Here's How Julia Child Made Deli-Worthy Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Julia Child could whip up an exquisite, technically-complex French dinner, but she had a fondness for a basic lunchtime fave: tuna salad sandwiches. Tuna salad always tastes better at restaurants because it's well-seasoned and Child had the elements for a balanced, deli-perfect tuna sando nailed down. This isn't too surprising, when you think about it. After all, Julia Child's favorite soup, vichyssoise, leverages the humble potato and leek with minimal ingredients. As a culinary master, Child knew how to take essential flavors and make them sing.

Rather than relying on one star component to do the heavy lifting, all of the aspects of this tuna salad sandwich work in harmony to achieve a creation that is, at once, both shockingly simple but flawless in its finesse. Best of all, you can recreate Julia Child's tuna salad sandwich at home with accessible ingredients that don't cost an arm and a leg.

Child's tuna salad starts with tuna packed in oil, which is more tender and flavorful than the water-packed variety. A quick relish of cornichons, tarragon-infused French-style pickles, minced with capers and lemon juice gives a pop of tanginess. Onion and celery are also finely chopped into the mixture, increasing the crunch factor.

Julia Child's favorite brand of mayo was Hellmann's, so it's no surprise that this supermarket condiment becomes the binder. A little white pepper (she believed white pepper belonged with pale foods, and black pepper with dark), and your tuna salad component is good to go.

Assembling the sandwich was of equal importance in Child's eyes. It may surprise you to learn that her go-to bread was two slices of a plain ol' Pepperidge Farm white loaf, or, if she was feeling an open-faced sandwich, a split Bays English muffin. She topped the sandwich with soft lettuce — Boston or Bibb varieties would work great — a juicy slice of fresh tomato, and, from time to time, sliced Vidalia onions. Just imagining Julia Child's tuna salad sandwich, you can almost hear the crunch and taste the saltiness, the tartness, and the freshness. It's a basic weekday lunch that has been elevated into something magical, which was Child's forte.