I’m curious to try something like this. I make a curried egg salad and chicken salad that has curry powder, mayo, sometimes yogurt, a sweet fruit component, slivered almonds, cilantro, lime juice, etc. in it, and I’ve always wondered how it would go with tuna. I’m thinking it would go well with tuna steaks that have been cut up, but maybe some of the more intact styles of canned tuna would work well, too,
I wouldn’t call it ‘flavourless crap’, but… I switched to albacore after I moved out in the '80s. After several years, I realised that chunk-light had more flavour ant switched to that. Then I wanted tuna sandwiches like I had when I was a kid, and went back to chunk-light in oil. The albacore just didn’t have the intensity I wanted (hence, some interesting ingredients in the '80s) and was too dry.
Many years ago, I enjoyed experimenting with tuna. I would make a tub of tuna salad by adding Italian dressing, grated Parmesan cheese, and chopped mushrooms to the standard mayo and hard-boiled eggs. (I may have thrown in some chopped celery and onion too, and some garlic; I don’t really remember.)
Sounds a little weird now, but I assure you it was tasty. My housemates loved it; one evening I watched one of them consume an entire tub of tuna salad before devouring a carton of strawberry ice cream. (No, he wasn’t stoned; he was just a hungry, though far from starving, artist.)
I hardly ever make tuna salad and probably never the same way twice but capers and hot giardiniera are often prominently featured. If I discover I am out of onion, I doubt I’d make tuna salad at all. A spoonful of dijon mustard is good, too.
Cilantro has been known to sneak in there from time to time.
My mom used to make it with apples which was nice at the time but I don’t know if I’d like it now.
The eggy ones others have described here do sound tasty.
A family sized pack of tuna in water, 3 heaps of Hellman’s, a large stalk of celery, salt & pepper.
Tuna in water, drain the can. For each can of tuna, add 1 tablespoon each of sweet relish, spicy brown mustard, miracle whip or mayo. If too dry, add more mayo. Season with celery seed, season salt, fresh ground pepper. My tuna salad sandwich needs to be on toast with a slice of cheese.
Cheap tuna in water, drained.
Stalk of celery, chopped small.
Shallots, or if I don’t have shallots, whatever onion is around, chopped very fine, about 1/4 cup.
Roasted red peppers, chopped, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
Sweet pickles, chopped. 1/4 to 1/2 cup. I’ll use sweet relish if I don’t have whole pickles, but it doesn’t taste the same.
Enough mayo to hold it all together.
Salt, pepper and paprika.
Sometimes some chili powder.
On toasted white bread, still warm.
A tablespoon of sage-based poultry seasoning (e.g., Bell’s) works well in standard tuna salad. So does adding a couple of chopped up dill pickles.
Tuna, chopped onion, finely chopped celery, sliced green olives, shredded cheddar cheese. Mix it up and add a dash or two of onion salt - to taste - and just a bit of juice from the olives jar. Serve on buttered toast.
Ingredients differ slightly if I’m making tuna salad for a sandwich or for a stand-alone salad.
For a sandwich: water pack tuna, Miracle Whip, minced onion, garlic powder
For a salad: water pack tuna, Miracle Whip, chopped celery, chopped onion, chopped green olives and a splash of the olive liquid, and sometimes some mini-shell pasta
I use greek yogurt instead of mayo for tuna salad or chicken salad; gives it a bit of tangy.
For tuna salad, it’s chunk light tuna in water, chopped sweet pickles or relish, lots of dill, lemon juice, salt and lots of pepper. With enough greek yogurt to make it cohesive.
Solid white tuna in water.
Finely chop: red onion, celery (with greens), bit of jalepeno, dill pickle or two.
Mayo (not too much).
Dijon mustard (smidge)
Ffresh ground pepper (generous).
A 1:1 (or, at most, 2:1) blend of canned tuna and jarred caponata.
Mmmmmm…
White albacore packed in water, drained
Lemon juice
Hellman’s
Chopped celery
Diced onion
Salt/pepper
Dill (optional)
Refrigerate at least one hour to allow flavors to meld.
LeftHand’s and BigGirl’s mods sound like they’re worth a try.
This is my favorite summer salad. So easy!!
Large can of water packed tuna
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Capers
Red onion
Chopped artichoke hearts
Kalamata olives
Chopped Italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Whole grain penne pasta, if you would like to add some bulk
Measure ingredients to your taste, stir together, enjoy! Once in a while, I like to add some chopped rosemary. If I don’t use the penne, I like serving this over chopped romaine lettuce.
Tuna packed in water, diced boiled egg, minced onion, finely diced celery, Miracle Whip, sweet relish, celery seed, salt and pepper.
On white bread. Or white toast.
My go-to recipe is also what I grew up with:
Water-packed tuna
Miracle Whip
Diced dill pickle
Elbow macaroni
Hard-boiled egg (in my version, I only use the egg white because I strongly dislike hard boiled egg yolk)
Maybe some paprika and/or red pepper flake.
I eat it as is, not as part of a sandwich.
We don’t really measure, but here’s a fairly representative recipe:
2 cans chunk light tuna, packed in water (the inexpensive kind)
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup finely diced green olives (with pimientos)
1/2 cup finely diced onions (green is ideal, yellow work, and so do dried diced onions)
Add Mayonnaise (usu. Duke’s) and stir until it’s the right consistency.
Sometimes we add dill, although it’s not a standard thing. The recipe also works well for chicken salad- just sub in some kind of cold cooked chicken for the tuna- we’ve used leftover rotisserie chicken, leftover fried chicken, boiled chicken breasts, roast thighs, etc… it really doesn’t matter as long as it’s not strongly flavored of something other than chicken.
Chunk tuna in water, drained. Add 5mls roughly of apple cider or balsamic vinegar, mayo until just wet, chives or finely chopped green onion, salt and pepper. If it’s just for me I’ll swap the vinegar for key lime juice and a bit of dill or tarragon, preferably on sourdough or a good french loaf.
This is one of the few sandwiches where I like having the bread buttered so it doesn’t go soggy right away.
I think I’m going to have to experiment with the african version listed upthread, maybe with some Nando’s or harrisa…
I’m going to have to try this.