Representative Mike Feighan's "Tuna Loaf"

After August’s Chicken Loaf, I was inspired to explore other loaves of the world, and yes, of course, there was a congressional loaf just for us, this time swapping out chicken for chicken of the sea, and adding just a hint more flavor. But don’t worry — only a hint. Midcentury congressional loaf culture is strong, and I’ll be damned if I find spiciness in a meal prior to the 1990s here.

Chef Mike Feighan

Democratic Representative from Ohio

Favorite Food/Homespun Recipe: Favorite Food

Notable:

receiving the Johnson Treatment; being “enjoyably Irish”

As always, I followed the recipe word for word, no alterations:

INGREDIENTS

One 13oz can of tuna

1/2 cup milk

2 cups soft bread crumbs

2 eggs

1 tbsp grated onions

2 tbsp minced parsley

1 tbsp lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Mix tuna, milk. and crumbs.

2) Add beaten eggs, onion, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Maybe the addition of things like pepper and lemon juice will make this tuna loaf superior to chicken loaf?

3) Press into greased loaf pan. Bake in 375-degree oven 40 minutes.

I greased it with vegetable oil, but please feel free to butter, Crisco, or olive oil it up to your liking.

Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the Cookin’ with Congress Instagram or TikTok. In fact, you don’t even need a TikTok account to watch the videos — just go to the website on your laptop like my mom does. So the tuna loaf is…short. Quite short. More like a YA novel than a loaf, really. Unlike a YA novel, it is incredibly dense and made my house smell like fish sticks.

Verdict:

Huh. It’s underseasoned (of course), but basically like tuna noodle casserole, whitened and brickified for an MRE or Backpacker’s Pantry meal on the go. Slather it in hot sauce and we’ll talk.