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Tonnato on Everything
Caesar dressing is deeply satisfying, thanks to salty, umami-rich anchovies that melt seamlessly into its decadent base without making it taste fishy.
Tonnato delivers the same kind of magic, only even more savory. “Tonnato” translates to “tunafied” in Italian, and here it’s a fresh-made mayonnaise that gets the tinned tuna (and anchovy) treatment. The fish don’t announce themselves in the creamy sauce; they merely leave behind a lingering sense of: What makes this so good?
Many say that tonnato made its first appearance in the landmark cookbook of traditional Italian cuisine The Art of Eating Well (1891), by chef Artusi Pellegrino. There, the sauce cloaks veal, but today, cooks understand that it harmonizes with almost any protein or—my favorite way to enjoy it—vegetable.
Some tonnato recipes (such as Marcella Hazan’s) suggest making a hand-whisked mayonnaise and then blending it with the tuna, but it’s more efficient to make the entire sauce in a blender. The only drawback is that blending can introduce bitterness from olive oil. My simple fix: Use vegetable oil instead. I did, however, include the flavorful olive oil that the tuna was packed in—there wasn’t enough to cause bitterness.
Use some of the tonnato today and save the rest for later. It keeps beautifully in the fridge, ready to drizzle, dollop, or spread onto nearly everything you cook.
Go behind the recipe for tonnato.
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Featured Recipe
Tonnato Sauce
Italy’s luxurious, flavor-packed sauce is destined to become your signature condiment. Get the recipe.
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Why This Recipe Works
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Using a blender efficiently emulsifies the ingredients while incorporating air to create a thick, voluminous mayonnaise.
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Polyphenols in olive oil disperse when emulsified, which causes bitterness. Using vegetable oil is a neutral-tasting solution.
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The fatty texture of olive oil-packed tuna yields a more cohesive and flavorful sauce than water-packed tuna.
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Touches of red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard cut the richness of the sauce while a half-dozen anchovy fillets and a big spoonful of capers lend even more umami and briny complexity.
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Red pepper flakes and black pepper enliven things with subtle heat.
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Recipe Developed by Kelly Song
Kelly Song is an associate food editor at America’s Test Kitchen. She studied English literature and poetry at Cornell and worked in broadcast and breaking news at CNBC. Her love of cooking began with her dad, who taught her how to wield a wok, and continued in Ithaca, New York, where she was the sous chef of a French bistro. She went on to help build two restaurants in Tampa, Florida. When she isn’t donning an apron, she loves bird watching, ballroom dancing, and playing her violin.
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Ingredients
How to Buy, Wash, Store, and Freeze Fresh Berries
While all kinds of berries are in season throughout the year in different regions, they always seem sweetest and juiciest during the summer. Here’s what you need to know to buy, wash, store, and preserve the summer’s bounty of nature’s candy. Preserve your berries to use soon or later.
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Cooking Tips
How to Grill Any Vegetable
Live fire can transform just about any produce into a richly browned, crisp‑tender, more intense version of itself. Behold, our guide for doing it well. Read our tips.
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Keeping Up with the Team
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By Morgan Bolling, Executive Food Editor
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What I’m Eating
Protein-Packed Salads
People who watch me at ATK likely know that I have plenty of pork fat in my daily nutritional intake. But if you don’t know me personally, you may not know that I am a runner and that my mom is a doctor who has hammered into my pork-loving soul the benefits of eating protein. So I have been grateful to snack in the test kitchen on some of the recipes from our newest book,
The Complete High-Protein Cookbook. The
Super Cobb Salad is my jam, as is the
Smoked Salmon Niçoise. Both could be a good fit to get in more protein for gaining strength, having more energy, and balancing out a copious amount of smoked ribs. And eating this way makes Momma Bolling proud.
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What I’m Reading
“An Unapologetically Sweet, Nostalgic Treat”
I’d read anything written by my friend and former colleague
Tucker Shaw. Like me, he has a soft spot in his heart for the recipes of his late grandmother. He was kind enough to let me borrow his Gram’s recipe box when we worked together and scan some of her lovely, handwritten recipes. I loved reading her comments on each card—“delicious,” “okay,” “not as good as what Barb makes.” Tucker gives Gram a nod in a recent The Bittman Project
article he wrote about penuche, a brown sugar fudge that is as delightfully sweet as it sounds.
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