Food - Drink
The Umami-Rich Ingredient Your Tuna Salad Has Been Missing
By TALIN VARTANIAN
The popularity and versatility of tuna salad cannot be overstated, especially when you stuff it inside a hearty sandwich. Add-ins like vegetables, mustard, and cheese can all elevate your tuna salad or tuna sandwich, but for a secret ingredient that keeps things simple but still extra-savory, use some salty and umami-rich soy sauce.
A little bit of soy sauce acts as a meaty-tasting flavor enhancer to up the savoriness of your tuna salad, without adding any distracting flavors of its own. Lighter soy sauces will keep the focus on the tuna, but darker varieties should be used sparingly, especially if you don't want to overwhelm the flavors of other tuna salad ingredients.
Salted Spoonful even claims that soy sauce is the secret ingredient in Jimmy John’s tuna salad. According to the food blog, the recipe calls for 1½ tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce, 14 or 15 ounces of canned tuna, and a few other ingredients mixed and then left to marinate for at least three hours, though an overnight rest is ideal.