Looking back it was an interesting decision to choose tinned fish as my main course for dinner at Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba in Chicago. But the Spanish tinned fish that followed would show me that there is so much more than the classic Chunk Light Tuna in Water.
For my Rating system, I use simple canned tuna is the baseline for average canned fish a solid 5/10, good texture, ok flavor, no further notes, it’s just canned fish. A 10/10 is nearly impossible, so 9/10 is about perfect, and a 3/10 I wont buy again so anything lower is me just being mean.
(Parentheses at the end of the review indicate where I usually find these products)
Polar
Product of Germany
Herring Fillet in Hot Tomato Sauce
7/10 Sauce is sweet and slightly spicy and the fish has a solid texture. Can have a few bones that could poke. I’ve tried this fish a few times now and it’s solid every time, a great entry point to a fish in a usable sauce. (Food Lion)
Kipper Snacks Smoked
6/10 Decent smokey flavor, good texture, will try again. (Food Lion)
Herring Fillets in Canola Oil
7/10 Great flavor and texture, light enough to put on a fresh garden salad. (Food Lion)
Fishwife
California USA, Fish sourced Globally
Slow Smoked Mackerel with Chili Flakes
7/10 Great flavor, chili oil is a little sweet and spicy, texture is good but the fish has the skin on wich adds to the fattyness of the chili oil in a less pleasant way, but if you put it on rice or something to cut the oil its totally fine, I just eat right out of the can like a heathen. But this goes great on some white rice with green onion and sesame seeds, just dump the whole can out. (Earth Fare, Harris Teeter)
Salmon with Chili Crisp
8/10 It’s pretty awesome, looks great when you open it, has a fantastic flavor, great texture, but damn you are going to pay for it. But it’s something I think about. I ate it too fast to take a picture. (Earth Fare)
Anchovies in Spanish Olive Oil
4/10 Solid flavor and salt but super boney, not pokey bones but almost like hair, very unpleasant, it probably helps to cook with them so the bones break down. (Earth Fare)
Tuna in Spicy Olive Oil
6/10 Not different enough from the chunk light tuna, slightly better flavor, good visuals with a larger chunk of fish verses just parts. (Earth Fare)
Smoked Rainblow Trout
9/10 Looks great, tastes great, smells great. Salty smokey umami with a hint of garlic, it really doesn’t get much better than this. (Earth Fare)
Patagonia
Produsct of USA, Global Fish
Lemon Caper Mackerel
6/10 Good flavor and texture, Oil is light and can be used for things like salad dressing. I made a Caesar dressing using the oil from the can and some fish sauce, and put the fish fillets on the salad with extra capers, lemon, and parmesan. (Earth Fare)
Smoked Muscles
5/10 So much smoke and fishy flavor it’s overwhelming, but some people like that flavor profile. It may help to incorperate into a dish. (Earth Fare)
Lemon Herb Muscles
9/10 Fantastic flavor, good chew in the texture, and I drank the remaining sauce. I plan on trying a muscle angel hair pasta, sautee garlic, deglaze with white wine, toss the whole can sauce and all, a handfull of parsley, pasta water, Parmesan and black pepper. (Earth Fare)
Sardines + Beans Black Bean and Corn Salsa
8/10 A great meal in a can, I was skeptical but this was a really good sardine and the black beans were plentaful and tangy and perfectly balanced with the fish. I fully plan on incorperating this one into my rotation. (Earth Fare)
Sardines + Beans White Bean, Lemon, Garlic, Leek
7/10 Another solid offering of a full meal in a can, but there is one key difference that takes this one down a point, and that is the olive oil. Compared with the Black bean and Salsa Sardine the salsa is the primary sauce, where in this one its the olive oil as the primary sauce. Which is just oil and makes the whole can feel more fatty dispite having the exact same fish. Dispite having lots of beans and good flavor its just dampened by the multiple table spoons worth of olive oil. (Earth Fare)
Bela
Product of Portugal
Sardines in Olive Oil with Peri-Peri and Smoke
7/10 Super light on the smoke, just a hint of spice, but really good fish flavor. (Harris Teeter)
Bar Harbor
Product of USA, Global Fish
Natural Smoked Wild Kippers
8/10 Great smokey flavor, big pieces of fish with a solid texture. I use this instead of smoked salmon on a bagel, with cream cheese, onion, and capers. (Harris Teeter)
