the tuna melt

[sugarcookie]

My favorite tuna melts have the outsides of the bread slathered with butter and fresh grated Parmesan cheese (real stuff, not the tiny pebbles) before grilling. Zesty! 

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Yum! I like to slather mayo on the outside of a grilled cheese and then sprinkle rosemary on it before grilling.

[Malawry]

So I had a tuna melt for dinner in honor of this thread. I don't usually make the roasted tuna salad with apples I mentioned above at home--I make a sort of tuna-and-egg salad based on my best friend's technique. Simple canned water-packed tuna drained well and mixed with 2 hard boiled eggs per can, with lots of dijon, celery, red onion, capers, fresh dill if available, mayo, and plenty of twists of the ol' black pepper. (I buy canned tuna at Costco, I think it's Chicken of the Sea brand. Regular, not the white Albacore.) I preheated my oven with a pizza stone to 450. Laid the salad on a pita (it was the only bread around) and topped it with some deli swiss cheese. It made a heavenly meal.

[Isabelle Prescott]

The ultimate tuna sandwich, though, is the French version in which you combine tuna, olives niçoise, drained diced chopped tomatoes, capers, parsley, and whatever you have handy which vaguely resembles what might be found in Province with olive oil and seasonings, stuff it into a hollowed out baguette, wrap it tightly and let it sit for a few hours, or even overnight. Alas, no melted cheese is involved so . . . never mind!

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Alas, no cheese either but I like to take these to band concerts in the park in the summertime... a little wine, good company and wonderful music.

Mediterranean Hero

2 loaves French bread (18 inches long)

1/3 c. olive oil

1/4 c. red-wine vinegar

1 t. Dijon-style mustard

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. red-pepper flakes

2 cans (6 oz. each) tuna, packed in water, drained

12 kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

2 T. capers, rinsed

1 small bunch fresh basil

1 large tomato, sliced

1 medium-size cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

Cut each loaf of bread lengthwise in half. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, red-pepper and pepper in bowl; brush over cut sides of bread. Combine tuna, olives and capers in bowl. Line bottom halves of bread with basil leaves. Arrange tomato slices, tuna mixture, cucumber and red onion on top. Replace tops of bread. Wrap tightly. When ready to serve, cut each loaf crosswise into thirds.

[Mooshmouse]

My husband, the self-appointed house Sandwich Master, is in charge of all tuna melt production. Here's one of his past endeavours.

He used chopped chives, tomatoes, sweet pickles, yellow peppers, mayo and a smidgeon of dijon mustard in the tuna salad; occasionally, he throws some raisins in there too. I believe the cheese on top is havarti, either plain or roasted garlic, and the bread is probably Oat and Nut. And he always makes them open faced.

Of course, as soon as I mentioned this thread, his eyes sparkled and asked if I wanted one for dinner this evening.

[sugarcookie]

Ya lost me at the raisins. Otherwise, that's one sexy sandwich!

[melkor]

All this talk of tuna melts forced me to make them for dinner. Salt, paprika, garlic, shallots, green peppercorn mustard (Edmund Fallot), black pepper, a bit of lemon juice, and some mayo. The bread is denser than I'd like - by the time I decided I wanted to make sandwiches for dinner Bouchon Bakery was closed . Black Krim tomatoes from the garden, emmentaler cheese melted under the broiler on skillet-toasted bread and a few slices of full sour pickles. Simple, but satisfying.

[KatieLoeb]

All this talk of tuna melts forced me to make them for dinner.  Salt, paprika, garlic, shallots, green peppercorn mustard (Edmund Fallot), black pepper, a bit of lemon juice, and some mayo.  The bread is denser than I'd like - by the time I decided I wanted to make sandwiches for dinner Bouchon Bakery was closed  .  Black Krim tomatoes from the garden, emmentaler cheese melted under the broiler on skillet-toasted bread and a few slices of full sour pickles.  Simple, but satisfying.

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See here's my problem with this. Melkor's sandwich looks delicious, but I would call it a "Grilled Tuna Salad Sandwich". The sandwich Mr. Mooshmouse made upthread is a Tuna Melt. The word "Melt" implies that there's melted bubbly cheese on the top of the open-faced sandwich. A Turkey Melt is the same and another item I've seen on diner menus in the past. I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

[Steven Blaski]

All this talk of tuna melts forced me to make them for dinner.  Salt, paprika, garlic, shallots, green peppercorn mustard (Edmund Fallot), black pepper, a bit of lemon juice, and some mayo.  The bread is denser than I'd like - by the time I decided I wanted to make sandwiches for dinner Bouchon Bakery was closed  .  Black Krim tomatoes from the garden, emmentaler cheese melted under the broiler on skillet-toasted bread and a few slices of full sour pickles.  Simple, but satisfying.

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See here's my problem with this. Melkor's sandwich looks delicious, but I would call it a "Grilled Tuna Salad Sandwich". The sandwich Mr. Mooshmouse made upthread is a Tuna Melt. The word "Melt" implies that there's melted bubbly cheese on the top of the open-faced sandwich. A Turkey Melt is the same and another item I've seen on diner menus in the past. I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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I must concur here. Growing up in the Midwest, I ate a gazillion tuna melts and I never ever saw anything but an open-faced sandwich. My favorite was how my mother made it: a simple tuna salad placed on a lightly toasted Thomas' English Muffin (split first of course) topped with a thin slice of cheddar and broiled (in the toaster oven) till the cheese bubbled.

Steven

Edited September 15, 2005 by Steven Blaski (log)

[MarketStEl]

Every tuna melt I've seen in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska has been open-faced.

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OK, I'll be back In Kansas City for 2 weeks very soon. I'll have a tuna melt there and see if I'm still right.

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Hi!

Let me know. My recollection was that tuna melts in Kansas City were also closed-faced, and that's how I make them to this day--even though Wikipedia tells me that I'm making a variant on a grilled cheese sandwich.

As for what goes into the tuna salad/spread, most of the time, I'm a minimalist. Just give me the tuna mixed with mayo, seasoned with Old Bay.

But I have been known to add minced onion from time to time, and the capers sound like they'd make a good mix-in.

I believe that on the whole, pickle relish improves just about anything, but I've never cottoned to it in tuna salad.

[Maison Rustique]

I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

Edited to wave Hello to Sandy!

Edited September 15, 2005 by Maison Rustique (log)

[bronihk]

growing up in SF, CA and living on the east (NY) for several years, i have to agree with the open-faced camp. this is not to say i haven't had the closed-sandwich type, but i too consider that a 'grilled tuna salad sandwich'.

last night i made a wonderful tuna melt a little differently than usual (i normally take a curry/cumin route). spanish olive oil packed tuna + scallions + mustard w. herbs de provence + dill + red pepper + lovage leaves (which i just discovered) on a hollowed out kaiser roll (more room for tuna!!) topped with cheddar and stuck under the broiler. i really loved the addition of lovage!!

[CharityCase]

I love the tuna melt but I've always had a problem with the hot cheese/cold tuna thing. In the open-faced configuration I've tried broiling as most do, I've tried low oven then broiling which is better, and I've tried a full on bake at 375 which seems to work best because the tuna doesn't get any drier.

I also favour the italian canned tuna in oil, as it holds up to the sustained heat better.

[snowangel]

But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

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Patty melt, at least those I've seen in Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa have always been two-sided. They are completely different.

[Maison Rustique]

But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

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Patty melt, at least those I've seen in Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa have always been two-sided. They are completely different.

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My comment was in direct response to whomever it was that said that a melt had to be open-faced, whether or not it was tuna.

Edited for typo

Edited September 15, 2005 by Maison Rustique (log)

[Country Cook]

I've never had a tuna melt at a restaurant just made by me or my Mom. Being Scananavian it was open faced ideally a crusty white toasted bun buttered with tuna salad (onions, celery, canned tuna, salt pepper, paprika, celery salt, miracle whip), a slice of cheddar and a dollup of miracle whip toasted under the broiler till the cheese melts and the whip browns.

[racheld]

a slice of cheddar and a dollup of miracle whip toasted under the broiler till the cheese melts and the whip browns. 

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OKAY. I surrender. Your browned Miracle Whip trumps my powdered sugar six ways from Sunday.

I grovel. I cringe. I slink away.

[melkor]

growing up in SF, CA and living on the east (NY) for several years, i have to agree with the open-faced camp.  this is not to say i haven't had the closed-sandwich type, but i too consider that a 'grilled tuna salad sandwich'.

last night i made a wonderful tuna melt a little differently than usual (i normally take a curry/cumin route).  spanish olive oil packed tuna + scallions + mustard w. herbs de provence + dill + red pepper + lovage leaves (which i just discovered) on a hollowed out kaiser roll (more room for tuna!!) topped with cheddar and stuck under the broiler.  i really loved the addition of lovage!!

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Erm... I grew up in NY and now live in the SF Bay Area... Having never been served an open-faced tuna melt I'm starting to think maybe it isn't a regional thing after all .

[KatieLoeb]

I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

Edited to wave Hello to Sandy!

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Not to be argumentative...

A "Patty Melt" by any other name is a freakin' cheeseburger!! Isn't Patty Melt just a silly Cheeseburger alternative name? Is there something different about a Patty Melt that makes it not a cheeseburger??

I'm deeply confused now...

[Pam R]

Having never been served an open-faced tuna melt I'm starting to think maybe it isn't a regional thing after all  .

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So what other theories can we come up with that would answer such a quandary?

[Maison Rustique]

I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

Edited to wave Hello to Sandy!

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Not to be argumentative...

A "Patty Melt" by any other name is a freakin' cheeseburger!! Isn't Patty Melt just a silly Cheeseburger alternative name? Is there something different about a Patty Melt that makes it not a cheeseburger??

I'm deeply confused now...

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I don't want to be argumentative either (and I'm mainly doing this in the spirit of, well... spirited discussion).

But no, a patty melt isn't just a cheeseburger any more than a tuna melt is just a tuna sandwich. A patty melt has grilled onions on it and is NOT served on a bun, but on rye bread and then grilled. At least that's the way I've always had them. Uh-oh! Could this mean we're gonna need a patty melt thread?!?!?

[Steven Blaski]

I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

Edited to wave Hello to Sandy!

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Not to be argumentative...

A "Patty Melt" by any other name is a freakin' cheeseburger!! Isn't Patty Melt just a silly Cheeseburger alternative name? Is there something different about a Patty Melt that makes it not a cheeseburger??

I'm deeply confused now...

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I don't want to be argumentative either (and I'm mainly doing this in the spirit of, well... spirited discussion).

But no, a patty melt isn't just a cheeseburger any more than a tuna melt is just a tuna sandwich. A patty melt has grilled onions on it and is NOT served on a bun, but on rye bread and then grilled. At least that's the way I've always had them. Uh-oh! Could this mean we're gonna need a patty melt thread?!?!?

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This has also been my experience on both coasts and in between: a cooked hamburger topped with cheese on bread (usually rye), with grilled onions, then fried like a grilled cheese.

[KatieLoeb]

OK - now we're getting somewhere. A Patty Melt is NOT a Cheeseburger by another name. I stand happily corrected and edumacated.

But a Tuna Melt is still open faced.

[MHarney]

OK, I'll be back In Kansas City for 2 weeks very soon. I'll have a tuna melt there and see if I'm still right. 

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This is partially off-topic, but...if you happen to be in the downtown vicinity in your travels, I would love to find out if the diner, whose name I cannot remember, across the street from the Folger's Coffee plant is still in existence. I lived in downtown KC for about 18 months back in 1978-1979, and that place had an excellent tuna melt -- close-faced, I'm certain. The best tuna melts I've ever had, though, were those at Polly's Pies in southern California -- very thick-sliced baked-on-the-premises whole wheat butter-grilled to crispy perfection, a thick slice of cheddar, with a tuna salad with onion, celery, mayo, and nothing else. It always arrived piping hot and it wasn't open-faced there, either. (Open-faced tuna melt...t'huh. Who wants to use a fork? Silly.)

But the real reason I'd like to know about the diner is this: Every morning at this greasy spoon (which I think had been around since the 1940s at least), they would make 30 or 40 dozen of the most delicious oatmeal cookies you could ever imagine: very thin, a huge diameter of 6-7", crunchy most of the way through but still chewy in the center, and a flavor that the years are only partly making me call otherwordly. If I recall correctly, they'd start selling them, still warm but set enough so they wouldn't fall apart, at about 7am and would usually sell out before 8:30 or 9:00 every morning.

When I lived there, I walked the five or six blocks to my job every day past this place (in the midst of the most intense coffee smell, what with the Folger's plant being right there), and it was always a struggle not to stop in there more than once or twice a week to get a dozen. It wasn't a problem at lunchtime (when I would often get their tasty tuna melts, he said, in a somewhat feeble attempt to keep things on topic) since the cookies were long gone by that hour. In the intervening years, I have spent much time trying to duplicate their cookies, but have only come about 9/10ths of the way.

Anyway, it's an odd request, I know, but if you happen to be in the area or have relatives there, I'd love to know if the diner is still there and what the heck the name of the place is so I can call them and see if they can send me some of their oatmeal cookies for, say, all the money I have handy.

This google map shows the Folger's plant at 330 W. 8th, and I'm almost certain that the diner was at the base of the white-topped building across the street at the upper left corner of the intersection of 8th and Broadway.

[ludja]

Can't remember how often I had these in restaurants--but growing up back on the East coast and now out here I've made and mostly seen two-slice (closed) tuna melts. I think my college cafeteria (back East) made them open-faced.

[Maison Rustique]

MHarney, I'll gladly check it out! My mom works on 5th Street on Fridays, so when I take her to work, I'll swing by there. I'm rather doubtful, though. Downtown KC has changed so much--many old buildings torn down or converted to lofts. And they're going to build a whole new sports complex around that area somewhere--not sure where. I haven't been back there in nearly 2 years, so will probably be amazed in what has changed just in that time!!

Back at Katie!