Tinned Tuna: How it Goes from Yum to Vom

[brewnog]

The smell of tinned tuna always makes me retch, it's so bad that if someone opens a can in another part of the house I feel the need to vom straight away.

How is it then, that barbequed tuna steaks are one of the yummiest things I've eaten all month? How do they manage to turn something so nice into something so putrid and vile?

 

[kaos]

What? , youre comparing fresh fish to canned crap? Canned stuff sux no matter what.

 

[Cyrus]

I eat tuna in class every day. This girl next to me was complaining about the smell, I told her to be quiet. No one will stand in the way of eating my delicious tuna!

(Actually, half the class can't stand the smell, I told them all to shut it! LOL)

Im always eating in class, and the teacher makes fun of me for that...

No piece of power bar for him...

Tuna is great meat.

 

[wolram]

The smell of a ham joint boiling has the same effect on me, i can not eat ham, but i like bacon.

 

[Danger]

One of my favourite snacks is a couple of cans of tuna mixed into a can of Smurfaghetti (sorry Smurf; Alphaghetti just isn't the same), with a bunch of cumin, rosemary, onion and salt. I could live on it.

 

[Kurdt]

Perhaps its all the dolphin in the tins of tuna that you don't like?

 

[Evo]

One of my favourite snacks is a couple of cans of tuna mixed into a can of Smurfaghetti (sorry Smurf; Alphaghetti just isn't the same), with a bunch of cumin, rosemary, onion and salt. I could live on it.

Oh dear god.

 

[Evo]

The smell of a ham joint boiling has the same effect on me, i can not eat ham, but i like bacon.

No, no, you bake ham, not boil it.

Unless, you're adding the joint that's been baked to a soup.

 

[Moonbear]

Canned tuna and fresh tuna taste and smell nothing alike, but isn't that often true for canned foods vs fresh foods? I like tuna both ways (I'll take my chances with the mercury poisoning), but out of a can it's definitely strong smelling (especially since I like it with onions added), and I can understand that some people would be put off by it. My sister reacts a bit like you do Brewie, though I think she exaggerates even more for my benefit.

 

[wolram]

No, no, you bake ham, not boil it.

Unless, you're adding the joint that's been baked to a soup.

Mom will not be happy when i tell her, she and dad love the smelly horrid stuff.

 

[GluonZ]

Tuna and Vinegar is most delicious.

 

[Moonbear]

Tuna and Vinegar is most delicious.

I've never heard that combination before, and if Brewie wasn't already retching, I'm sure that'll do the trick! I'm not sure I'm adventurous enough to try that one.

Wollie, I'm siding with you and Evo...boiling ham is just wrong and yucky! They sell boiled ham at the deli and it's just nasty, nasty, nasty! Evo will have to make a ham for us...at least I know she doesn't slather hers in sweet, sticky stuff.

 

[hypatia]

I haven't ate canned tuna in over 3 decades, makes me kind of queezy just to think about it.

 

[brewnog]

Bbblllleeuuurrrghhhhh!

 

[Moonbear]

Bbblllleeuuurrrghhhhh!

*hands brewnog the mouthwash*
Feeling better now?

 

[brewnog]

A little. But the mere thought of the smell makes me feel like I'm going to technicolour yawn.

 

[Astronuc]

The smell of a ham joint boiling has the same effect on me, i can not eat ham, but i like bacon.

That reminds me of a story that my father told me about his years in his college during university. Dorm food has a reputation.

One of the oft served dinners was 'boiled' mutton.

One evening in protest, my father and his colleagues, ceremoniously rose from the table and escored that plate of boiled mutton outside. IIRC, two were carrying shovels, bearing them on their shoulders as one would bear a rifle while marching. They proceeded to a garden, dug a hole, and deposited the mutton therein.

The food service stopped serving boiled 'mutton'.

Evo is certainly right - one does not boil ham, but bakes it. Same goes for mutton. Lamb is better though.

 

[turbo]

There is no such thing as good "boiled" meat. The closest you can come to that is the New England "boiled" dinner, in which cheap cuts of pork and beef are simmered for hours with potatoes, carrots, yellow onions, turnip, cabbage, etc, and seasonings. When allowed to cool and "relax" before serving, the meat just flakes apart with a fork. To provide a nice dark broth, it is advisable to season the roasts with salt and pepper and sear the meat at high temperature in olive oil in the same pot that the meal will be simmered in. This carmelizes the juices of the meat and that tasty brown stuff on the bottom of the pot penetrates the potatoes and other vegetables during the simmering. There is no better meal to sit down to after shoveling snow, splitting firewood, etc out in the cold. I always do the initial preparation and searing (on the side burner of the grill, to avoid smoking up the house) while my wife chops the vegetables. A few hours later - heaven. Don't try making a New England boiled dinner in a crock pot - you will be sorely disappointed. The secret is in the high-temperature searing and carmelization.

 

[Danger]

There is no better meal to sit down to after shoveling snow, splitting firewood, etc out in the cold.

I beg to differ on that. While yours sounds great, I'd be hard-pressed to give up my favourite cold-weather meal. One can (156gm/5.5 oz.) of Tenderflake or similar canned ham (or preferably about 200gm of deli ham) chopped up and mixed with a 700 gram can of Campbell's Chunky split-pea and ham soup, with about a tablespoon of cayenne powder. Yummmm...