I haven’t found water-packed tuna to be dry. I do personally find oil-packed to have a greasy mouth feel I find offputting. I don’t think there is any difference in species between the two methods - certainly nothing on the can and from what I know of the long-line fishing industry nothing but the roughest sorting for what ends up in cans. What ends up as filets and steaks is a different matter.
Since you like fat oil-packed tuna is tantamount to a marinade and I can certainly see the attraction. It avoids the extra step of adding fat in during preparation.
We both of course need to be aware of mercury levels. sigh
For those with a few minutes giardiniera is an easy quick pickle. Cauliflower, bell peppers, pepperocini, carrots, and celery marinated in olive oil, red or white wine vinegar, herbs, and spices. A little red onion does not go amiss although not traditional.
There’s a pretty good spicy tuna onigiri (rice ball) that I’ve had from Japanese convenient stores. I don’t have a specific recipe but these are a nice alternative to the typical sandwich for lunch. Note: this isn’t the same as the spicy tuna sushi rolls that you may see on US menus. The onigiri uses canned, cooked tuna.
I understand the point about greasiness, but that factor diminishes if you let it sit in a strainer for 20 minutes or so, maybe with a stir.
But many tunas are labeled by variety–like Yellowfin, Bonito (the latter being a close relative to tuna)–and there’s no mistaking Yellowfin for Albacore (my least favorite). I mostly use pole-line-caught, so I guess those fishers can be more particular about harvested varieties. It hadn’t occurred to me that tuna in a can would be made from random species, but the long-line approach could certainly make it happens as you say.
Easy Italian-style antipasto from mid-century Winemakers’ cookbook. This used to be a cocktail party staple for us, and more recently dragged out for pre-dinner party drinks accompaniment.
Here’s another oldie from the Winemakers’ Cookbook. A twist on tuna noodle casserole, this one goes Italian with tomato, wine and herbs. I have usually used bowties instead of long pasta which creates a kind of mock-ravioli dish. Always a hit at pot-lucks.
My parents in law use vast quantities of tinned tuna to make a very popular Bengali snack called machher chop, which are fish croquettes with Indian spicing. I have no idea why croquettes are called chops in Bengali. They adapted the classic Bengali recipe, using tinned tuna as that was what they could easily get their hands on in 1980s Australia. They make a few hundred at a time for the big religious festivals or when they come to visit us. We obviously don’t eat hundreds at a time but they freeze well so we package them up in bags of 6 and store them in our garage freezer and just pop them in the oven as needed. There are tons of recipes on the internet.
