For me the perfect tuna melt has bread slices buttered and grilled (like with grilled cheese). Stuffed in between is tuna salad completed enrobed with melted cheddar. When eaten right away, the tuna salad is still cold. This is how a deli nearby used to make it, but sadly they shut down a few years ago. I crave it all the time, but can never get the cheese melted and still have the salad be cold in the middle. Anyway, I was looking for tips today and came across this humorous collection of opinions.: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/article/best-tuna-melt
Are you in Baltimore?
What a great question, except I wonder if Tuna melts are an Eastern thing.
We used to make them with English muffins, as described in your link, but I would never order one if I did see it on the menu. With canned tuna only, right?
I like mine like you like yours, only with Swiss instead of cheddar. Melted cheese on cold tuna salad is a thing of beauty. Either melt the cheese onto the bread or melt it by itself on a griddle and drape it over the cold salad. Mmmmmmm.
Same, but must be on good marble rye and the cheese
gruyere. Not sure what happened with the cheddar
because I love it, I just got turned off to it in on a tuna melt.
Piled high on a toasted English muffin half, topped with sliced red onion and good, thinly sliced cheddar. Then under the broiler to melt the cheese. Tuna is maybe lukewarm, the rest is toasty bliss.
Try buttering the bread slices and browning them in your pan of choice (mine would be cast iron), lightly on one side then flip, add cheese, lower heat, cover until cheese melts and bottom is brown (like an open-faced grilled cheese) then add cold tuna salad, close it, take a picture and eat it… with a dill pickle.
I normally do an open faced and broil it. Today, I did a sesame bun with Monterrey Jack and put it in my panini press. Tuna was made with dill pickle, celery, green onion, mayo and pepper. Delish!
Never had one, always thought it sounded super weird. And yet, I love anchovy pizza so maybe a fish and cheese sandwich isn’t all that scary. I’d still have to skip any mayo though, that’s a deal-breaker.
I think so but I don’t know why. We don’t have a strong old-school diner culture. Tuna melts and patty melts call to mind Woolworth’s and generations past. So what are we eating for lunch on the West coast instead, salads, sushi, and burritos?
Then you must be missing out on frico, which are great as garnish on salads and soups. Little “crackers” composed of nothing but cheese melted via griddle, nonstick frying pan, or baking sheet. Google “frico” for how-to directions. Or you could just buy Trader Joe’s Oven Baked Cheese Bites, which are pretty similar, though thicker.
I’m flexible on the bread, although I like marbled rye quite a bit. Swiss cheese melted over a tomato and then the tuna salad is added at the very end. Hot tuna salad is a no go - so I won’t even dare shoving it in the toaster. I also like deli mustard between the bread and the tomato.
and eat it… with a dill pickle.
