Quarantine dinner #33 Tuna salad

Something fishy going is on…

Tuna fish salad ether you like it or you don’t.

I am trying to think of foods that either you love or hate Like marmite

or surstromming that’s a hardcore love or hate option.

No in between like I’ll eat it but it’s not my favorite.

Tuna fish salad has been eaten for over 100 years back then tuna was cheaper than chicken. Now chicken is a few bucks for a whole one and pound of tuna is over 18.00 a pound.

The chicken salad was also very popular, but since tuna was cheaper then chicken people substituted tuna for chicken so that’s where the term chicken of the of the sea came from.

Albacore tuna was mild in flavor and light in color almost the same as chicken and in 1914 Fred van camp bought seafood company and called It van camp seafood company it later Rename it to chicken of the sea.

Which got sold to Purina in 1963 Purina also was famous for making dog food.

the other competitor Starkist was also sold that year to Heinz

FYI Starkist leading product was 9 lives cat food. Sorry, Charley.

Bumble bee was also a competitor and had its merger in 1961 everyone wanted tuna at that time in Nov 2019 Bumble bee filed for bankruptcy and is being sold.

Then there was the other poor cousin egg salad and the rich cousin shrimp salad.

The ingredients that connect all these salads is mayonnaise and celery.

For some reason mixed with mayonnaise is a salad like carrots, potatoes, crab, lobster, etc. means it’s a salad.

Other countries have the same-named salads but none have mayo.

There was one point in the ’50s where people incorporated celery flavored jello, tuna, And mayonnaise and would put it in a mold and serve it.

Later on Tuna in a can was used in casseroles and the 70’s they had tuna Helper it was like hamburger helper but for tuna.

Which brings me to my tuna fish salad!

It does not resemble anything like the dried brown ground scooped tuna as they have in the deli counter display.

Mine is loose and creamy with contrasting textures and flavors to make every bite interesting.

I combine about 6 7 minute eggs with The largest can I think it’s 12 oz. of solid white albacore tuna packed in oil..not all tuna Fish in a can are equal.

Also the oil version I think tastes better the packed in water version.

12 oz can solid white albacore tuna drained

I add ½ green apple diced medium

2 stalks of celery

I scallion chopped

I tablespoon of mustard.

6 7 minute eggs chopped

A couple of raisins (optional)

Kosher salt fresh ground pepper, garlic powered, onion powder, and 1-2tablespoons of curry powder it depends how much you like curry.

Mayonnaise start with ½ cup and add more if needed you want a smooth texture but not super loose…

All these measurements approximate I really just eyeballs my ingredients and do a lot of tasting.

Serve on a roll with lettuce and tomatoes and add some more fresh pepper on top of tomatoes with a pinch of salt. Tomatoes always need that. Or you can also serve it on toast, pita bread or even a lettuce wrap.

Cool, creamy, crunch, sweet, spicy, soft, chewy those are what you will get with one bite.

Done!