Instructions: Much depends on canned tuna. While tuna salad in any form remains a lunch box mainstay and tuna noodle casserole has attained urban legend status, a can of tuna in the pantry is first-class rescue food when theres little else of interest to eat in the house. If you are looking for an easy meal in a hurry, you could nearly live on the stuff.

Still, canned tuna gets bad press. Too bad, because canned tuna can be delicious, and it has a lot going for it. Tuna is as nutritionally sound as the egg, is shelf stable, relatively inexpensive, has good flavor and is universally available.

But first, please stop calling it tuna fish. Do you say salmon fish? Or halibut fish? Perch fish? Or steak meat, turkey meat or pork meat? Point made.

Some people think that tuna is tuna and it comes in a can, period. Wrong. Tuna is a generic name for a wide variety of fish.

One of them is the bluefin, a game fish that can weigh a half-ton or more.

Smaller albacore are known for their white meat. Other common varieties are yellowfin and skipjack.

While the very best and freshest tuna turns up in sushi and sashimi bars, the majority of the tuna catch is canned in giant canneries around the world. But because it comes in such a wide variety of types and textures, canned tuna is misunderstood. Theres canned tuna ... and then theres canned tuna.

You have to read the label to know what youre getting. The label will tell you, for one thing, what the color is, from creamy white to pinky-brown to brownish. Some people think the lighter the fish, the better the taste. Thats a personal preference.

The label also will tell you the packing liquid. Tuna may be packed in olive oil, vegetable oil or innocently water-packed. FYI, the water pack includes salt and often vegetable broth, which means that technically, the tuna is packed in brine. Salt-watchers beware.

Tuna in olive oil has the best flavor and is less salty, but salt water- or brine packed-tuna is lower in calories. As far as most recipes are concerned, however, they are interchangeable in texture, but youd better taste the finished dish before you salt.

The third thing to notice on the label is the texture of the meat. There are four choices:
solid pack, which is a single hunk of meat.

chunk, which is large pieces and ideal for salads and dishes in which good body is needed.

flake, which is smaller pieces and therefore less desirable, but okay for casseroles and baked dishes where flavor is more important than looks.

Then there is grated, which is mostly a mush and if the cat wont eat it, why should you fuss over saving pennies for yourself?

Either way, tuna is a great food to have on hand. It can be used in a quick dish, or in a more involved dish.

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