There is no denying the star power that is Bette Midler . You might love her from movies like The First Wives Club or Beaches. Or maybe, like me, you were nearly rushed to urgent care when Bette's Tony award-winning performance as the lead in the 2017 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! took your breath away. And even if you don't think you love her, you likely have fawned over Bette Midler as the conniving and comical witch Winifred in the 1993 fan-favorite film Hocus Pocus .
If you're a pumpkin spice fan, you probably have the classic Halloween movie in your queue and Midler's presence will warm up your TV screens until Christmas comes and we have to thaw out Mariah Carey . But as a summer girl, let me set the record straight: summer doesn't officially end until September 22. That isn't to say you have to wait almost a month to get your fill of Bette Midler —in fact, it's not summer until you've made Bette's take on the ultimate warm-weather dish : tuna salad .
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What Makes Bette Midler's Tuna Salad So Special?
Not to sound like a broken Bette Midler record, but one of the reasons this recipe is so great is that it comes from the mind of Bette Midler. The singer and actress loves to cook and eat. In a 2000 interview with Good Housekeeping , Midler professed that she "enjoys preparing favorite dishes in her New York City apartment, where the kitchen-dining area is the heart of her home."
And one dish that's in constant rotation is her tuna salad. Like most tuna salad recipes , Bette's is simple to make, but she does have some strong feelings about why and how her version is superior. She starts with canned tuna packed in oil and goes on to say "screw this tuna-in-water stuff."
She's also extremely specific about the pickles she uses in her tuna salad. She insists that you use two types of pickles : dill and sweet gherkins. Doubling up on the pickles adds more pickle-y tang and brightness to the salad and is also a great way to add a variety of texture and flavor. For added protein, Bette crumbles up a hard-boiled egg and mixes it into the salad. And before you ask, Bette is Team Hellman's mayonnaise , “or Blue Ribbon, which I buy in New Orleans ,” she said.
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How to Make Bette Midler's Tuna Salad
Start by draining the tuna and adding it to a medium bowl. Add one crumbled-up hard-boiled egg , chopped dill and sweet gherkin pickles, chopped celery and mayonnaise . Mix with a fork until well-combined. Season with salt, pepper and according to Bette, “a tiny, tiny bit” of chopped onions “if you have a taste for it.” Eat it on a bed of greens, serve it with crackers or turn it into a tuna melt, à la Tom Selleck and Kamala Harris .
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