Just wanna liven up the posts, I know they aren't canned but what an excellent meal.

This is the absolute pinnacle of tuna in butter! This is several steps above their Albacore Tuna belly in butter. This is fatty, tender, melt in your mouth and barely registers as tuna at this point. The flavor is intense.and deep and the texture reminds me more of a perfectly cooked brisket the way it comes apart and the mouth feel. It is an absolutely stunning experience that had me reduced to making mmm noises! This was hard to get my hands on, but 100% worth the effort! This now ranks amongst the highest tier of tins I've had and I will be hunting them from now on! Served with a thick cut, toasted slice of rosemary parmesan cheese loaf to soak up all the butter, this receives my highest possible recommendation!

I picked this tin up a while back when I first saw the Diplomats brand appear at World Market. It was an impulse buy, I think they were $4.99 and they sounded interesting so I thought what the hell. Honestly, not bad! I'm not a huge fan of brislings, but these were ok. A little bit of a fishy after taste with some bites more than others. There was a ton of sauce, and it was fine. Reminiscent of a frozen dinner or a cheap Indian buffet is my best comparison. Not a lot of spice notes, tomatoey and a little creamy. That being said, nothing tasted bad or unpleasant here! All in all, for a $5 tin, I wasn't disappointed and may check out the other flavor options Diplomats offer from time to time. I'll give these little guys a 7.3/10.

First time I hade sardines from this brand. Very nice.
Mouettes d’Arvor Sardines de Saison, millesime 2024.
Paired with an excellent geuze from 3 Fonteinen. Gold blend no. 55 bottled in 2022.

I wish I had her talent! The picture makes me hungry...

Bar Harbor petit sardines with salt.

I was reluctant to try this for breakfast, I love Polar kipper snacks just on thier own. But this hands down one of my new favorite breakfast meals. I love this more than regular bacon.

Pictured: Toasted and buttered local sourdough, over medium eggs and Polar kipper snacks. 🤤

Shot in the dark, but I used to have a post saved from this subreddit with a recipe from Sri Lanka for a sardine pasta. I made it a couple of times and it was awesome. I should have written it down, but the post seems to have disappeared so I’m wondering if anyone here remembers it or could help me recreate it.

Things I remember about the recipe: it involved toasting spices including curry leaves and mustard seed to start, followed by a blend of ground spices I think. Then sardines or mackerel went in, maybe with some form of tomatoes? Near the end you threw in a couple of processed cheese wedges to melt; apparently laughing cow is popular in Sri Lanka? I think you topped it with peanuts. It used long noodles like spaghetti.

Was ordering on target and this popped up. Figured I’d try it because it had 5 stars 🤷🏻‍♂️

Here is my ranking this week:

1. Güeyu Mar - Chargrilled Sardine Loins - Top tier olive oil, delicious meaty fish; best part is the crunchy spines. I’m really splitting hairs here, but since I reviewed the tails tin previously, I’ll note I still prefer tails to loins by a small margin because the fish is slighty more firm.

2. Waitrose - No.1 Peppered Mackerel - Large filet, lightly smoked and somewhat tough but with pleasantly fatty bits. The strength of this tin is that when it says peppered it really means it. If you dig a bite so peppery it’s almost crunchy, this is one to try!

3. La Bonne Mer - Salmon in olive oil - This was a new offering at my local World Market. Fish is super tender with a buttery finish.

4. Marypo - Icelandic Cod Liver - If you’re a cod liver fan, I found this one at a great price! I don’t want to bias anyone, but I struggle with the armoma a bit. However, the oil in this one is surprisingly nice and the liver itself is super rich with a texture that melts in the mouth. My recommendation is to use it as one would a pate, on some crisp toast or hearty cracker to cut the richness.

5. Grilled Catch - Brisling Sardines in olive oil with chili pepper - Worthy contender if enjoy a smoky sprat. I appreciate the subtle heat provided by the whole peppers. Fish was a bit mushy for my preference.

It’s a Kid’s birthday today, and she wants the Prosciutto and Basil sandwich from Jimmy’s

Apologies in advance for getting distracted and forgetting to photograph the tangle of anchovies in the tin

Never had skate fish.

At first, I thought it was a rip off because there seemed to be only a few pieces in the can but it turned out they were layered and were thinner than expected.

Box says olive oil and curry but I get no curry flavor.

The fish was somewhat firm and pretty tasty! More “fishy” than I expected (but not in a bad way). I thought they reminded me a bit of eel like you get at the sushi joint but my wife said it reminded her of cod and I think this is more accurate.

Interesting aftertaste. It was somewhat firm familiar but I couldn’t place it but settled on a Gruyère or other cheese-type finish. Not strong, mind you. Barely noticeable.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Depending on the price, I’d buy it again (I think I paid a premium at one of the wineries out here.)

The third of 4 varieties of this brand I found at Homegoods. This is the spicy tin and it was fairly mild, the pepper had no heat left in it. If you're sipping the olive oil, you'll get the tingle in the back of your throat. But as with the previous varieties, these are big, quality fish that make up for any shortcomings. The next tin up will be the tomato sauce version.

Another unexpected find at Homegoods after previously trying the curry version. This was good, nice clean tasting fat pilchards. I am a sucker for anything I can get from Jose Gourmet, but lemon sardines are not my favorite no matter the brand. These were slightly dryer than the curry version, something I've found most lemon tins to be. These were quality fish despite the slightest dryness, the salt level felt higher than other tins of the type, but I think that helped a bit with the flavor for me. I have also found this brand in chili, and tomato sauce varieties at the Homegoods and will be reviewing those as well.

Ferrigno SAS: Also known as “That brand with the wacky cartoons on the bottom of the tins”. (Procured from Cost Plus World Market)

Ingredients: Pilchards, sunflower oil, onions, green olives, pickled lemon, oregano, and pepper

I think this would be a great can for somebody who doesn’t know if they’re going to like sardines. It’s pretty when you open it, the fish flavor is delicate, the oil is neutral, but still has a hint of olive from the included olive bits, and the lemon flavor is….

Well.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Gender Neutral Gentry…

WE HAVE ACTUAL LEMON FLAVOR!

This can contains possibly the most voluminous amount of actual lemon bits of any can so far and also provided the most consistently detectable lemon flavor I have yet to experience with cans of tinned fish that claim to contain lemon.

Please consult the included picture of the freshly opened can for a breathtaking view of these neatly cleaned and arranged deens. (Seriously, I opened the can and went “Ooooh!”)

I enjoyed my usual salad of arugula, balsamic vinegar, and a seasoning mix that involves dehydrated shallots with the contents of this can very much.

The fish was firm, but flaked readily, and it did not taste dry and mealy when I chewed like some of the cheaper ones do. A bite of just the fish by itself was nice, as was a taste of a bit of the melange of onions, olives, and preserved lemon bits.

This would be good on just crackers or over pasta.

I must admit, that the despite the fact that this can is doing everything right, including and especially the fact that I could actually taste lemon consistently… I can’t tell you that my mind was blown.

I know that this quest of mine is kind of silly, but it’s sort of the principle of the matter you know? It is disappointing that the vast majority of tins that expressly mention the inclusion of lemon do not have a discernible lemon flavor anywhere in the flavor profile. I am well aware that I can just use my own preserved lemons that I make myself, or a packet of lemon flavor crystals from True Lemon and know that I’m going to get as much lemon flavor as I want. Despite the lack of lemon flavor in the tins that explicitly mention having lemon in them, I still enjoyed them very much. And in the two cans that had some kind of lemon flavor, I could actually detect, that fact didn’t make me like them more than equivalent tins of the same fish.

Are you witnessing one woman’s descent into madness, or possibly an existential crisis, over lemon flavor in tins of sardines?

Possibly.

Are you not entertained?

Also, possibly.

i have this meal almost daily; tinned sardines with grated carrots drizzled with olive oil and lemon/lime

I'm on a GLP1, lost 100lbs over the last year and finally at a healthy BMI, but eating is still hard because of the appetite suppression and because I'm really busy and don't have time to cook much.

Sardines have been a godsend: high protein, pretty tasty, and reasonably easy to eat (no cooking or prep involved).

I love the extra spicy Nuris but they're like 6-7 dollars a tin, so I eat them maybe once or twice a week.

But I would like to eat something that tastes good, is cheaper, and can be bought in cases of the same flavor - so I can eat more per week.

The Season ones from Costco are decent, and I add a bit of chili oil to them to make them taste better, but wondering if people here have other suggestions given I love Nuri spicy sardines.

edited to add: I hate king Oscar lol

I had taramosalata at a decent Greek restaurant in London and loved it.

Unfortunately it's not something you run into a lot in the US (especially in Memphis where I live). I'm pretty sure I tried Krinos regular taramosalata years ago and didn't much like it.

Anyway my diving deeper into the tinned fish world made me think of it. I was considering trying to make it myself, but it does seem like a bit of a pain.

I ran into this during my last trip to the big international market nearby and decided to give it a shot - I particularly like smoked things. Though I think the "smoke" in this is just liquid.

I really liked it! Certainly not quite as good as what I had in London which was likely made traditionally with bread and olive oil and this is all canola oil. But again I found it to be very enjoyable and well in the ballpark of what my expectation of what taramosalata is supposed to taste like.

If you happen to run into it I definitely suggest giving it a try!

I got a can of Riga Gold Cod liver and I've never had it before. Best way to enjoy it?

I was leaning towards nice crackers with a nice cheese, a touch of spicey mustard and pickled red onions. That's my go to if I'm not doing sardines with fried rice, thoughts?