Sweet-Sour Tuna Casserole

2 7-ounce cans tuna
⅔ cup raisins
1 cup water
⅓ cup chopped celery
⅓ cup chopped sour pickles
½ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup crushed gingersnaps

Place drained tuna in a casserole.
Mix remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour over fish and bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes.
Serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley and lemon slices.

Geo wrote:Yeah, I thought it looked to be soooo awful that it in fact *couldn't* be that awful. But the only way to know would be to test it. And *I* didn't want to risk it. "Binko" thought I, "Binko, that's the perfect experimentalist here. I hope he volunteers."

So, Binko? Willing to take one for your fellow LTHers??

Geo

Ann Fisher wrote::D Looking forward to Binko's report!

Binko wrote:

Ann Fisher wrote::D Looking forward to Binko's report!

OK, I've acquired the necessary ingredients. Will try it in the next day or two. Stay tuned.

jnm123 wrote:I heard that the discussed recipe led to the demise of the dinosaurs...may the force be with you, Binko.

Cathy2 wrote:Binko,
Did you finish it?

Geo wrote:PS. On your question from the Farming thread: to ripen late-season peppers, pull up whole vines immediately before frost, hang upside down in cool, dry place. They'll soon ripen.

Binko wrote:

I really don't know what to say about this. It tastes pretty much exactly like you'd expect it to taste like: a peanut butter and tuna sandwich. The gingersnaps aren't really prominent, flavorwise, and the raisins are more a background textural element than anything else. The pickles and celery are surprisingly subdued. I was expecting a more pronounced sweet-and-sour punch to this. Maybe the tuna and peanut butter and pickles of yesteryear were much better, but in my version, I don't taste "the undeniable goodness." I mean, it's not revolting or anything (at least not to me), but it's not a culinary revelation or anything, either. Skippy & tuna will get you in the general ballpark of flavor with much less hassle.

Tuna noodle casserole was never on my list of things to try.

We had tuna noodle casserole EVERY FRIDAY in Lent and many other Fridays when I was young. It really communicated the concept of sacrifice and abstinence from meat.

Count me a fan of tuna noodle casserole

got sick of it because it was a regular item, but i could see having some in the near future

it's now one of my go-to comfort dishes

Tuna Noodle is a wintertime staple in my house.

My Mom made the best tuna noodle casserole. As I remember was pretty good and now I really want some! I'll have to ask her for the recipe.

"Tunafish and noodles", that's what we called it in my house growing up. It was a regular Friday item, along with Mac 'n Cheese, fish sticks, the odd omelette, and every once in a while, a real fish.

The stouffer's tnc (red box) ain't bad for a hot, quick lunch on the jobsite.

I may be getting up from this chair and making it for dinner tonight.

When I was in the hospital last year, tuna noodle casserole was one of the things I begged my mom to make me. It did NOT disappoint! I fondly recall it from our childhood dinner repertoire, but my family has always had it with cream of celery soup instead of mushroom and crackers crumbled on top. I don't think I would enjoy it any other way

Cathy2, hard to believe your family got through a lifetime of Lenten seasons without tuna casserole. No one's yet mentioned another aspect of its one-time popularity, particularly for the family on a tight budget - it's entirely a pantry dish, if you forgo the milk or use canned evaporated milk.

I think Tuna Noodle casserole is something so many of us feel strongly about because it was part of a faith tradition. If you say "tuna noodle casserole" to anyone raised Catholic, it's probably going to stir many memories of meatless Fridays.

I can hardly believe this myself, but this discussion is making me want to make a tuna noodle casserole - the first time in 30 years I've had the urge to do so.

Katie, you mentioned milk. My family went through at least five gallons of whole milk a week when we were kids. We did have a case of evaporated milk in the basement in case of emergency.

I remember a stretch of years when our household of nine routinely went through two gallons of milk a DAY. My mother was also constantly making iced tea and kool-aid to keep up with the demand for fluids. Someone was always being sent to the store to buy more milk.

I rather suspect this dish is in some sense at least an American invention, born in the 20th century, perhaps even in the post-war wave of 'modern', industrial cuisine. Campbell's played a large and active rôle in the spread of what I'll call here "quick food," which offered the harried housewife a chance to spend more time doing whatever it was she was supposed to be doing rather than cooking, according to the societal norms of the time.

One of the things that really stood out for me in the famous Beirut episode of No Reservations was Anthony Bourdain's reaction to tuna noodle casserole on the rescuing Navy ship. In an online interview, he wrote "There are times in one's life when tuna noodle casserole and macaroni and cheese speak directly to the heart."

The cans used to contain 7 oz, then 6.5 oz, and now 6 oz. But the size of the can is still the same, so you need to buy more for the same recipes that you used to make. Then there's the quality. I used to like chunk tuna, then it started tasting nasty to me so I bought solid (albacore). Now the albacore is starting to suck and I have to find Tonno, etc., to get a good tasting tuna. What the hell is going on here?

Costco's very good Albacore is still 7 oz.

Costco's solid albacore is awfully hard to beat: very high-quality tuna.

Tuna casserole was a weekly staple at the Presbyterian summer camp that I attended as a child

Tuna casserole was always served with lime applesauce jello. Heat one cup of applesauce till hot. Stir in one small box of lime jello. Add one seven ounce bottle of Seven Up. Refrigerate. Optional to make a "frosting" with cream cheese and mayo to spread on top before serving.

my sisters and brother were absolutely shocked, mortified and befuddled when one year I asked my mom to make Tuna Casserole for my birthday supper. I can still hear them, "You could have had pizza! Or French Dip or Terryaki Steak! What is your problem?" My problem, if it is a problem, is that I just love it. And still do.

[KennyZ]: Made what I thought was a really good and simple tuna noodle casserole last night, with a garlic-infused bechamel being the main thing to separate it from more standard versions. Here's an approximate recipe:
2.5 cups of milk
2.5 tablespoons of flour
2.5 tablespoons butter
5 minced garlic cloves
1 jar of Italian tuna in olive oil
1/2 cup frozen peas
day old sourdough bread for crumbing
fresh parsley
A pound of some kind of smallish noodles
a little butter
Make bechamel by cooking the garlic in the butter for a couple of minutes, then adding the flour and cooking that for a couple of minutes, then whisking in the pre-heated milk simmering for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Cook noodles in salted water until very al dente. Drain. Mix noodles, bechamel, peas and tuna together, then pour into a buttered casserole dish. Whirl bread pieces in a blender or food processor with some chopped parsley. Use these parslied breadcrumbs to top the casserole, then dot the whole thing with butter. Bake, covered at 350 for about 40 minutes, then uncovered at 400 for another 10, until toasty brown on top. Serve.

I like this once in a while but rarely make it. Maybe I will now. I have noodles and tuna and just need the chips.

My mom made chip beef on toast once in a while. Get buddigs in a little packet where the lunch meat is. She would put that chopped up in a pan with cream of mushroom soup and I think a little milk and a dash of Worchester sauce. Put on toast. Voila SOS aka chipped beef on toast.

Oh Toria are you OK?

[jnm123] I saute minced onion, celery, mushroom in butter, pour into baking dish. Drain 2 cans (yeah, 5 oz. now!) solid white albacore tuna, put in dish with 1 can of low sodium Campbell's Cream of Mushroom (or Celery) soup. Add 12 oz. cavatappi cooked pre-al dente, some frozen peas, a tiny jar of pimentos, maybe a cup of skim milk, Lawry's seasoned salt, about 8 pats of butter, cracked black pepper, and maybe a little grated Parmesan cheese. Before it goes into the oven the mixture should be somewhat but not real soupy. You don't want it too dry. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, add one can of French fried onions to the top OR (from my childhood) crushed Jay's potato chips, bake 10-15 minutes more. Done. Enjoy!

[On the Tribune’s suggestion for a sweet-and-sour version]: I really don't know what to say about this. It tastes pretty much exactly like you'd expect it to taste like: a peanut butter and tuna sandwich.

It looks and sounds hideous to me.

Did you finish it?

Good god, no.