Canned sardines & other tinned seafood

[Katie Meadow]

So perfect for those kinds of people who never restock their earthquake survival kits. And canned sardines trade value grows with every day there isn't an earthquake. Plus you get an art collection, at least as long as your flashlight batteries last. Win win.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I used to buy Label Rouge sardines in France that indicated the date caught and name of boat.    Just shelved them after getting home,   They do get turned periodically.    Maybe 10 years on them now.   Will have to try one one of these days.   

 

I recently opened an ordinary brand can that was probably 15 years old.   it was kind of mooshy at room temp, but once cooled down, the fish were firm and flavorful

[rotuts]

OoooooOOOooooo!

 

I didn't toss put those 

 

TJ's dateless ones !

 

if say 

 

if you like tinned sardines 

 

and I indeed do 

 

seems like something 

 

interesting to do

 

affordable , 

 

unless you buy out  the '24 Portugal futures ...

 

I do plan to open those Tj's ???

 

and Ill get some that they have now 

 

for fun !

 

of course , then there is the

 

Bread ?

 

Naan-ish ?

 

something crispy , 

 

like a Wasa Rye ?

 

 

 

 

[Duvel]

Just checked what we have in our stock.

 

 

Might not satisfy the more gourmet tastes, but seems to work for us.

[rotuts]

@Duvel 

 

do you have the 

 

Calvo   ( olive oil )

 

in a 20 year old ?  7 year old ?

 

undetermined , w a bit of dust  on it ? 

 

try that one , whit a newer one .

 

looking forward to your 

 

analysis .

 

 

[Duvel]

25 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Duvel 

 

do you have the 

 

Calvo   ( olive oil )

 

in a 20 year old ?  7 year old ?

 

undetermined , w a bit of dust  on it ? 

 

try that one , whit a newer one .

 

looking forward to your 

 

analysis .

 

 

No, just got those from our last trip to Spain. Maybe they’ll get replenished in summer - I will look out for “vintage” …

[Annie_H]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:52 PM, weinoo said:

All of the old school (or whatever is left of them) Russian, Czech, Hungarian etc. delis and markets have these types of sprats and various assorted sardines at much cheaper prices than the good stuff from Portugal, Spain et al.  And you know what - they're not as good.

That is what I said in my few posts. Nothing will compare to the top quality picks like the first 5 minutes of the video posted. Always some hidden gems in all pantry categories. During lock-down when we realized this was not just a few weeks, DH ordered cases of all Baldor had to offer from Matiz. Not top tier but good. 

Greenpoint has some great Polish delis and bakeries. Always worth it to try some mustards. Liked tinned Mexican chipotles. A pantry staple. 

Matiz tuna is firm and flaky bright white but very mild. Baldor being a restaurant/hotel kitchen supply, that would make a nice room service tuna sandwich with just a fresh bit of dill. A bit bland for my loaded tuna salad. 

Bottom of the barrel is anything I find in my parents pantry. Last visit the tuna was brown and mealy. Emptying the tin left 1/3rd tuna and water down the drain. Stunk. The sardine tins I would not feed the pups. In their 90's it is about food value, not taste quality. They can afford quality but don't care. I bet their last meal out was Friendly's for the all you can eat salad bar when dad was training for the senior olympics. (five gold metals). On the cover of the Washington Post magazine like MarkSpitz. But old guy. 

 

Our pantry does not have any canned goods except for tins of fish. 3-4 dozen. DH buys then everywhere he sees them. Never looks at price. Probably a few Fairway treats in that stash. I don't care for the Costco brand he buys even when we have already a dozen. He buys more. The olive oil has no flavor. I should try giving a vinegar soak and better olive oil and try smoking them. 

 

The ones I posted in the round tin above were in the pantry for a year or two. Pulled them out for a dog treat but tasted first as I do. Pups got a bit but we had them with a good mustard, toast, and pickled red onion. Not all are shit. But not sure about the quality of the BalticSea waters. 

Tuna I would rathe buy frozen or fresh small steaks for a nicoise or salad seared rare. A good tin for tuna salad. DH purchased a 30$ pound of tuna but unfamiliar with Baldor it was 5 pound quantity. Yikes. But I food savered in 5-6 ounce portions for the freezer. 

 

[btbyrd]

They don't become unsafe, but the quality does change -- sometimes for the better. Some producers sell "vintage" tins that they've "cellared," but I've never seen anything very old offered for sale. I imagine that after a long enough period of time, the effects of time will be detrimental; I've seen it said that 10 years a good rough upper limit when it comes to vintage tins.

 

This goes for sardines in oil. Ones in water and tomato will definitely go down in quality much faster.

Edited July 16, 2022 by btbyrd (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Just upthread, I posted the Pasta with Summer Squash, Sardines & Preserved Lemon that I made from Back Pocket Pasta. I was thinking it would be good with the addition of white beans and decided to go ahead and make it a bean dish using Rancho Gordo Marcella beans in place of the pasta.

As with the original recipe, I used at least double the amount of preserved lemon. IMO, you really want a little bit in every bite. This was very good, both warm and at room temp.

I used these small sardines from Portugal:

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Sardine and Leek Tart with Tarragon from The Tinned Fish Cookbook

It's pretty rich with the goat cheese and two tins of sardines and absolutely needs to be served with something acidic.  I wonder if diced, preserved lemon or paper thin lemon slices layered over the sardines before baking would help.  I can't say this was the best ever use for puff pastry and I didn't really love it at first bite but it kinda grew on me and I ended up quite enjoying it.  The book says leftovers are good cold the next day. We shall see....

 

[btbyrd]

Looks great! I want to throw some arugula and lemon juice on there... maybe some pickled red onions or shallots or something. Nice looking deens too!

[btbyrd]

On 7/15/2022 at 6:05 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

 

Once upon a time, this was the first tin of sardines I ever purchased. I got them at an improbable retailer... a TJ Maxx or a Home Goods or something totally non-grocery. They were inexpensive and intriguing, but I was afraid. I'd never had a deen before, and their reputation didn't make me especially enthused. This tin sat in my cabinet for a couple years, jealously watching my piles of spiced mackerel filets and Ortiz tuna go in and out. But one day I decided to open the tin and I was greeted by three beautiful, burly shiny bois. They shimmered so beautifully. The oil smelled clean and lemony. My reluctance vanished and I took a bite. Whatever trepidation I'd once had was gone in an instant and I realized that I'd been missing out.

 

These aren't my favorite deens by any means, but they're damned good for the $3/tin price that I can semi-regularly get at my local Fresh Market. They tend to be scalier than other producers, but I've come to kind of like that (in context). The lemon flavor comes from the oil in the peel rather than any acid, so the fish have a toothsome and firm texture. Fresh lemon juice helps complete the package. The Matiz spicy deens are my go-to Matiz product though. And now that I'm a deen fiend, I don't buy them as regularly as I buy more some of the more premium brands (lord help me). But this tin has a special place in my heart. I'll never forget how they shimmered. Beauties.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I thought I knew canned fish.  Tonight I opened a tin of Pinhais sardines in olive oil.  It was a revelation.  A new experience.  I ate it with a bowl of Spanish onion, a bowl of shaved fennel, a bowl of Castelvetrano olives, and my bread.

 

[Kerala]

Wow, @JoNorvelleWalker

those sardines are almost 10 times the cost of my Sainsbury's ones here in the UK!

Splashed with a little white wine vinegar and with a few flakes of salt crumbled over them, they were very nice for breakfast. Will I investigate Pinhais further? I suspect resistance will be futile!

 

 

[Kerala]

☝️Grilled under the... grill.

[btbyrd]

On 8/28/2022 at 3:32 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I thought I knew canned fish.  Tonight I opened a tin of Pinhais sardines in olive oil.  It was a revelation.  A new experience.  I ate it with a bowl of Spanish onion, a bowl of shaved fennel, a bowl of Castelvetrano olives, and my bread.

 

 

Welcome to the fancy deen club! The spiced Pinhais are my favorite. Not hot spicy, but peppery/clovey/bay-leafy. They're also branded as Nuri in the US. I get them from Cost Plus World Market, which seemingly has the best prices. Though there are some Asian grocers that get them for even cheaper. There's a new (or limited edition) extra spicy Nuri that are actually hot. Those are tasty if you like the heat, but they cost twice as much as the World Market ones.

 

Your bread looks great! And thanks to your link, I learned a new word!

[Katie Meadow]

38 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

 

Welcome to the fancy deen club! The spiced Pinhais are my favorite. Not hot spicy, but peppery/clovey/bay-leafy. They're also branded as Nuri in the US. I get them from Cost Plus World Market, which seemingly has the best prices. Though there are some Asian grocers that get them for even cheaper. There's a new (or limited edition) extra spicy Nuri that are actually hot. Those are tasty if you like the heat, but they cost twice as much as the World Market ones.

 

Your bread looks great! And thanks to your link, I learned a new word!

Has anyone done a taste test to compare the Nuri vs the Pinhais? The cans of Nuri do say Pinhais in smallish print. On Amazon the 4-pack variety descriptions are just the same. Both are 4.4 oz per can. If they are in fact the same origin marketed differently then the Nuri are a much better deal. I haven't been to Cost Plus World Market in a zillion years, but as far as I know they still exist in Oakland. Only reason to go there is to go to Bev Mo on the same trip, a couple of blocks away.

[btbyrd]

They're supposed to be the same product according to their distributor. There can be some variance in the product though, so I don't know that a side by side taste test would settle things. I've gotten a batch of Nuris that was over salted, another batch that was super heavy on the clove. They're not super inconsistent, but inconsistent enough that you can sometimes be surprised.

 

Our World Market closed a couple years ago because of some disagreement with the property manager. This means that the closest one is an hour round trip away. Or there's one by my parents' house a two hour round trip away. So I plan ahead and buy all the spicy Nuris in stock at WM near my parents and pick them up at my leisure. You save 10% if you order online and pick up in store. This is a boon, as they seem to have stopped having sales on food a couple years ago. I may have ordered several hundred dollars worth of Ortiz tuna on sale (40% off baby!) back in those days... but the opportunity to do that hasn't presented itself in a long time.

[Anna N]

On 8/28/2022 at 5:46 AM, Kerala said:

Wow, @JoNorvelleWalker

those sardines are almost 10 times the cost of my Sainsbury's ones here in the UK!

Yep. If I start eating those sardines I would have to revise my understanding of sardines as a source of cheap protein. I don’t know that I like them well enough to spend that kind of money. 

[btbyrd]

Inexpensive sardines are mostly garbage in my experience. I definitely don’t like sardines enough to pay less for them.

[Anna N]

7 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

Inexpensive sardines are mostly garbage in my experience. I definitely don’t like sardines enough to pay less for them.

You are very definitely entitled to your opinion. But cheap, canned sardines on toast have saved my bacon as it were many times over the years. 

[btbyrd]

I believe in the bacon-saving inexpensiveness of cheap sardines. But if that's all sardines were, I wouldn't want to eat them.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, btbyrd said:

I believe in the bacon-saving inexpensiveness of cheap sardines. But if that's all sardines were, I wouldn't want to eat them.

 

Not to mention the Pinhais labels alone are worth the asking price.

 

[btbyrd]

@JoNorvelleWalker Agreed! The labels on the Güeyu Mar tins are even better, but I'm not sure those can command their asking price. Well... maybe the "Squid From Another Planet." I'm saving my Güeyu Mar labels to make some sort of conservas quilt or weird decoupage or something. Most likely, I'll just look at them to remember the good times. 

[btbyrd]

A recent deen haul with some deen sauce.

 

And some squid.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by btbyrd (log)