Creamed Tuna

[Italiancook]

Mike, would you please share your recipe for Creamed Tuna, if you have one. You've mentioned making it a couple of times. I've looked online and have found some recipes. I'd prefer to use a tried and true one, though. If it snows, I'm making Angel Biscuits tomorrow and the only protein I have unfrozen is canned tuna. It'd be a good day to try my hand at Creamed Tuna.

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[Mike Nolan]

I make it one way, my wife makes it a different way. I make a béchamel sauce (butter, flour and milk) on the stove and then add the tuna fish, she makes it in the microwave and adds chicken bouillion. Most of the time she makes the creamed tuna and I make biscuits. (She prefers Bisquick biscuits over ones made from scratch, which are less work for me, so I really don't mind.)

Here's her recipe:

In an 8 quart microwaveable tall bowl melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter.

Add 1/2 cup flour and cook in 30 second intervals until you have a roux, stirring frequently.

Add 4 cups of milk, in multiple stages, about a cup at a time. Heat in steps until it thickens but don't let it boil over. Stir frequently.

Stir in a handful of chicken boullion (1-2 cubes worth), cook some more.

Add 2-3 cans drained tuna in water. Cook a little more. Serve over biscuits or toast. (Also good over English muffins.)

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike, for the recipe. I appreciate your time in posting it. I hope someone else can use it, because I can't. Bouillon cubes have way too much salt for my kidneys. I also didn't make Angel Biscuits this morning. Before I could get to those, I had a freak accident and cut my thumb. I'd never work with dough while having an open sore. So I took carrot soup out of the freezer. I've decided that when I can make the biscuits, I'll use the Allrecipes.com creamed tuna recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/236919/hard-times-creamed-tuna/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search

While I was searching for the tuna recipe, I found the yeast-free cinnamon rolls I made last week. Mine didn't stick up in the middle like this picture. I've read that the lifting up in the center occurs when they're rolled too tightly. Otherwise, the photo is representative of what I made. They do have a good taste, and some of the reviewers wrote about doubling the recipe with success. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/255939/yeast-free-cinnamon-rolls/?internalSource=popular&referringContentType=Homepage

[Mike Nolan]

The bouillon is the only salt added to the recipe, though there is salt in tuna fish; it really isn't all that salty, but I just make a roux (flour and butter), add milk and cook till it thickens, then add tuna.

The bouillon adds more flavor than it does salt, I think. That's how my wife's mother made it (though on a stove, not in the microwave) so that's her preferred taste.

I have surgical gloves handy for times when I either have an open sore or don't want to touch raw meat, like when I'm mixing up meat loaf or meatballs. I also have finger cots available for when I nick myself with a knife. (I haven't done that in a while, knock on wood!) :knocking on forehead:

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--You could use the recipe Mike posted but omit the bouillon and instead add spices of your choice. Dried mustard is one possibility.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike & BakerAunt, for weighing in on the bouillon issue. I think you're right, BA, that dried mustard would go good with this. I use dried mustard in several dishes, but I can't think which ones right now.

Mike, where do you buy surgical gloves? Sam's?

[chocomouse]

Italian Cook, there is also something called "Better Than Bouillon", a beef or chicken base. It is very high in sodium, but I'm pretty sure I found some that is low sodium, although I don't remember how low. It might have been a different brand of something similar. I don't have any here to check right now. I also preferred the flavor of the base over the cubes. Also, Penzey has a beef base you might try.

[Mike Nolan]

Any drug store should have surgical gloves. I've also seen them for sale at a kitchen supplies store.

I've looked at the Better than Bouillon products, there's a lot of sodium even in the reduced sodium versions. That's why I make my own stocks with little or no salt in them. I'm also not fond of their having soy protein, sugar, corn syrup solids (whatever that means), potato flour, etc. And 'flavorings'.

[BakerAunt]

I make my own chicken/turkey broth, but it would be difficult getting beef bones here, and we are not eating much beef these days. I have used the Penzey's beef base and like it. It has less salt than many other brands, but it still has 620 mg per 3/4 tsp., which is mixed into 1 cup boiling water. Alas, it also has a long list of additives. I use it for the occasional recipe, such as that pumpkin black bean soup, where beef broth is needed.

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