The problem with tuna melts, as I write in this week's Great Tuna Melt Investigation, is that you're forced to choose between cold cheese or warm tuna. Yuck. You either can make: (1) A tuna melt heated enough to keep the cheese melted, but one that results in a hot, runny mayonnaise and strangely tepid fish; or (2) A cool tuna melt that quickly hardens and coagulates the cheese, which isn't really a "melt" at all.
What if you could have both—perfectly melted cheese and cold tuna salad with crunchy bits of vegetable—in every bite? After three drinks at the candidate happy hour, I returned to The Stranger's test kitchen, determined to find out if this dream was possible.
As with all tuna melts, we started with the fixin's:
- Clockwise on the platter: diced red jalapeno, diced dill pickle, wheels of tomato, green leaf lettuce, shredded sharp cheddar, green onion, and diced white onion. Cameos on the left and top are sourdough bread and solid canned albacore.
But how to make a tuna sandwich that keeps the cheese melted while you eat it?
This is simple: Start by making a grilled cheese sandwich.
Then toast a slice of bread, and lay the sandwich and the toast side by side.
Toss your diced fixin's in with the tuna, and add some Dijon mustard, mayo, and some lemon. Then build, build, build...
And then voi-fuckin'-la!
Okay, perhaps I got a little carried away. But the toil produced a tuna melt that stayed warm and melty—and cold and crisp—all the way to the last bite. It was a big sandwich, but not an unwieldy Dagwood. Everything adhered together to deliver perfect bite after perfect bite. Serve with tomato soup, naturally.
