[Collegiate Meals] Two Way Tuna Sandwiches

There's nothing wrong with canned Tuna fish. I know plenty of people that won't eat it. But I was raised in South Florida where fresh warm water seafood can be found just about everywhere and at a reasonable cost. So a variety of seafood made up my diet growing up and I just love it.

Canned tuna fish provides an interesting base platform - for experimentation of course. You've probably seen or at least heard of someone plopping in some mayo and dumping whatever seasoning within arms reach. Well my friend, there's no mayo here. In fact, I just came up with both of these "recipes" about an hour ago.

The salsa tuna was inspired from canida's comment here. Where else can I use salsa? America's favorite (by consumption) condiment.

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On the subject of seafood. Should you ever find yourself in the Florida Keys, specifically Marathon Key, do stop at Keys Fisheries and try to Lobster Reuben. If you told me I would die next week, that's one stop I'd be making ;) The cost is decent (it's counter service) and you get to eat on the docks of their marina ;) Guess how many Lobster Reubens served that month and you'll get a free one for next visit ;)

Alternatively, if you find yourself in Dania (not far fro Ft. Lauderdale) stop at the Rustic Inn Crab House - try the garlic crabs and bring a fresh change of clothing. Be prepared to leave fuller and your wallet a little thinner (garlic crabs are $26). If possible, eat on the barge or on the dock ;)

Step 1: Ingredients

2 Cans of Tuna
Tomato Salsa (however some sort of fruit salsa sounds good too)
Pesto
Tiny Bit of good olive oil
4 Slices of bread - toasted

Comments

[zombiehunter96]

Hey man I just love these recipes of yours Im 13 and I have just recently started cyberschooling and befor summer i had a lot of your food for lunch and this one is my favorite! I enjoy your food because its quick simple and good tasting.

[whatsisface]

I make some mean tuna melt toasties: Toast 2 pieces of bread in toaster / under grill Mix up some canned tuna and sweetcorn, with mayonnaise to taste Grate cheese onto one piece of toast, melt cheese under grill Spread tuna sweetcorn onto other piece of toast Sandwich together and wolf it down :D

[depeche_kid]

id be more concerned about your hair. eat the food theres more dangerous things in life. you could get killed walking your doggie or a trip to the bank.

[ewilhelm]

I've been avoiding canned Tuna due to mercury concerns, and have read a lot of seemingly conflicting evidence on just how much mercury is in canned Tuna. Does anyone have a trusted reference on this?

[trebuchet03]

I didn't even think about that! I just did some journal searching...

Apparently, the problem may be big enough for Bumblebee to go off into other meat types.... chicken.

From: Brandweek; 12/4/2006, Vol. 47 Issue 45

Poor category sales move canned tuna purveyor to explore new territories

CANNED TUNA COMPANIES have been scrambling to revive a sluggish category that has seen relatively scant innovation while being inundated with consumer concerns about the amount of mercury in their products.

Now, Bumble Bee feels it has hooked a big catch with what it is calling an industry first: premium, precooked, marinated, shelf-stable chicken fillets in pouches.

I found this in: National Wildlife; Aug/Sep2006, Vol. 44 Issue 5

A - HARVESTED SUSTAINABLY: BEST CHOICES
B - FISHERIES CONCERNS: CAUTION
C - OVERFISHED: AVOID
LOW mercury (less than 0.10 ppm)
A: Catfish (farmed)
Clams (farmed)
Crab: Dungeness
Crab: Snow (Canada)
Lobster: Spiny/Rock (U.S., Aus.)
Mussels (farmed)
Salmon (Alaska, wild-caught)
Salmon (canned)
Sardines
Shrimp/Prawns (trip-caught)
Sturgeon (farmed)
Tilapia (farmed)
LOW mercury (less than 0.10 ppm)
B: Clams (wild-caught)
Cod: Pacific
Crab: Blue
Crab: King (Alaska)
Crab: Snow (U.S.)
Flounder: Summer/Fluke
Oysters (wild-caught)
Pollock
Scallops: Say
Scallops: Sea
Shrimp (U.S. farmed and wild)
Sole (Pacific)
Squid
LOW mercury (less than 0.10 ppm)
C: Caviar (wild-caught)
Crab: King (imported)
Flounder (Atlantic except Summer)
Rochfish/Rock Cod (Pacific)
Salmon (farmed/Atlantic)
Shrimp (imported)
Sole (Atlantic)
Sturgeon (wild-caught)
Tuna: Bluefin
MODERATE mercury (0.10-0.40 ppm)
A: Bass: Saltwater
Bluefish
Carp: Common[*]
Catfish (channel)[*]
Halibut
Pike: Northern[*]
Tuna: Albacore (troll/pole caught)
Tuna: Yellowfin (troll/pole caught)
Walleye[*]
MODERATE mercury (0.10-0.40 ppm)
B: Lobster; Northern/American
Mahi Mahi/Dolphinfish/Dorado
Tuna: Albacore (longline-caught)
Tuna (canned Chunk Light)
Tuna (canned White Albacore)[*]
Tuna: Yellowfin (longline-caught)
MODERATE mercury (0.10-0.40 ppm)
C: Cod: Atlantic/Icelandic
Halibut: Atlantic
Monkfish
Snapper: Red
Tilefish[**]
HIGH mercury (greater than 0.40 ppm)
A: Bass: Largemouth[*]
Mackerel: King[**]
Tuna: Bigeye (troll/pole caught)
HIGH mercury (greater than 0.40 ppm)
B: Tuna: Bigeye (tongline-caught)
HIGH mercury (greater than 0.40 ppm)
C: Chilean Sea Bass/Toothfish
Grouper
Orange Roughy
Shark[**]
Swordfish[**]

• Mercury levels in freshwater sport fish may vary widely, so it is

important to tallow state fish consumption advisories for locally
caught fish; ** FDA recommends that women of childbearing age and
young children avoid these species.
THE THREE categories below are based on Monterey Bay Aquarium data
about fisheries health. Mercury levels, compiled by NWF, are based
on U.S. government statistics. White type indicates fish with
insufficient mercury data.

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Any everywhere seems to agree that the source of from burning coal (which releases mercury into the air among other things).

I've also read that it takes 60-90 days for the human body to process out half of mercury in your system. Although that's nice to think and all, the article didn't say for what quantity.

I think I am going to go throw out the albacore I have left over (on the Moderate list for mercury content). They say its fine for adults because brain development has stopped... Puh, the final stage of brain development happens between the age of 18 and 25. Thanks for bringing this up :)

[ewilhelm]

I hate to rain on your parade! Sorry! A while ago, I decided I was going to eat primarily fish. It was great until I realized just much we've screwed up one of our best food sources by over fishing and burning coal. It's a really depressing moment and I know exactly how you feel. Right now, I eat a lot of salmon, crab, mussels, shrimp, scallops, catfish and other "young", low-mercury critters. I save my tuna consumption for sushi. Wild Pacific canned salmon is pretty good. It's going to be more pricey, but at least you don't have to worry about mercury and it is nominally caught in a sustainable way.

[Llewner]

(removed by author or community request)

[leebryuk]

People shouldn't get too twisted up about this. The relative risk is very low. How many people here smoke? Far worse than eating fish a couple of times a week. And need I mention the pumpkin bong instructable?

Car driving. Very, very bad. 40,000 people a year die from car wrecks. Oh, and right at 50% of those wrecks are alcohol related. How many people can truthfully say they never got behind the wheel after drinking? Or being drowsy and dog tired?

car exhaust isn't the most healthy thing either. A lot of money goes into decreasing the harm from exhaust. The easiest way to decrease the harm would be for people to drive less aggressively, combine trips, partner up on commutes and keep the tires inflated to their proper pressure.

Cardiovascular disease. The most common way to leave the party on Earth. Cars promote inactivity. Slouching around in the driver seat leaves a lot of time not moving around. The lack of activity increases obesity rates. Bicycling commuting rocks, unless you live in most of the US. Poor driver behavior, lack of alternative routes, and most frustratingly is a total lack of bike parking when you get to your destination.

Eating fish helps vascular help by two ways. One, you are replacing high fat animal protein with lower fat seafood. Two, most seafood has protective factors against cardiovascular disease.

I guess what I am saying is that the relative risk from eating fish is pretty small compared to the positives that come from it. We do far more dangerous things daily that will definitely end our lives.

Check the following studies.

Pregnant Women Should Eat Fish After All, Experts Urge

Benefits Of Eating Fish Greatly Outweigh The Risks, New Study Says

Now excuse me, I'm going to have some canned tuna.

[trebuchet03]

No worries, it's okay :) When I'm home, I live about two miles from the Everglades. There's actually zoning for how much fish you can safely eat from fresh caught fish (i.e. one fish per month from zone 2 etc.)...

Perhaps we should start an aquaponics farm :)

[salemslot9]

a lil bit of dill relish or chopped dill pickle is good when added to your tuna~have a great day!~please check out my buddy info~[e-mail]

[StepsoftheSun]

A few days back I watched this, other Collegiate Meals (curses, I can't replicate your square bracket), and even more random Instructables roll in from you and was astounded...did you set a record for most Instructables posted in a day and a half? They all look great; I especially hope to try the tuna sandwiches and stromboli.

[trebuchet03]

A record? I really don't know. But to be honest, anyone watching instructables during that time knew what I was eating :P Food instructables are easy to do and I've found to be quite enjoyable (especially the food porn side of things). I don't only post them -- I try out other people's too :) That truffle instructable has been eying me lately.

They stopped all of a sudden for two reasons. I was out of town for a birthday and I promised myself to reduce the amount of food I have in my fridge/cabinet. So nothing instructworthy (heating up chile). That, and super bowl Sunday was spent with free pizza (gasp!). Another college mantra -- where there's free, that's where I'll be ;)

Oh yeah, I have more than 5 instructables in queue to be published ;) Ranging from how to measure the internal pressure of a can of soda to how I made my awesome danish knock off platform bed. I love making things and experimenting with things (I have 3 long term experiments that will one day be published here). My hobbies just fit in here :)

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Coming up meals:
Pancakes from scratch (it's actually cheaper/tastier than batter mix!)
Three way salmon steaks (part of my valentines meal for my valentine :) )
Crunchy Sautéed Green Beans (I love raw vegetables almost as much as I love garlic)
Spicy Roasted Red Potato
Chicken (undecided method and flavor - depend on my mood)
Franks and Beans (one of my favorites as a kid)
Meal Abominations ( ! )

Food Related:
Fermented Root Beer
Homemade Fermenter Airlock
Ginger Ale (non alcoholic)
Simple Syrup (sugar - not for pancakes)
Southern Style Lemonade

wow that's a lot (but if you think about it, most of us eat at least 14 meals a week). Sorry for yet another long post :)

[Nesagwa]

Mercury is a hoax. Eat fish if you want to.

[westfw]

Out of curiosity a couple years ago, we had a "tuna tasting"; I bought about 6 varieties of canned tuna ranging from "safeway chunk light" (< $1) tuna, to $7+/can smoked tuna from the local gourmet store. Also a chunk of fresh-frozen ahi tuna that I saute'ed till done. Then I made them all into tuna salad (with mayo) until they were essentially similar (one interesting point was that a 6oz can of expensive "solid" tuna makes quite a bit more tuna salad than a 6oz can of cheap "chunk" tuna. So even though the cans were approximately the same size, some took a lot more mayo to reach the correct consistancy.) The results were interesting in a boring way: while there were differences in color, and texture (especially before flaking into salad), there wasn't a lot of diffrenence in taste (except for the smoked tuna, which tasted smoked.) There was a conclusion that the fresh-cooked tuna was SLIGHLY better, but not dramatically so. So feel free to buy the cheap tuna, or at least do a side by side comparison to see if it makes any difference to YOU.

[dorxincandeland]

I'm so glad you did this and posted about it since I am way too lazy to have done that myself. so the 97 cent tuna is just as good as 7 dollar tuna. good to know.

[trebuchet03]

Good to know :) I will continue to buy my $5 for 12 cans of cheapo bulk tuna :P (not sure on actual price)

[jim2e]

It all sounds good, but I also like a little celery chopped up in mine. I think th olive oil is a neat touch.

[Phill]

It looks like brain-matter ;-). [First Image]

I'll be sure to try this once I make it into college! =)