amazon, but apparently not available at all stores.

Go to http:www.Dukesmayo.com

RE: Dukes Mayo

Thanks! Probably going to check the Target's near my gym to see if they have it. If so, will pick up there, and perhaps order a batch of them afterwards. Not that I'm proud of this, but I'm probably one of the few who can...ah...relatively easily go through a jumbo sized Best Foods from Costco.

You can go to the Target website, pick your Target, and do a search for Dukes Mayo. It will tell you whether it's available at your store(s).