Pâté de thon
Sounds much more elegant that "tuna fish spread". This staple of the British picnic is classic junk food in that its quick and easy to make, and tastes very good if you get it right.
Whilst the Canadians and the French think that white meat is best, and patronise albacore, the British share with Micronesians the view that skipjack, or bonito, is the only "proper" tuna. Skipjack, like salmon, has a strong and distinctive flavour (and I don't mean that it tastes LIKE salmon). This can be a little rough on the palate in skipjack sashimi or steaks, but comes into its own when canned. The best-tasting canned skipjack is packed in oil - brine-pack is more "fishy".
Pole-and-line caught fish is best, of course, but it is not easy to find pole-and-lined canned tuna nowadays. As a fishing method it is just too dependent on skilled manpower. Most skipjack is caught by purse-seiners, and instead of being flicked individually onto the deck of a smallish boat after blindly grabbing a barbless hook dangled invitingly into a feeding frenzy, they are crushed with thousands of their brethren in the middle of a gigantic mesh bag. Whilst you will never find chunks of porpoise in your can as a result of any fishing method, pole-and-line fishing is at least guaranteed to be one hundred percent dolphin-friendly.So, take your can of oil-packed, pole-and-line caught skipjack tuna, and delicately open it, pausing to savour the aroma of the tropical ocean. If you are really lucky, you might have been able to obtain one of the cans that have been prepared for the local market in the Solomon Islands and Fiji in recent years, which include a single, large, red chillie. Because the chillie has been pressure-cooked with the fish, the flavour permeates the flesh and this flavour cannot be entirely re-created by adding chillie at a later stage.
Drain off half the oil. Don't drain the fish dry, otherwise the texture of the paté will be too crumbly, and add one tablespoon of decent mayonnaise.
That is essentially it, but before whipping with a fork to break up the fish and mix the oil and mayonnaise, a number of optional extra ingredients can be added. I usually add a large pinch of an onion-based condiment powder, like the one described below, but the possibilities are endless, ranging from the inclusion of chopped coriander or fenugreek leaves, to the substitution of yoghurt or sour cream for mayonnaise (although it may then be necessary to add a little extra acidity).
Me, I like to add a couple of well-crushed anchovy fillets, but adding fish to fish is thought by aesthetes to be gilding the lily, and by gourmets to be muddying the flavours.
The next step is to daub the mixture liberally on a slice of bread.
It is not advisable, when entertaining friends to an al fresco lunch on a Pacific Island seabord, to spread two slices of white processed bread with margarine, add tuna spread, and squash the sandwich to a thickness of half a centimetre. This was my favourite way of eating such things when I was a kid, but the resulting greyish sheets of putty-like substance tended to put other diners off their meal. Far better to purchase some freshly baked, crusty, French bread on the way to the picnic. Slice the bread in half with a flourish, taking care to note the resting-places of any sliced-off digits, and after carefully unwrapping the authentically ethnic string holding in place the canvas cover of a small earthenware pot containing the paté, spread tuna on one half of the bread stick. The remaining ingredients are up to the imagination, but lettuce and thinly-cut Camembert are not entirely disagreeable companions.
A sprinkling of sand helps add a touch of authenticity.
Tim Adams
2000
Spiced onion condiment powder
I keep the following mixture in a jar in the spice-rack as a condiment for several purposes:
- 2 tablespoons of dried onion (bought in bulk as an aid to preparing curries)
- 1 teaspoon of dry fried garlic (fried garlic has a different aroma from fresh garlic)
- 0.5 teaspoon each of mustard seeds and of cumin (or fennel or caraway) seeds
- 2 or 3 fenugreek seeds
- pinch salt
Throw the lot into a coffee or spice grinder and reduce to a granular powder.
Adapted from Blind Freddie's Guide to Fishery Management (Tim Adams: in prep)
