Southern-style Tuna Salad

My Southern-style tuna salad is an old family recipe, the one I grew up with. It’s like egg salad but, of course, with added tuna, like we make it in the Southern United States. 

Another short tale. Many years ago, I was on the board of the American Association of Malaysia. Once a month, we would meet to deal with association business and we would bring dishes to share for a working lunch. 

One month I made tuna salad sandwiches. They were fancy sandwiches, crusts cut off, this recipe inside. We were discussing some item on the agenda when the chairperson stopped short and looked right at me. “Your egg salad has tuna in it!” she exclaimed. My retort was “No, my tuna salad has eggs in it! Doesn't yours?” 

A lively discussion by the whole board (a mixed group of Americans from all over) followed whereby I learned that there seems to be a north-south divide. In the northern US states tuna salad does not have eggs, southern-style tuna salad does. Who knew? 

Growing up, this is the way I remember my grandmothers and my mother making the “dressing” for not only tuna salad but also potato salad (at least on the days when no one had the wherewithal to whip up homemade mayonnaise.) Homemade mayo was always preferred but, you know, who has time for that? (Another parenthetical aside: My elder daughter would disagree. She always has time for that and she is a pro at homemade mayo! But she is not with me right now and I cannot be bothered.) 

Southern-style Tuna Salad 

You can chop up the egg yolks along with the whites and just add them to the tuna salad but you’ll miss the opportunity to enrich the mayonnaise and mustard dressing and make it seem more like homemade. Trust me, it makes a difference in flavor somehow. 

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs

2 cans (5 oz or 142g) wild-caught chunk white albacore tuna in water

1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 medium onion

To garnish: chopped green onions and a good sprinkle of cayenne

Method

Drain the canned tuna in a sieve and use the can lid to press out as much liquid as you can. If you don't the tuna salad will be a bit "wet."

Cut the boiled eggs in half with a sharp knife and put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Mash them with a fork. 

Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings then grate in the onion. I use a microplane so the onion is very fine (and juicy) because I like the flavor but personally don’t like to find crunchy bits of onion in my tuna salad. You are welcome to mince the onion with a sharp knife if onion bits don’t bother you. Mix well. 

Chop the egg whites and add them to the mixing bowl, along with the tuna. Mix well to combine. 

Garnish with some chopped green onions and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, if desired. 

Chill until ready to serve. This tuna salad is great on bread rolls, sliced bread or crackers. It is perfect for a picnic. Just bring it chilled in the cooler, provide the appropriate starchy things and let everyone help themselves! 

Enjoy! 

This month my Fish Friday Foodie friends are going on a picnic. Check out all the picnic friendly recipes below! Many thanks to our host and organizer, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Fish Bread Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Salmon Salad Spread from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Louis Sandwiches from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Southern-style Tuna Salad from Food Lust People Love  
• Surimi (Imitation Crab) Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

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