Funny story but I decided this morning to start researching sandwiches more consistently and I just randomly picked “tuna salad”. And as it turns out the latest viral sandwich video on TikTok is the tunacado by a chain restaurant called Joe and Juice. From the menu on the web site I see something that looks like a flat bread with what they call a tuna mousse, avocado slice (tuna+avocado=tunacado), big horking chunks of tomato, a splash of pesto, there’s some dill in the picture (which I fully endorse!), and I believe some green onions.
In general, I like all of these ideas (there’s also a spicy version which subs in big chunks of pickled Jalapeno) but there’s more than a few warning signs for an experienced sandwich maker that this sandwich is going to be a sloppy mess. And after watching even a few TikTok videos of people eating it, I’ve had my suspicions confirmed: nice idea, terrible execution.
The big culprit here is the avocado slices. As anyone who has ever eaten a sandwich with avocado slices on it will attest, they literally just slide right out. Alton Brown taught us all to use a fork to smash the avocado into the toasted bread (which he then put sardines on) and that works to a degree but also smashes your bread and isn’t foolproof.
Once you venture into smashed avocado territory, you might as well go all the way and take it to a bowl. It gives you a lot more control over your final product. You can add a little lime, salt, pepper, or hey, add onion, garlic, and tomato and call it guac! The point here is that slices of avocado look ok, but are impractical.
This is especially true if your main protein is in goop form, which this sandwich is. I like they they have tried to fancy up the tuna by calling it a “mousse” and maybe they actually do make a legit mousse. But the tiktoker who popularized this sandwich just put her tuna into a food processor with some mayo. That, friends, is NOT a mousse. Consensus on a good recipe for “tuna mousse” comes from David Shalleck’s book Mediterranean Summer. It’s a recipe which is endorsed by David Lebovitz and Michael Chiarello. Tuna is blitzed in a food processor with a little balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice and then critically butter and heavy cream. I’m not a Michelin star chef but I vaguely remember that fish “mousse” needs some treatment like this to be a proper mousse.
But even this will result in a goop and goops and pastes don’t work well in sandwiches. Anyone who has made a hummus sandwich knows this. Loose goop sinks s’wiches!
So, I have a couple theories that I’m going to test out this weekend.
The easiest idea is just switching to pita bread. Goopy sandwiches do well in an enclosed space. So, I will try the pita bread approach with the tuna mousse.
The second idea is also very simple: just move the avocado in to the tuna salad. Cut the avocado into bite sized pieces and mix them into your tuna salad mix! Super easy and no food processor required. That mix can be put on some good ole fashioned “dad bread”* and eaten with sliced tomatoes and even pickled jalapenos. Or even better: topped with Tim’s Cascade Jalapeno flavored chips!
*Wholemeal with nuts, seeds, and oats
Damn you for making me hungry at 3:00…
Wholehearted agreement about avocado slices. Had some slide out of a turkey burger last night. Chunks are a great idea – thanks!
I’m also firmly on the jalapeno train with tuna salad. Can be whole slices or you can cut them into smaller pieces and mix in with tuna salad.
Any tuna salad without pickles or relish (and I’m partial to a sweet flavor here, to contrast with the spice of the jalapeno) is not a tuna salad in my book.
I’m more of a fan of banana peppers than jalapeno. But agree on the pickle relish mixed in, though not so much the sweet kind.
I bowl-smoosh my avo, get it chunky, add fresh ground pepper, finely chopped fresh jalapeno, squeeze of fresh lime and stop the whole thing before it goes full guac.
Then tuna, mayo and whatever else for crunch: celery, shaved red onion, etc.
The mix then goes into a toasted whole wheat or whole grain sub/hero bun.
I’m more of a burger lover than sandwich. My all time favorite is a BBQ sauce dipped breast fillet burger (spicy mayo). Might sample a tuna sandwich soon.
How is it with avocado? My tuna is very simple: tuna, lime juice, scallions, lots of black pepper and just enough mayo to get it to hold together. On toasted sourdough.
I’m with you.
Gotta add hard boiled egg and sweet relish to that tuna if you’re gonna eat it in the southland…
And a splash of Neymar’s tears. 😎
Not too broken up about Brazil losing. Martinelli back earlier.
The Agr-Netherlands match was entertaining to watch. But the ref lost it in the second half. Not sure how Paredes was not sent off for kicking the ball at the Ducth bench after a nasty yellow card tackle.
Definitely looking forward to the England-France match tomorrow.
And damn. RIP Grant Wahl.
Wild, wild quarterfinals.
– Brazil’s midfield never matched 3 v 3 with Croatia, couldn’t control the game which cost them in added time. Still should have won on the balance of chances but couldn’t shoot either side of Livakovic. They never brought on Martinelli which I felt was a mistake. It took a lot of mistakes to dump this amazing Brazil team out but they contrived to do it.
– Argentina is a mess. Scalloni has them lining up with 9 water carriers + Messi. If he doesn’t do the magic, they don’t score. Luckily for them, he did, and it still almost wasn’t enough. It’s sad because they don’t have to play that way. I want them to win the Cup for Messi’s sake but the football they play doesn’t deserve it.
– England may have a golden generation but without Bukayo Saka, who is creating the chances? Nobody, it seems. Not Mount, not Foden, not even Bellingham or Kane. Saka was England’s best player against France and all tournament, and Southgate subbed him out in favor of an out of form Sterling. Emblamatic of a manager who managed to make less of more all tournament.
– All the pre-tournament talk was about Messi and Ronaldo, but the best player in the world for a few years now has been Kylian Mbappe. With Brazil and England out, they are now the prohibitive favorites to lift back to back World Cups, and just as in 2018, KM is the biggest reason why. A human cheat code, he frees space for everyone else and still scores his own.
– Morocco is my favorite team and favorite story of the tournament. Runs like theirs are why I love the World Cup. I think they will lose, at last, to France who are superior in every way, but it has been such a fun ride. Their coach has not gotten enough credit. Their talent level is not that high but he has had them better organized than any team in the competition.
Good observations Dr.G. Agree with most of them. I’ve seen it suggested that Saka was taken off as he was tiring, perhaps from being fouled so much and fresh legs were needed to help against Mbappe. I’d have to rewatch to see if that’s the case. But he was definitely their biggest threat, and taking him off for the ineffective Sterling hurt.