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Pickles in tuna salad


Dave the Cook

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Side-by-side refrigerators: I can't see a single significant advantage to this design. Yes, you can get water and ice through the door, thus maintaining the interior temperature, but the result is that you have almost no usable freezer space. So what's the point?

You just have do do what we did and get the 27 sq ft model. It's huge - too big for our kitchen, but once we looked inside we refused to return it.

Nothing succeeds like excess?

Dave Scantland
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dscantland@eGstaff.org
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Eat more chicken skin.

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WHY do people persist on referring to "Manhattan Clam Chowder" as a CHOWDER, when the VERY DEFINITION of "Chowder" involves dairy products and "Manhattan Clam Chowder" CONTAINS NONE?

Just wondering where you found the true definition of chowder. I did a search just now, and found many definitions, some saying it must have milk or cream, some saying it can be anything from tomato base to cream base, some have seafood, some don't...

I sense a new thread, and many differing views.

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WHY do people persist on referring to "Manhattan Clam Chowder" as a CHOWDER, when the VERY DEFINITION of "Chowder" involves dairy products and "Manhattan Clam Chowder" CONTAINS NONE?

Just wondering where you found the true definition of chowder. I did a search just now, and found many definitions, some saying it must have milk or cream, some saying it can be anything from tomato base to cream base, some have seafood, some don't...

A couple cookbooks I have discussed the distinction, and the resultant controversy. One of them mentioned the chowder-cream connection.

I will admit once, and only once, that my bias towards the "proper" definition of chowder is influenced by my New England upbringing, and its sympathy towards any doctrine that would reinforce New England style as the One True Clam Chowder.

So mote it be.

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John Thorne write an excellent essay about the history of chowder in "Serious Pig". He looked at several old cookbooks and found some recipes from Boston which used tomatoes in the 1850s. In fact, tomatoes were used as in ingredient in chowder before milk was.

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WHY do people persist on referring to "Manhattan Clam Chowder" as a CHOWDER, when the VERY DEFINITION of "Chowder" involves dairy products and "Manhattan Clam Chowder" CONTAINS NONE?

Just wondering where you found the true definition of chowder. I did a search just now, and found many definitions, some saying it must have milk or cream, some saying it can be anything from tomato base to cream base, some have seafood, some don't...

A couple cookbooks I have discussed the distinction, and the resultant controversy. One of them mentioned the chowder-cream connection.

I will admit once, and only once, that my bias towards the "proper" definition of chowder is influenced by my New England upbringing, and its sympathy towards any doctrine that would reinforce New England style as the One True Clam Chowder.

So mote it be.

Thanks for the Thorne reference, guajolote. I'll have to check it out. Here's my understanding of the issue:

The word "chowder," comes from "chaudiere," the French word for cauldron. Originally, it referred to a contantly replenished fish stew that was maintained on board fishing vessels. Since it would have been in short supply, it's unlikely that this concotion contained fresh milk. French immigrants brought the tradition of the chaudiere to Nova Scotia and added milk to the recipe. Therefore, the idea of chowder as a milk-based dish is a North American notion.

"Manhattan" clam chowder was invented in New England by Portuguese immigrants, who favored tomatoes over dairy. The rest is public relations.

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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WHY do people persist on referring to "Manhattan Clam Chowder" as a CHOWDER, when the VERY DEFINITION of "Chowder" involves dairy products and "Manhattan Clam Chowder" CONTAINS NONE?

Just wondering where you found the true definition of chowder. I did a search just now, and found many definitions, some saying it must have milk or cream, some saying it can be anything from tomato base to cream base, some have seafood, some don't...

A couple cookbooks I have discussed the distinction, and the resultant controversy. One of them mentioned the chowder-cream connection.

I will admit once, and only once, that my bias towards the "proper" definition of chowder is influenced by my New England upbringing, and its sympathy towards any doctrine that would reinforce New England style as the One True Clam Chowder.

So mote it be.

Thanks for the Thorne reference, guajolote. I'll have to check it out. Here's my understanding of the issue:

The word "chowder," comes from "chaudiere," the French word for cauldron. Originally, it referred to a contantly replenished fish stew that was maintained on board fishing vessels. Since it would have been in short supply, it's unlikely that this concotion contained fresh milk. French immigrants brought the tradition of the chaudiere to Nova Scotia and added milk to the recipe. Therefore, the idea of chowder as a milk-based dish is a North American notion.

"Manhattan" clam chowder was invented in New England by Portuguese immigrants, who favored tomatoes over dairy. The rest is public relations.

Right, except it was Newfoundland.

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I've only read Pot on the Fire, but it now occurs to me that a lot of Thorne's explorations start with some variation on: "I just don't get..."

Right off the top of my head, I recall that the Bahn Mi, Rice and cookware pieces all start like this.

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hadn't been following this thread past the tuna salad question (to which I believe I now have an answer), but now that I've caught up, there are too many points to comment on in one post.

Regarding the tuna salad thing, I happen to like mine with capers, but I grew up with dill pickles, and those are perfectly acceptable to me.

But be that as it may, when I was stirring up a batch (the mayo-pickle-onion style) yesterday I added all the other ingredients first as the tuna drained, and realized that absent the tuna, I was left with something very like tartar sauce. And if tartar sauce with fish makes sense (which it very well may not), then tuna salad with dill pickles makes sense. Not sweet though. That's just wrong.

Other comments in no particular order:

1. The ability to smell "asparagus pee" is indeed genetic (it's a dominant trait). And everyone here seems to know this already, but it's the ability to detect the odor that varies, not the odor itself.

2. There was an article on cilantro in an early issue of Gastronomica which dealt with the once apparently common assertion that it smelled like (I'm not making this up) crushed bedbugs. So maybe crushed bedbugs smell like unwashed armpits? I think it definitely smells sort of funky, but think cumin smells more like sweat than does cilantro.

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  • 1 month later...

Pickles schmickles. And you can keep the celery too. Try balsamic vinegar with a little olive oil. I like salsa in my tuna/tongol (Casa Sanchez' Sals Roja being my fave) and just any good hot sauce works well too.

The best canned tuna in the US is from Dave's Albacore:

www.davesalbacore.com

A less expensive canned option is the Tongol from Trader Joe's or Safeway. Trader Joe's offers it with and without salt added. If your mixing the fish with anything salty, get the unsalted. The salted is better to eat form the can (yes, it's that good). since the natural preservative effect keeps the flesh a little firmer than the unsalted variety. The Safeway brand is salted.

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Mayo or mayo-like products on burgers or deli sandwiches. On burgers it's just nasty (especially when it's piled on and oozes out all oer the place. On a deli sandwich it's an offense against nature. I cannot fathom why anyone would put flavorless glop on something that so clearly requires a spicy brown mustard.

It seems to be the default, though west of the Mississippi. Or perhaps west of the Hudson even.

I have a particular memory of a friend of myine from Georgia having her first proper pastrami experience at Katz's. She asked for mayo on it and they started sending her from counter to counter to counter to counter. I think they were downright insulted and rightfully so. Needless to say, she never made that mistake again.

Bacon starts its life inside a piglet-shaped cocoon, in which it receives all the nutrients it needs to grow healthy and tasty.

-baconwhores.com

Bacon, the Food of Joy....

-Sarah Vowell

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  • 4 months later...

Cilantro...smells like unwashed underarms

And that's a bad thing? :smile:

Actually many people, myself included, think it tastes like soap. So it smells like underarms and tastes like soap. :blink:

Actually it only tastes like soap when I get some bad cilantro. Otherwise, I love it.

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Try a fried egg on that bacon burger some time, Maggie, if you truly want to load up on the protein!

Good God, Dean, what a fabulous idea! Is it Southern, or a product of your ever-nimble brain?

If you've ever been to Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh, PA, you'll have seen this. Inch thick slices of bread, the meat of your choice, fried egg(s) if you want it, cheese, cole slaw and french fries. All together in one sandwich. It's amazing.

Maybe you have to have had your first one at 2:15 after last call, but they are awesome.

:)

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Mayo or mayo-like products on burgers or deli sandwiches. On burgers it's just nasty (especially when it's piled on and oozes out all oer the place. On a deli sandwich it's an offense against nature. I cannot fathom why anyone would put flavorless glop on something that so clearly requires a spicy brown mustard.

It seems to be the default, though west of the Mississippi. Or perhaps west of the Hudson even.

I have a particular memory of a friend of myine from Georgia having her first proper pastrami experience at Katz's. She asked for mayo on it and they started sending her from counter to counter to counter to counter. I think they were downright insulted and rightfully so. Needless to say, she never made that mistake again.

That has to do with Jewish dietary laws I think. Least that's what they told me 30 yrs ago

Bruce Frigard

Quality control Taster, Château D'Eau Winery

"Free time is the engine of ingenuity, creativity and innovation"

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

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