Senator Mark Warner leaves people baffled with tuna melt recipe: 'I am screaming'

With much of the world confined to their homes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many people have taken up cooking to pass the time.

But, while recipes for bread and carrot bacon have been big hits, others, such as Senator Mark Warner’s tuna melt recipe, have not gone over as well.

On Monday, the Virginia senator shared an Instagram video in which he explains how to make what he refers to as his “quarantine delicacy” - and it has prompted reactions ranging from amusement to disgust.

“I know during a period of coronavirus it’s a challenging time for all of us,” Mr Warner begins the video. “I’ve seen a number of the folks I work with put out videos where they sing a song or play an instrument or cook a favourite recipe so I thought that I would create one of my favourite all-time recipes.”

After explaining that the meal is something he grew up on and that he learned to make it “very, very young,” the politician begins by informing his followers which ingredients they will need: bread, mayonnaise, cheese and “good old-fashioned tuna”.

According to Mr Warner, the first step is to place two pieces of bread on a plate and cover each with a generous amount of mayonnaise.

Once he’s finished slathering on the mayo, the 65-year-old adds tuna, which he says must be distributed “evenly”.

“Again, if you’re having trouble keeping up, you can pause, because the placement of the tuna is very important,” he jokes, before telling his followers that the next step is adding the cheese.

The three-minute video then sees Mr Warner place the sandwich in the microwave for 30 seconds, a time period he uses to share a hand-washing PSA with his viewers.

“See, you can whip up this favourite in virtually no time,” the senator says as he takes a bite of the sandwich, explaining that he “can’t get my wife and kids to eat these anymore” but that “nothing hits the spot more than a tuna melt”.

On social media, where a clip of the tutorial has been viewed more than 97,000 times, people have reacted with horror at the “disturbing” recipe.

“Well the first thing I’m doing for @MarkWarner when this ends is showing him how to make a real tuna melt cause I am disgusted,” one person tweeted.

Another said: “This is the most grotesque and disturbing video I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Others were shocked that the Democratic senator microwaved the sandwich instead of putting it into the oven, as is typical for a tuna melt.

“When he went for the microwave I literally gasped,” one person wrote, while another said: “Curious what happens to white bread after 30 seconds in the microwave.”

“Microwaved white bread and mayo is a crime against nature,” someone else tweeted.

Despite the mostly negative feedback, it appears Mr Warner was correct when he referred to the sandwich as his “soon-to-be-world-famous tuna melt” in the Instagram caption of his video.