{"id":638,"date":"2010-02-09T14:10:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-09T14:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/2010\/02\/09\/navigating-a-veritable-sea-of-tuna-salads\/"},"modified":"2010-12-21T18:26:08","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T18:26:08","slug":"navigating-a-veritable-sea-of-tuna-salads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/2010\/02\/09\/navigating-a-veritable-sea-of-tuna-salads\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating a veritable sea of tuna salads"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 3, 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

For many people, tuna salad is the ultimate lunch, spread between hearty slices of toast, tucked inside a sub roll, or scooped onto shredded lettuce. It\u2019s filling and deliciously old-fashioned.<\/p>\n

Eight people tasted prepared tuna salads from the deli departments of four supermarkets and one delicatessen. Of the five sampled, only Barry\u2019s Village Deli in Newton is made daily on the premises. Roche Bros.\u2019s prepared tuna salad is made in Haverhill and delivered four times a week; Whole Foods Market delivers six days a week from their commissary in Everett; Shaw\u2019s does a cross-county trip from Oregon three times a week; Stop & Shop did not answer calls to tell us where theirs was made.<\/p>\n

Textures range from chunky to pureed. \u201cI like chunks of tuna,\u2019\u2019 one taster said. It turned out she was eating Buck\u2019s tuna from Whole Foods. Stop & Shop offers a creamy puree. Tasters found Barry\u2019s sweet, Roche Bros. zesty. A constant in all the salads is mayo and celery, but after that each entry is different. They include pickle relish and onions. An unexpected add-in is matzoh meal. What\u2019s matzoh meal doing in tuna? Stabilizing, probably.<\/p>\n

Colors range from shades of white to pinky tan. Barry\u2019s, Roche Bros., and Whole Foods Market use white albacore; Shaw\u2019s and Stop & Shop use light tuna.<\/p>\n

Roche Bros. was the winner. It\u2019s made by food purveyor Hans Kissle in Haverhill. Barry\u2019s was a close second. \u201cWe sell at least 200 pounds of the stuff a week,\u2019\u2019 says Barry\u2019s manager Scotti Leslie. It\u2019s a popular item elsewhere too. \u201cIt\u2019s one of our top sellers in prepared foods,\u2019\u2019 says Robin Rehfield of Whole Foods Market North Atlantic region.<\/p>\n

Each of the candidates got at least one favorite vote; Shaw\u2019s got three. When all the tasting was done, the crew topped whole wheat bread with their favorite spread, added tomato and lettuce and sat down for a classic lunch, sweet pickles and chips on the side.<\/p>\n

Barry\u2019s Village Deli
\n<\/strong>$8.99 a pound<\/p>\n

If you like your tuna on the sweet side you\u2019ll love his version. Some tasters didn\u2019t: \u201cVery sweet and relishy – not a big fan. The tuna flavor is mild and consistency is OK.\u2019\u2019 Then: \u201cSweet! I love it! You can feel the freshness.\u2019\u2019 \u201cWhat\u2019s that seasoning? Sugar? Spice? Something nice,\u2019\u2019 another wrote. (In fact, it\u2019s sweet pickle relish.) \u201cPleasant taste and smell, grainy texture but a distinctive flavor.\u2019\u2019 \u201cLow mayo ratio,\u2019\u2019 said another. Scotti Leslie of Barry\u2019s says the shop uses a high-quality low-fat mayonnaise. Several noted the texture, \u201cI like the chunky tuna in this one, tastes fresher, but a bit too sweet.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Shaw\u2019s
\n<\/strong>$6.99 a pound<\/p>\n

The creamiest of the lot. \u201cThe tuna is so pureed it is practically a spread. A very smooth texture and noticeably light color; you can definitely taste the mayonnaise in this one.\u2019\u2019 \u201cRun of the mill, \u2019\u2019 announced another. \u201cTastes a bit processed. Not enough lemon or onion.\u2019\u2019 \u201cSalty and not appetizing.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Stop & Shop
\n<\/strong>$5.99 a pound<\/p>\n

The other creamy entry. This is the salad that lists matzoh meal in the ingredients. \u201cLooks like flesh-colored mayonnaise. Too creamy and mushy feeling. Slight fishy taste.\u2019\u2019 \u201cTuna puree is more like it,\u2019\u2019 said another. \u201cFar too processed. No lemon, no onion, just sugar.\u2019\u2019 One thought the consistency was a plus: \u201cVery creamy but with a nice addition of pickles. Distinct shiny color and perfect for spreading.\u2019\u2019 Another: \u201cLooks gooey, pinkish, and tastes good.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Roche Bros.<\/strong> Winner!
\n<\/span>$6.99 a pound<\/p>\n

This is the salad that the tasters found most balanced and interesting, without sweetness. Ingredients include white tuna, celery, mayonnaise, garlic salt, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard. \u201cGood taste, texture, and the balance between tuna and onion is good. Perhaps a bit more lemon would be good.\u2019\u2019 \u201cThis one tastes the most fresh! Not too sweet.\u2019\u2019 \u201cGood honest tuna salad. Just crunchy enough, not sweet, like homemade.\u2019\u2019 \u201cSmooth texture, with nice crunchy bites mingling with the tuna.\u2019\u2019 The lone detractor said, \u201cNo imagination, not particularly snazzy, but you know, it\u2019s fish.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Whole Foods Market\u2019s Buck\u2019s Tuna Salad
\n<\/strong>$7.99 a pound<\/p>\n

A Whole Foods team member named Buck submitted her favorite recipe for an in-house contest and Buck\u2019s tuna became a favorite among many consumers. It\u2019s simple: albacore tuna, mayo, red onion, and celery. Many noted that onion taste: \u201cLots of red onion and lemon (not sure about that), but slightly dry. Strong fishy smell and taste, which is not nice.\u2019\u2019 \u201cOnion?\u2019\u2019 was the single comment from another. Several noted the size of the tuna chunks: \u201cVery creamy in both taste and texture, the large-ish pieces of the tuna still manage to feel dry. I don\u2019t find any flavor.\u2019\u2019 (The store uses dry-pack albacore.) \u201cYou can actually taste tuna meat in here, not tuna puree like most others. Problem is there is no other flavor.\u2019\u2019 \u201cTastes OK, but very dense mouth feel.\u2019\u2019 \u201cI like the chunks in this one, tastes fresh.\u2019\u2019
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 3, 2010 For many people, tuna salad is the ultimate lunch, spread between hearty slices of toast, tucked inside a sub roll, or scooped onto shredded lettuce. It\u2019s filling and deliciously old-fashioned. Eight people tasted prepared tuna salads from the deli departments of four supermarkets and one delicatessen. Of the five sampled, only Barry\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taste-kitchen-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}