It looks like a pulled pork sandwich, doesn’t it? That’s not pork. It’s not chicken, either. Or beef.
That stuff between the bread is tuna, shredded in barbecue sauce… but you’d never know it. Thanks to a healthy dose of sweet and tangy southern sauce, this mountainous creation tastes just like any summer barbecue sandwich.
This particular sandwich comes from The Fish Guys at the North Market. The joint is a mainstay for some of the freshest fish in town, and it’s also got an ever-changing menu of prepared goods including soups, salads and sandwiches.
The Pulled Tuna Sandwich is $7, and delivers an overflowing mountain of meat, with red onions and shredded cheddar all on a poofy Kaiser. It tastes absolutely nothing like tuna; it tastes absolutely nothing like seafood.
Of course, perhaps this is not surprising: tuna is one of the “meatier” fish in the sea. If you’ve ever over-cooked it, it does take on a grey, porkish-palour. So perhaps pulled tuna isn’t such a culinary reach.
Still, it’s fair to ask this question: WHY? After all, traditional pulled pork or chicken are both cheaper to make, and taste about the same.
I can think of a couple of reasons, offhand. For starters, tuna has the omega-3 thing going for it, so it’s arguably super-awesome, in terms of cardiovascular health and cancer prevention. On top of that, lots of people are anti-pork. Some abstain for religious reasons, others see pork as unhealthy, and still other people avoid pork consumption for humanitarian reasons. So, if pork’s off the plate, something like pulled tuna can please lots more palates.
Beyond that, the Pulled Tuna Sandwich makes for a cool guessing game -although, once the usual suspects (Pork, Beef, Poultry) are rejected, the conversation tends to turn disturbingly macabre.
Regardless, if the Fish Guys can sell a sandwich this big for $7, you’d be hard pressed to find a better, cheaper barbecued, pulled anything.
More information about The Fish Guys can be found at www.NorthMarket.com.
Sandwich photo by Walker Evans. Fish Guys photo by Andrew Williams of A.W. Pixel Photography & Design.
