Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Culinary evidence (old cookbooks, menus etc.) confirms meat (ham) and mayonnaise-type salads were popular in America from colonial times to the present. These were culinary traditions brought to our shores by European (esp. German) settlers. Lobster and chicken salads were most common and extremely popular in the mid-late 19th century. Tuna salad is an early twentieth century recipe. Why? Because canned tuna was first introduced and mass marketed to the American public in 1903. American cookbooks in the 1930s and 1940s offer tuna salad recipes as alternatives to salads made from chicken and turkey. One might conclude this fishy substitution was not immediately embraced on its own merits.

"Tuna Salad Popular. In California the tuna is beign introduced generally in the best restaurants, not only because it is new, but because people are beginning to value it for what it is. Tuna salads are getting to be popular. The housekeeper can prepare the fish in a dozen different ways."
---"Tuna Now Popular Fish Food," Christian Science Monitor, February 19, 1913 (p. 11)

Mom's Tuna Salad Sandwiches

There are other add-ins that people like in their tuna salad: green onions, finely chopped red onion, a touch of mustard, pickle relish, fresh herbs, lemon juice, capers, even chopped up apples. The recipe below is how Mom always made it, and how I ususaly make my tuna salad.

One can of tuna makes only about 1 1/2 sandwiches anymore. Cans used to be 7 ounces and you could get two sandwiches out of it; now they are only 5 ounces.

For the tuna salad:
Canned tuna fish, drained
Mayonnaise
Celery, very thinly sliced

For the sandwich:
Bread: whole wheat, oatmeal, or rye is good
Butter
Lettuce leaves, or fresh alfalfa sprouts

Mix tuna fish with enough mayonnaise to make it spreadable; you don’t want it swimming in mayonnaise. Add finely sliced celery to your liking. Spread bread with butter (a must for me), tuna fish, and add a lettuce leaf or alfalfa sprouts. Top with a second piece of bread. Cut in two diagonally.

Other breads could be used such as hamburg rolls or croissants. Toasted bread is also nice.

Also good as a filling for tiny cream puffs to be served as hors d'Ouerves; add some capers for a special touch.