Tuna Melt

The best tuna melt is properly cheesy and made with a tuna salad that’s good enough to shine on its own. In this tuna melt recipe, I keep things simple with chopped celery, pickles, and mayonnaise. The dill pickles—along with the quick-pickled onion—add crunch and tang, which complement the rich flavor of the olive-oil-packed tuna.

Most tuna melt recipes call for softened butter to spread on the bread, but butter burns easily. Mayonnaise, however, is made with vegetable oil and has a higher smoke point, making it less likely to burn. The condiment is also spreadable when cold, which means there’s no need to wait for it to come to room temperature as you would for butter.

For a tuna melt with evenly melted cheese, treat it like an open-face sandwich. After slathering one side of the bread with mayonnaise, place the bread—mayonnaise-side down—in a skillet over medium heat and top the bread with two slices of cheese. (For an ultra-cheesy tuna melt, I recommend using four cheddar slices—two per side.) Then let the power of steam do the hard work for you: Cover the pan with a lid (even a baking sheet will do) and cook for several minutes until the bread is golden brown underneath and the cheese is melted. The cheese will melt over the side, creating a crunchy cheese skirt around the entire sandwich (if you’re not using square slices of bread). Top the cheese with tuna salad and the quick-pickled onion, and gently press the other slice of bread on top. The result is a warm, savory, cheesy sandwich that has just the right amount of crunch and acid.

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