Canned sardines & other tinned seafood

[liuzhou]

Posted these on the snacking topic, but they belong here, too. My latest addiction.

 

 

 

Served with some slivered kelp.

 

 

 

[Kerala]

Well I'm back!

I'm back at my mate Eddie's in Portugal, with the family this time. If I squeeze in a can a day it will be breakfast and snacks.

I've brought check-in luggage, so i hope to bring back quite a bit of stuff of various sorts.

 

[btbyrd]

The Pinhais mackerel is really good, but I've never had the spicy in tomato sauce (just the spicy). Jealous that you'll be cramming your suitcase full of the stuff!

[Kerala]

The Pinhais above was beautiful with fresh crusty bread and local butter. All my girls are crazy for the bread and the butter!

Edited April 2, 2023 by Kerala (log)

[Kerala]

One of the things I love eating in Portugal is grilled sardines, but they seem to be out of season.

I took a day trip to Portamao. The main museum is the converted La Rose sardine canning factory.

 

The tins were stamped and shaped from the sheet metal right on site.

,

Very interesting museum, great walking through the factory and touching the actual machines.

Sardines seemed to have been much plumper in those days.

Anyway, I picked up a couple a few La Rose tins from the local supermarket.

The wife says I eat a can in a day, so it will only take me a couple of weeks to get through this lot!

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Kerala
Double image (log)

[Kerala]

The museum is about 2/3+ devoted to the sardine canning history. There's a Portuguese black and white documentary shot back in the 50's that feels like a jolly Pathe newsreel, subtitled in English and French. The process shown is very close to the Pinhais factory clips earlier in this thread, so Pinhais at least is staying true to tradition.

It's very worrying how much smaller current day sardines are compared to what we see in the documentary and in the representations at the museum.

[heidih]

8 minutes ago, Kerala said:

The museum is about 2/3+ devoted to the sardine canning history. There's a Portuguese black and white documentary shot back in the 50's that feels like a jolly Pathe newsreel, subtitled in English and French. The process shown is very close to the Pinhais factory clips earlier in this thread, so Pinhais at least is staying true to tradition.

It's very worrying how much smaller current day sardines are compared to what we see in the documentary and in the representations at the museum.

 

Do you mean the actual physical size of the sardine or the idustry? If the former - is itbecause they are not letting them get to size before harvesting or environmental factors?  Love seeing your enthusiam for them. My area was the heart of the tuna canning industry back in the day and I grew up wth the families of the fisermen.  Thanks.

[Kerala]

@heidih

I  am worried that we are harvesting them young.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

@heidih

I  am worried that we are harvesting them young.

 

I'm not sure it's that. The term 'sardine' is ill defined and can cover many species and legal definitions vary from country to country. In the UK. the official definition is a young pilchard less than 6" long.

Many fish sold as sardines are actually youmg herring. Or sprats.

 

Sardines here in China are very different to what you might get in the UK or the rest of Europe.

 

Chinese sardines - 沙丁鱼 (shā dīng yú)

 

[Kerala]

@liuzhou

The sardines shown in the documentary and the model sardines at the museum were larger than any I've ever bought in a tin. Having said that, the sardines I've had fresh and grilled in Portugal were larger.

 

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Kerala said:

@liuzhou

The sardines shown in the documentary and the model sardines at the museum were larger than any I've ever bought in a tin. Having said that, the sardines I've had fresh and grilled in Portugal were larger.

 

 

The best sardines I've ever eaten, maybe the best meal, were near my then second home near Perpignan in southwest France, near the border with Spain. They were freshly landed from the Mediterranean and grilled / BBQd on a wharf by fishermen for some religious festival - Assumption Day, I think. Much larger than anything I've ever encountered in a can. I doubt you could  get one in a standard sardine can.

 

That was almost 40 years ago and I still think of it every time I eat sardines.

 

[Kerala]

Perpignan has been added to The List!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night's dinner was a tin of Matiz wild small sardines with sweet piquillo peppers.  Very good I thought.

 

[Katie Meadow]

56 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Last night's dinner was a tin of Matiz wild small sardines with sweet piquillo peppers.  Very good I thought.

 

Yes, I keep those in stock. Very nice for a single portion, the tin being a little bit smaller than most regular sized sardines. They are mild and delicate. I wish they would sneak in just a bit more of those peppers, they have nice flavor, not at all hot.

 

For general use I like the regular size Matiz. More sardines for the money, not quite as cute, though and not quite as mild as the small ones.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On 5/6/2023 at 4:37 PM, Katie Meadow said:

 I wish they would sneak in just a bit more of those peppers, they have nice flavor, not at all hot.

 

Just now I found a jar of Matiz piquillo peppers in my bedroom.  Check yours.

 

[Smithy]

I think it was last fall that this topic inspired me to buy sardines. It's been a long time since I've done so, probably because the last few times I tried to feed sardines to someone I ended up eating them all myself.

 

This time, eating them all myself hasn't seemed a difficulty. I opened the tin last night and added a couple of filets to my dinner salad. Just now I did the same for a lunch salad. Anyone who claims sardines are "fishy" hasn't had good ones. These are good: firm, meaty, not bony that I can tell. The bottom photos shows what's left after today's lunch.

 

 

I think I got these at Walmart, of all places. 

[Kerala]

Just back from another trip to Eddie's in Portugal, again with the lads

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kerala (log)

[Duvel]

Some souvenirs (gifted to me) from my wife’s recent conference trip to Madeira 🤗

 

[btbyrd]

Here are a couple products I always have in the pantry. The first are Ramon Pena spicy mussels in olive oil with garlic and chilli pepper (silver line, 16/20 count). Nothing in the tin but beautiful mussels and mildly spicy oil (previously infused with chilli and garlic which have since been removed). Despite being billed as spicy, they are quite tame. The slight heat and (very) light garlic flavor are a delicious alternative to the classic mussels in escabeche. These are the perfect snacking mussel with a beer and some potato chips. You can find these online from several vendors (and on Amazon). I got these from Caputo's Market for $7.99. RP's mussels are the best I've ever had.

 

 

 

 

I'm also a big fan of the Tonnino yellowfin tuna loin in olive oil, but particularly the jalapeno variety. The oil in this one has some heat to it, but nothing crazy. More than those Europeans seem to ever want to use, but nothing that will shock the American palate. These are always beautifully packed with great looking chunks of loin that you can easily flake into larger pieces. The oil serves as a really quite great spicy sauce to help lubricate the fish (which, being tuna, tends to be somewhat dry). It's good over rice. And strangely, I find myself eating it alongside (and sometimes on top of) a toasted English muffin. I don't know why. It doesn't make sense a priori, but experience tells a different story...

 

 

 

 

 

[haresfur]

6 hours ago, btbyrd said:

Here are a couple products I always have in the pantry. The first are Ramon Pena spicy mussels in olive oil with garlic and chilli pepper (silver line, 16/20 count). Nothing in the tin but beautiful mussels and mildly spicy oil (previously infused with chilli and garlic which have since been removed). Despite being billed as spicy, they are quite tame. The slight heat and (very) light garlic flavor are a delicious alternative to the classic mussels in escabeche. These are the perfect snacking mussel with a beer and some potato chips. You can find these online from several vendors (and on Amazon). I got these from Caputo's Market for $7.99. RP's mussels are the best I've ever had.

 

 

 

 

Huîtres fumées were a lunch staple when I was doing geology in northern Canada. Usually eaten by stabbing with your sheath knife along with a sandwich of some sort. Quite inexpensive when the company was paying to fly them in.

[Susanwusan]

My new favourite tinned fish is King Oscar Mackerel Fillets Mediterranean Style.  My most recent mistake was trying John West Smoked Oysters in Sunflower Oil.  I thought oysters were a premium product - why would they do such a thing to them?!

Edited October 28, 2023 by Susanwusan (log)

[btbyrd]

That KO Med Mack is hard to beat. Sorry to hear about your bad oyster experience. Fresh oysters are somewhat of a luxury, at least these days. But strangely canned oysters seem to be almost exclusively low end budget brands that seem gross and scary. But lots of people seem to like eating them on saltines with hot sauce or whatever. Not for me. While there are lots of high end canned mussels and clams -- I dream of trying the Ramon Pena gold line clams one day -- premium tinned oysters are a rarity. Rainbow Tomatoes Garden, which boasts the largest variety of tinned seafood in the world, only offers oysters from Ekone Oyster Company. Oyster conservas don't seem to be much of a thing in Spain or Portugal. Maybe there's a lesson here...

[gfweb]

If Rainbow Tomatoes won't stock them then there is a problem.

[scubadoo97]

On 7/14/2023 at 3:12 PM, Smithy said:

I think it was last fall that this topic inspired me to buy sardines. It's been a long time since I've done so, probably because the last few times I tried to feed sardines to someone I ended up eating them all myself.

 

This time, eating them all myself hasn't seemed a difficulty. I opened the tin last night and added a couple of filets to my dinner salad. Just now I did the same for a lunch salad. Anyone who claims sardines are "fishy" hasn't had good ones. These are good: firm, meaty, not bony that I can tell. The bottom photos shows what's left after today's lunch.

 

 

I think I got these at Walmart, of all places. 

I like the Season brand well enough but have had other brands that have  larger filets.   I’m partial to sardines that are with bones and skin.  Figured the bones are adding some calcium to my diet

[Kerala]

I still have a few cans of fishies left from Portugal. So for lunch today:

Wonderful. A very light taste, firm texture.  I ate the whole can on two slices of toast, splashed with the olive oil and just a dash of Tabasco. Glass of Sancerre to accompany.