Can Can

My sister was exposed recently to an epicurian delight that she had never seen before. It was creamed tuna, in a bread bowl. She called me right away, pretty upset about it. Actually she said it was the most disgusting thing she had ever heard of, and that it had peas which personally offend her to the point that she made up false pea-induced symptoms as a child in order to avoid eating them. It led me to think of another really disgusting thing I've heard of but never eaten which is creamed chipped beef on toast. I believe some call it shit on a shingle, which is probably just about right, name-wise. It sounds like shit, but the shingle part is more metaphorical because toast is not like shingles, either roofing or zoster.

Anyway, over the past few days I've been thinking a little bit about the versatility of the creamed tuna in a bread bowl, and I really feel like it could take so many forms. Like it could be Chinese creamed tuna, just add water chestnuts, and serve in a crunchy lo-mein noodle nest. Or it could be fancy creamed tuna, if you added Gruyere and capers and served it in a brioche bowl. See where I'm going with this? Basically the sky is the limit, creamed tuna-wise. It could be more regional creamed tuna, if you added a little hot sauce and served it in biscuit bowls, or even breakfast creamed tuna if you sprinkled cornflakes on top for crunch.

As a disclaimer I've never had creamed tuna, nor have I seen it but I suspect it might not be something too appetizing, maybe along the lines of Indian pudding which looks like baby diarrhea. I'm thinking creamed tuna would be more vomit-like in appearance, though.