How often is it safe to eat tuna? Once a week?

My big bugaboo with sandwiches has always been keeping the bread from getting too soggy. Then I hit upon an obvious solution: toast the bread slightly first.

Always have to have red onion and capers.

Nobody believes me when I say this, but here goes anyhow. Put curry powder in it. I am serious. Make a deadly tuna salad according to however you like it, and then season with a very good amount of curry powder and mix it up. I season till mine is bright yellow. I've received rave reviews every time I've recommended this to someone.

That's how I make it Oneisco, with some slivered almonds and raisins, with a dab of yogurt or mayonaise. With some chips alongside.

And I think the mercury might be higher in the prettier white albacore, so I use regular light tuna in packets.

I have three, though my wife's version of #1 far exceeds mine.

1. Basic - A bit of mayo, some super-thinly sliced celery, celery salt, garlic powder, mustard powder, kosher salt, black pepper. Great on a sandwich, or my preferred, on stoned wheat thins.

2. Curried - as above, touch of mayo, curry powder, raisins..

3. Wasabi - Healthy spoonful (1 tbsp? more?) of wasabi powder, touch of mayo, few drips of dark sesame oil, few shakes of sesame seeds. Amazing.

Rinse very, very well and squeeze all remaining water out. Put the juice of at least one lemon on there. Then, either toss with lots of Dijon and a tiny bit of real mayo, lots of fresh herbs or some dried dill/oregano/basil/etc.; or toss with a Dijon vinaigrette made with nice olive oil. Put cheese or lettuce between the tuna and the slices of bread to keep from getting soggy. Or, even better, toss tuna with capers, vinaigrette, and cannelloni beans and eat on crackers!

I like my tuna with just a little bit of mayo, but then I pile it on wheat toast with lettuce, tomato, pickles, hots and dijon mustard. SO good.

Oh tuna salad, how do I love thee? Diced red onion is the critical ingredient in my mind. Just enough mayo, but not too much. And I admit, I have a special fondness for tuna melts--esp. with Havarti cheese, mmm...

empresscallipygos, why not carry your tuna in a separate container and then put the sandwich together once you decide to eat?

Oneisco, i'm seriously going to try the curry powder. Thanks!

I saw an episode of this show on Style network (cancelled)(they help people make healthier versions of their fav foods) and they made tuna salad using seseme oil, some sort of vinegar and onions (i think). It looked SOOOOO good! I'm still looking for the recipe. Anyone know the name of the show so i can look it up??

tuna, mayo, hard boiled egg, celery, onion, pickles. delicious!

I make a curried version with chopped Granny Smith apples and plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise. But the standard recipe at our house is mayo, sweet pickle cubes, celery or celery seed, salt and pepper.

Another favorite of mine, although it's a standalone salad and not a sandwich filling, is a can of good oil-packed tuna with about half the oil drained out, a huge handful of chopped parsley, a can of rinsed and drained canellini (white kidney) beans and a the juice of a whole lemon.

I make tuna the way my mother does. She calls it her "fluffy tuna sandwich."

She uses the Italian-style tuna packed in olive oil, drains it a bit, and then flakes it in a bowl with a fork--she flakes and flakes and flakes until the tuna becomes "fluffy." Then she adds a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise (the real stuff), a splash of vinegar or lemon juice (for a bit of acidity), a little salt and pepper, and then she spoons the mixture over soft, fresh, white bread. And there you have it: a fluffy tuna sandwich.

She sometimes adds a bit of finely minced onion for a bit of texture, too.

Gross. :-)

Diced red onion, mayo, soy sauce, tahini, curry powder, and a splash of lime. Pressed into a tuna melt with cheddar cheese, tomato, and avocado, on whole wheat.

We like our tuna salad a little decadent, though it isn't necessarily unhealthy. We use water packed (I agree--better flavor) solid white and add a little greek yogurt, a spoonful of homemade mayo, fresh chopped dill, zest of a lemon and a little squeeze of the juice, kosher salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper, a small tsp. dijon mustard, a hearty pinch of celery seed as well as some chopped fresh celery, a little grated carrot, a pinch of grated horseradish, and a small handful of diced apples (usually something tart, but sweet apples work nicely too). We serve it on toasted bread or with yummy crackers. I use a mandolin to get razor thin slices of tomato (for my husband's sandwich) and cucumbers (for mine) to top the sandwich. And we always eat our sandwiches with a crunchy dill pickle...there's something about the crisp juicy pickle that cuts through the tuna perfectly. Yum!

Not a sandwich but:

Couple of potatoes in the microwave. Open them up, let them cool, crumble with your fingers.

Tuna, egg, mayo, Dijon, onions and such.

Bake in muffin cups in a muffin tin until tops brown. Cool.

Great with some siracha.

I got this idea from Marcella Hazan - Soak some thinly sliced onions in cold water to get the sting out. Wring them out, add to a can of tuna with olive oil, white beans, salt and pepper. Diced tomatoes are nice in there too.

I
love
tuna
sandwiches.

When I went pescetarian a few years ago, it became one of the few things I could reliably get to eat when I went out to restaurants with my omnivorous [family, friends, acquaintances], and the really nice thing about tuna sandwiches in restaurants was the big ol' chunks of tuna and flavorful dressings.

When I make it myself, the dill is vital: either dried dill out of a bottle, or good chunky dill-pickle relish drained a little. THEN, a tiny bit of mayo, a little dijon, and whatever is at hand and looking appetizing: salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, tasty salad dressings, leftover vegetables... I think tuna salad might be my best canvas sandwich.

Oneisco, curry powder sounds AMAZING. Thanks for the tip!

I like mine with dill, red onion, lemon, mayo, a dash of woostershire (yeah, I don't know how to spell it) and finely chopped celery. Seasoning well with Salt & Pepper seems to go a long way too.

If no fresh ingredients are on hand I go for sweet relish, mayo and dried dill.

We prefer the solid white packed in water but it does contain significantly more mercury than the chunk light (which we think is like cat food) so we eat it less frequently. Maybe once a month.

I make mine with finely diced red onions and golden delicious apples, bit of mayo, maybe some chopped parsley...

My favourite though, is the Italian tuna bun my husband makes -- a split ciabatta bun, Italian tuna in olive oil, capers, sun dried tomatoes... forget now what else, but it is amazing! It gets better as everything soaks into the bread a bit...

Anyone else love tuna melts?

I like to use Hellman's canola mayo, celery, salt, pepper, and maybe a finely sliced green onion. I don't eat much tuna salad these days though because I know tuna is getting pretty overfished.

Can't resist a tuna melt from the diner occasionally, though. :)

kwhit9tl: "... pile it on wheat toast with lettuce, tomato, pickles, hots and dijon mustard."

what's "hots"?

How funny! I just made one because I had been craving tuna salad for some reason. I used dill, gala apples, brown mustard, lemon juice, and greek yogurt. I threw it on a bed of greens and then satisfied my urge.

How funny. I only ate tuna fish the way my mother made it ... plenty of miracle whip, celery and sweet relish on white toast. At 22, my roommate made me a tuna sandwich with just dab of mayo, red onions and lots of black pepper. It was a revelation ... "there's more than one way to make a tuna fish sandwich!"

I always add celery, cilantro, roasted and diced green hatch chili's (new mexico), a bit of serrano, and some kind of alium.

I tend to use too much mayo and have started to reduce. I always use albacore.

I've never been a big seafood eater, but I love albacore tuna, and ever since I can remember, I've made it the way my mum made it for me when I was a kid.
I use a tblsp or two of light mayo ( I always thought regular mayo was too sweet), two stalks of diced celery, a dash of lemon juice, probably a 1/3 tsp cumin (give or take) and a good dose of s p. Sometimes I add a bit of scallion or onion powder if I'm lazy.
I'll eat this out of the bowl, on (buttered) toast with lettuce, in salad or on wasa bread or really anything cracker like. Sooooo good!!!

this is my favorite recipe:

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/lunch-box/stuffed-pitta-pockets

sometimes, i make it with canned salmon instead, and i always eat it out of a bowl (no pita).

I do my tuna salad with curry, toasted seasame oil, cilantro, and toasted sesame seeds. And just enough mayo to hold it together. Oh it's delicious. I made it up as a road food when my fella's band went out for a week or so. It was gone by the end of the day. I had made four big cans and now twice that is demanded for the next trip.

I'm probably dating myself when I mention "Tuna Twist." It was a very short-lived kind of Tuna Helper (but for tuna salad) back in the early 80s. I never actually tried it, but I still make tuna salad today based on the jingle from the TV commercials ... "I'm Sir Celery, I'm Miss Parsley, we are the Onion Twins .."

So I usually add finely chopped celery, a bit of minced parsley, a bit of minced onion ... and then I branch out and add pickle relish, hard-boiled egg and Miracle Whip.

Weird, I was just about to make a tuna sandwich for lunch.

My tried and true way is the golden trifecta of mayonnaise, dijon (or ancienne-style) mustard and white wine vinegar. When I don't have white wine vinegar, I sometimes use rice vinegar. Red onions, salt and pepper.

Today I'm going to make it with diced celery, mayo, dijon, dill, salt and pepper, on sourdough bread.

Sometimes I like to cut up tiny pieces of those little spicy Persian/Arabic pickles.

I love tuna so much, especially on nicoise salads.

I've always liked it with curry and currents, but Italian oild packed tuna, beets, hardboiled eggs and rice mixed with a tahini (Goddess) dressing is my new fave. Every once in a while since the mercury is a concern.

Okay, I actually just added walnuts and pea shoots to my tuna sandwich. YUM

Nordstrom Cafe makes one of my favorite tuna sandwiches. At home, I sub sour cream of Fage for mayo.

I love tuna salad, but only if I am the one making it.
Definitely mayo, no miracle whip. And I almost always use curry powder, dill and a pinch of garlic powder.

It's also good with ranch dressing powder and mayo. That needs a squeeze of lemon too.

Sometimes I add a dash of Old Bay seasoning too. And if I am feeling fancy I add a hard boiled egg. No crunchy things in my tuna salad thank you.

And tuna melts are fantastic on the pita flatbread, not the pocket kind of pita, especially with shredded provolone.

My favorite tuna salad is: tuna with cannellini beans, fresh parsley, capers, kalamata olives, minced onion, minced celery and halved cherry tomatoes with olive oil and lemon. Delish!

I like my tuna salad made with olive oil packed tuna, a little mayo, mustard, pickle relish, and capers. No draining of the olive oil either!

I grew up on my dad's preferred version though: drained chunk light in water, lots of mayo, celery, and chopped pecans.

Either version sandwiched between seeded multigrain or rye bread with spinach is perfect.

As for safety, I'm not sure. EPA and FDA have conflicting views on the matter. Anecdotally, my father ate tuna sandwiches several days a week for over 20 years. He's still hale and hearty and still has his hair.

Tabasco (Brand) Mayonnaise, where available. No, adding Tabasco to normal mayonnaise doesn't taste the same. Frickin' delicious.

My secret ingredient, however, is buttermilk. Just a tiny splash, maybe 2 teaspoons. I swear, it makes a world of difference.

Also, I've always kept lemon pepper on hand for pretty much only using in tuna salad. Other than that, I'm open to all variations imaginable (olive oil, anchovies, wasabi, curry, pickles, capers, etc.), mainly based on my whims at the moment I'm making it.

Olive oil, smoked paprika, fresh chopped garlic, flat-leaf parsley, chickpeas, fresh lemon juice, black pepper and Maldon salt.

Good on strips of roasted bell pepper.

Lay off the tuna if you're pregnant. Not sure I'd be giving it to kids these days. I doubt it does the rest of us all that much harm if we don't eat it every single day.

I freaked out a few months ago when I broke a compact fluorescent bulb because I knew we are supposed to clean up and dispose of them very carefully as they contain mercury. I wound up writing to the EPA reference library about it and got an interesting answer which is that they are very cautious in making cleanup recommendations because they don't know what the long-term effects will be of cleaning up multiple bulbs, but that your average bulb has considerably less mercury in it than a can of tuna.

I like to use a mix of mayo and sour cream. About a spoonful of each. I think the pickle relish is a must. Also I like it really crunchy... I always put celery and onion, but one time I had some extra radish and carrot which I diced real small and threw in there... tasty and colorful to boot!

I don't often get fancy with the spices, mainly stick to salt and pepper, but the paprika and curry sound GREAT.

Clearly a popular topic! I too am a big fan of tuna salad sands, in fact I made one for lunch today. My fave is Genova Yellow fin packed in olive oil - drained and mixed with Best Foods Mayo, green or red onion, ground white pepper on La Brea bread with sweet pickles and tomato soup on the side. I also like a tuna melt in pocket pita bread with Colby cheddar or scoops of tuna on a traditional green salad with hardboiled eggs, marinated artichokes, pickled beets, cucumber, tomatoes, garbanzo beans and crunchy croutons.

I've had a curry version with grapes or apples and walnuts or almonds but I'm not a major fan - it's ok.

I second a good Nicoise salad with olives and potatoes, capers, cornichon pickles and warm bread.

I like the ideas of smoked paprika, cannellini beans and an Asian version with shoyu and sesame oil - have to try those.

Thanks everyone!

Peas!!! I know, it sounds strange, but it's so good!

I use albacore, mayo, fresh dill & petite frozen peas (just defrosted), mayo, salt & pepper. The peas add a nice 'pop' & texture.

Otherwise, I love the basic mayo, mustard, red onion with the addition of chopped or sliced basic black, canned OLIVES!!! So yummy!!!!

i copied this recipe from whole foods. basically it's tuna, dried cranberries, red onion, lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper. i don't really know the proportions, i just make it to taste.

on a side note, the best tuna salad i've ever had was in a bahn mi. i've been trying to replicate it for months!

So many great ideas to try! Can't wait to make some tuna salad - first up - with some curry powder!

I haven't mastered tuna salad just yet, I never like it when I make it. I do love the tuna mousse from Chocolate and Zucchini. It has tuna, shallot, granny smith apple, cilantro, lime juice, cream cheese or goat cheese, and a small amount of chili powder. It's so easy, I just toss it in the food processor. When I first saw the recipe, the ingredients just looked like a bizaare combination, but I had to try it. It's probably not quite thick enough for a sandwich, but it's great with crackers or Triscuits.

I know everyone doesn't have Old Bay, but in good old Maryland...Old Bay sprinkled on top of tuna mixed with Mayo is tasty!!

I can't do tuna and mayo, I just can't. Tuna salad is the main reason I didn't touch seafood till I was in my 20s. 'nuff said.