Tuna Salad

[Juliebove]

Sadly, I can not eat this any more.  Or chicken salad either.  Not only can I not have eggs, but I can not have any fish or chicken either.  Yes, I could have turkey salad but I don't really like that so much. 

 

But I am going to make a big bowl of tuna salad for daughter to eat for the next couple of days.  For her I will keep it simple.  Green onions, celery, perhaps a bit of sweet pickle relish, salt, pepper and her favorite mayo.

 

But when I did eat it, I made it a variety of ways over the years.  My mom only ever put in chopped sweet pickles and Miracle Whip.  My brother loved Miracle Whip but didn't like it.  Didn't mind it so much in a tuna salad but would have preferred the mayo. 

 

My friend used all sorts of stuff from their garden.  She might add sliced radishes, chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, whatever they had.  It was really good.  A roommate taught me to use pickle relish and also added chopped onion.  And the cafeteria where I used to work added chopped hard cooked egg.  And sometimes I would add cubes of cheese or even some cottage cheese to the mix.

 

Then I moved to some other state.  Can't remember where I was at the time.  Bought some kind of seasoning.  I want to say that it was Old Bay but I don't want to falsely convict them if it wasn't their stuff.  I bought it because it said that it made good tuna salad.  And it did!  But in those days I didn't much look at the labels on stuff.  I didn't know of my food intolerances back then.  But when I did look, I was shocked to see that it had bread crumbs in it.  Say what?

 

Since then, I have noticed that prepared tuna salad often has a lot of stuff in it that we don't want to eat.  Like high fructose corn syrup.  And yes, bread crumbs!  So even restaurant tuna salad is suspect. 

 

Why do they do this?  Is it to save money?  Because bread is cheaper than tuna?  Is it to soak up any excess liquid?  I have had tuna salad go a bit watery on me, especially if I add too many wet vegetables to it.

 

How do you make your tuna salad? 

[love2travel]

Oh, poop.  So sorry you cannot it any more! 

 

My tuna salad is simple but tasty.  Must have:

 

- finely chopped red onion (love the sweetness and crunch)

- finely chopped celery

- capers and some caper juice

- fresh lemon juice

- homemade mayonnaise (aioli)

- S&P

 

Told you it is simple!  But sometimes it is a crime to add about 309 things to a tuna salad. 

[Lisa]

We live fairly close to the ocean, so fresh tuna is available most times.  We always buy extra and marinade a few steaks  for a day or two and then grill it on our smoker.  That's dinner with some oriental cole slaw and other grilled veggies.

 

The left overs are made into salad - mayo, capers, dill, salt and pepper.  I have some pickled green tomato relish that would be good instead of the capers.  I think I put capers in most things I cook....especially spaghetti sauce!   Yum

[love2travel]

We live fairly close to the ocean, so fresh tuna is available most times.  We always buy extra and marinade a few steaks  for a day or two and then grill it on our smoker.  That's dinner with some oriental cole slaw and other grilled veggies.

 

The left overs are made into salad - mayo, capers, dill, salt and pepper.  I have some pickled green tomato relish that would be good instead of the capers.  I think I put capers in most things I cook....especially spaghetti sauce!   Yum

Capers end up in many things at our house, too.  I even fry them quickly and sprinkle them on things that need a bit of extra crunch.  I LOVE them.

[alex11602]

I won't touch any seafood with a 10 foot pole, but I make all my salads (chicken, turkey or egg) the same. I definitely have to have Hellmans mayo and Guldens spicy brown mustard, other then that I will put in other things that I have in the fridge because my oldest doesn't like the salads. I have used small cubed cheese, diced up petite kosher dill pickles, celery, onion and other veggies.

[mbrookes]

Try a chopped up apple in tuna salad. It adds crunch and sweetness.

[CommonTater]

My recipe is the same for tuna and chicken salad. I add chopped onion, Duke's mayo and chopped dill pickle, that's it. 

[SensitiveMe]

I use Wild Planet brand tuna because it doesn't have soy in it like more regular brands and it is the most reasonably priced of the tunas that are only albacore tuna. So it is firm and not mushy like those with soy in them. And the can states it is low mercury.

 

And I use Earth Balance MindfulMayo which is egg, dairy, soy and preservative free. Actually I can eat eggs but not wheat, corn, soy, or lactose. But I use this mayo because it tastes good to me unlike canola oil mayos which I found so awful tasting that I couldn't tolerate them and threw them out.

 

If I don't have fresh celery to chop up and add in I will sprinkle some McCormick brand celery salt in it.

 

I might add a bit of chopped shallot or green onion if I have them.

 

And then a bit of salt and pepper.

[Nikki2777]

I hope Old Bay doesn't have bread crumbs - my husband has been using it to make the most amazing Brussels Sprouts (and I read the label, seemed fine)

 

As for tuna, I make what I call Mediterranean Tuna Salad:

 

Albacore

Feta Cheese crumbled

Olive oil

Chick Peas

Red Onions

Greek or Italian Herb blends

 

I have no idea of the proportions, but not too much OO or it gets gooey.