Using Seafood from a Can

[percival]

The only seafood in a can here is tuna in oil and sardines in tomato or oil.

Go for flash frozen shrimp and fish if you can't buy fresh. There's nothing wrong with flash frozen fish, butchered and frozen right on the fishing boat. That's "sushi grade" in marketing spiel. You can only do so much with canned seafood, and fish in a can like salmon.... /shudder.

[ambra]

We make a couple of different versions of pasta sauce with canned crab. The can costs like 5 euros though! Sadly, no fresh crab to be had in these here parts.....

[Dakki]

But Dakki, you may be having problems letting go of chiles

People have mentioned this before. I'll try the black pepper.

Thanks for the miso soup tip.

[Peter the eater]

You can only do so much with canned seafood, and fish in a can like salmon.... /shudder.

That's a good point -- canned seafood is nowhere near as versatile as the fresh protein. That's one reason I started this topic. I enjoy tuna or salmon salad from a can, but I can only take so much.

[Rico]

Sardines: available in oil, tomato sauce or hot sauce, this pig-disgusting fodder is fit only for the trash or the gaping maw of a moping, drunk engineer. Serve with saltines, two aspirin and copious amounts of water.

Yeah, we can go ahead and not quite be so specific. You can substitute 'engineer' with 'Rico' and that's still an accurate statement.

[Anna N]

I am of the side that considers canned salmon and fresh salmon as two distinct foods! In my mind they are simply not interchangeable - sort of like ham and pork - same animal - different everything else.

[Pierogi]

I am of the side that considers canned salmon and fresh salmon as two distinct foods! In my mind they are simply not interchangeable - sort of like ham and pork - same animal - different everything else.

Amen, sister !

The absolute only thing I used canned salmon for is salmon cakes/patties. I've made them with fresh, eatean them in restaurants with fresh, and they are wonderful.

But. They are NOT my childhood salmon patties, which I ocassionally must have. With horseradish white sauce or jarred tartar sauce. It is a taste memory, and can only be replicated with canned salmon. And for that reason, since I usually never know when that need will hit, I usually have a can of salmon in the pantry.

I can't, any longer, have my Mommy when I need her, but I can have her salmon patties.

[maggiethecat]

Smoked oysters are da bomb! They were special-occasion food to be served with cocktails in my mother's house, but they were always wrapped in bacon and broiled. To this day, I love them this way.

(Tuna, salmon, anchovies.)

[Lindacakes]

Once every couple of years I want to replicate my mom's Good Friday meal: salmon loaf. I buy a can of salmon for this purpose. I want one now.

I buy the canned crab from Costco and use it to make lemon crab salad sandwiches from the Martha Stewart Hors D'oeuvres Handbook, but only in the summer.

My brother still gives me a tin of sardines in my stocking at Christmas, replicating my father's behavior from childhood. I eat those, but I'm not sure I'd buy one on my own.

You didn't mention jars -- I like my tuna tuna belly in the jar with olive oil, imported from Italy.

The very best canned seafood, however, is canned wahoo. Easily purchaseable in Hawaii, and you have to know a Hawaiian to get your hands on some.

[Peter the eater]

The very best canned seafood, however, is canned wahoo. Easily purchaseable in Hawaii, and you have to know a Hawaiian to get your hands on some.

I just Googled wahoo (a phrase that wouldn't have meant much to me ten years ago) and want to know what one does with it. Treat like mackerel?

[Kouign Aman]

Smoked baby oysters - the munchkin elbows me and her grandma out of the way to get the last ones. They're also good on tangy or herbed cheese atop a bland cracker, but we never get that far.

Canned anchovies. Key ingredient.

Tuna, the Mr loves tuna salad.

Clams. Works for many things.

[FoodMuse]

Canned anchovies almost deserves it's own thread.

I've been on an anchovy kick. Stirred in with raw broccoli, garlic and olive oil then roasted. Yum.

Grace

[nomnivorous]

Canned seafood is probably the one thing my pantry is lacking. I'm particular about tuna (in oil, please). And otherwise, I just never realized that the entire canned seafood world isn't scary. I tried canned crab (in a homemade crab salad) once and gagged. I definitely need to up my anchovy/sardine usage in cooking.

Just as I know tuna in oil varies (I grew up with and love Callipo), I assume the rest do to. Do you all have any brands you could highly recommend? Any varieties of seafood in a can a beginner should try?

[Chris Hennes]

Well, canned anchovies are a great starting place simply because they are so versatile. I can't even count the number of sauces I make that have a couple mashed anchovies in them: Spaghetti Puttanesca, for example, benefits greatly by the application of a few anchovies. I've been pretty happy with all the brands I've tried, actually.

[weinoo]

Canned seafood is probably the one thing my pantry is lacking. I'm particular about tuna (in oil, please). And otherwise, I just never realized that the entire canned seafood world isn't scary. I tried canned crab (in a homemade crab salad) once and gagged. I definitely need to up my anchovy/sardine usage in cooking.

Just as I know tuna in oil varies (I grew up with and love Callipo), I assume the rest do to. Do you all have any brands you could highly recommend? Any varieties of seafood in a can a beginner should try?

I'm particularly partial to the Ortiz brand (for tuna and anchovies) but also like Flott and Callipo. I just checked the pantry and have some jarred tuna (Bonito del Norte) from Spain - the brand is Serrats...haven't tried it yet. Also, easily available Goya markets a pretty good bonito in olive oil as well as in about 10 different sauces.

Additionally, I have cod in Biscayan sauce (Spain), Mussels in Pickled sauces (from Galicia), wild herring and wild kippers (Maine), wild salmon (Alaska), sardines (all over), clams (Maine), and anchovies from both Spain and Italy.

I try to avoid most canned seafood products from Asia as I don't think (in general) the quality measure up to the Spanish, Italian or wild product from the US.

[Peter the eater]

I try to avoid most canned seafood products from Asia as I don't think (in general) the quality measure up to the Spanish, Italian or wild product from the US.

When I started this topic, I gathered up all my cans of seafood for a group photo -- see post #5. I was surprised to learn they were ALL from Asia. I switched from SE Asian frozen shrimp to the Atlantic kind over a year ago because of all the bad press. I hadn't considered other products in cans.

[weinoo]

When I started this topic, I gathered up all my cans of seafood for a group photo -- see post #5. I was surprised to learn they were ALL from Asia. I switched from SE Asian frozen shrimp to the Atlantic kind over a year ago because of all the bad press. I hadn't considered other products in cans.

I think you would be pleasantly surprised at the quality difference. Of course, expect to pay more.

[Chris Hennes]

The Ortiz anchovies are the ones I've been using of late.

[heidih]

Canned anchovies almost deserves it's own thread.

I've been on an anchovy kick. Stirred in with raw broccoli, garlic and olive oil then roasted. Yum.

Grace

I am new to canned anchovies and am learning lots in this hefty topic on anchovies.

[maher]

I totally agree with Anna they are a separate food from fresh, but that's not a bad thing. Have you tried making a Caesar dressing with fresh anchovies? (full disclosure, I did... Let's just say I'm not rewriting anyones recipe book)

Bourdain I think visited quimet Et quimet in Barcelona, a tiny place that is a master of bocadillos (open face sandwiches) made almost totally with canned seafood. There are a number of clips of his stuff on YouTube but I ended up carrying home a dozen jars of canned seafood from squid To ridiculously prices baby eels (angulas or elvers) home after eating there.

[weinoo]

Bourdain I think visited quimet Et quimet in Barcelona, a tiny place that is a master of bocadillos (open face sandwiches) made almost totally with canned seafood. There are a number of clips of his stuff on YouTube but I ended up carrying home a dozen jars of canned seafood from squid To ridiculously prices baby eels (angulas or elvers) home after eating there.

That's the place - we'll be there next week!

[Peter the eater]

Bourdain I think visited quimet Et quimet in Barcelona, a tiny place that is a master of bocadillos (open face sandwiches) made almost totally with canned seafood. There are a number of clips of his stuff on YouTube but I ended up carrying home a dozen jars of canned seafood from squid To ridiculously prices baby eels (angulas or elvers) home after eating there.

That's the place - we'll be there next week!

Lucky you! Please ask your server/chef/proprietor there what makes their canned seafood so deliciously different, and how they select what gets served.

[maher]

Excellent.. Just let the chef/owner/bartender do his thing ... It is a truly memorable experience.

[Lindacakes]

Answer to Peter's question about canned wahoo, one uses it as a superior form of tuna. It has a cleaner (?) fresher, more fish-like taste.

I'm picturing the lady who used to do the Folger's commercial doing the canned fish version . . .

[LindaK]

I was gifted some canned lobster meat, cooked and frozen, from Canada. Anyone know if this might be any good? Best uses? I was thinking risotto or pizza.