What a good canned sardine?

[boomchakabowwow]

Might be nice not to have to fly to Portugal.


My sardine kungfu is yellow belt. What’s good and readily available?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

https://www.youtube.com/@CannedFishFiles

 

[Beerzebub]

I took tasting notes for a little while, wish I kept it up but here are my old notes in case they're helpful. Matiz Gallego is a reliable brand. King Oscar is good and very easy to find.

Seafood	Description	Brand	Nation	Review
Sardines	In olive oil	Roland	Morocco	Good flavor almost like tuna, pleasant aroma and texture. Very nice.
Sardines	Skinless & boneless in olive oil	Roland	Morocco	Great flavor and meaty texture. Slightly dry, but a winner.
Sardines	Skinless & boneless in spring water	Roland	Morocco	Tasty, Meaty, but somewhat dry. Very good.
Sardines	w/ cayenne, in extra virgin olive oil	BELA-Olhão	Portugal	Needs salt. With Mahon salt, these fish are good. Barely spicy.
Sardines	lightly smoked, in extra virgin olive	BELA-Olhão	Portugal	Tasty and tender, very nice
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Goya	Spain	Includes skin and bone. Very good flavor and texture. A bit too salty. Good.
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Matiz Gallego	Spain	Great flavor, tender, one fish includes a succulent liver and another has roe. Outstanding.
Sardines	In spring water, no salt added	Brunswick	Canada	Boring flavor and texture; somewhat improved by salt and pepper.
Sardines	Finest Brisling in Olive Oil	King Oscar	Norway	Tasty, tender, well seasoned; excellent sardines. These do have added salt (340 mg drained).
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Albo	Spain	Tasty, succulent skin, one liver, even better with pepper and a touch of salt. Still, pricy at $4.
Sardines	In pure olive oil, salt added	Nuri	Portugal	Tasty, meaty, clean olive oil and quality tuna kind of flavor, very nice
Sardines	In olive oil, salt added	Angelo Parodi	Portugal	Tasty, meaty, perfectly seasoned, clean light olive oil, tasty liver found. Outstanding.
Sardines	Skinless and boneless in olive oil, salt added	Sclafani	Portugal	Skinless, but excellent sardines. Tasty meaty fish, good olive oil, a nice liver. Great sardines.
Sardines	Lightly smoked, in olive oil (salt added)	Trader Joe's	Portugal	Tasty, tender, properly seasoned, good sardines, good value.
Roe of Hake		Albo	Spain	Like hot dog, in a good way. Tasty, especially with a little salt and pepper.
Octopus	Sliced smoked, in soybean oil w/ salt	Roland	Thailand	Very tasty, nice smoke. Well seasoned, no additional salt needed. Good meaty texture. Some pieces are a little too chewy, but it’s no big deal.
Octopus	Spiced w/ vegetables	Roland	Spain	Good spicy flavor, but too chewy. Pass.
Octopus	In olive oil and garlic sauce	Palacio Real	Spain	Pretty good with addition of salt and pepper; some pieces too chewy; too pricey at $4.
Cod Liver	Smoked	Roland	Denmark	Soft, silky, supple, rich & creamy. Delicious. Well worth the $4.
Squid	Ink sauce	Vigo	Spain	Good full flavor, even better w/ salt and pepper.
Squid (fillets)	In olive oil	Palacio Real	Spain	Satisfying steaks of squid. Not overly flavorful, but good.
Eel	Fillets, smoked boneless	Roland	Thailand	Somewhat bland and boring, but decent.
Mussels	In marinade (en escabeche)	Vigo	Spain	Very tasty sauce and good mussel flavor, oily, decent texture. Worth the $3.19.
Mussels	In kingscallops's sauce (salsa de vieira)	Palacio Real	Spain	Flavorful and well seasoned, even a bit too salty, but quite tasty.
Oysters	Smoked, in pure olive oil	Crown Prince	South Korea	Decent, but too chewy
Garfish (Agujas)	In Olive Oil	Palacio Real	Spain	Tasty, but somewhat dry. Good, but not worth buying again at $4.
Clams	Smoked Baby (w/ soybean oil, salt)	Napoleon	Thailand	Oversalty, but well worth it. Tasty clams.
Cuttlefish	In American Sauce	Albo	Spain	Tasty and tender. Plenty seasoned, and moderately spicy. Oily, but excellent.
Cuttlefish	Ink sauce	Albo	Spain	Tasty and tender, though oily.
Mussels	In water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Way too many crunchy bits, including a piece of shell and surprisingly several tiny pearls. Decent flavor, but had to chew very carefully, not very enjoyable.
Clams (cherrystone)	In water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Chewy as all hell. Avoid.
Mackerel	Hardwood smoked, in water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Pretty good flavor, but way too dry.
Mackerel	In vegetable oil	Eva	Croatia	A bit dry, but quite tasty, and the salt level is just right. (note: consumed drained of oil)
Sardines	In vegetable oil	Eva	Croatia	Good sardines. Tasty, meaty, well seasoned. Not olive oil, but good sardines for a great price.
Sprats	Smoked, in Sunflower seed oil	Riga Gold	Latvia
Octopus	In olive oil	Matiz Gallego	Spain	Very tasty indeed. Great tender meaty texture. Well seasoned. Good olive oil. Expensive, but worth it.
Clams	Smoked baby (w/ olive oil, salt)	Crown Prince	Thailand	Bland clams, bland oil, but with salt and pepper it's not bad.
Sardines	In olive oil	Cole's	Portugal	Full flavor, meaty texture, quality olive oil, right level of salt. Tasty creamy livers. Seriously good sardines. Expensive, but worth it.

 

[Beerzebub]

Sorry there's no note for the Riga sprats, I copied and pasted a bit hastily. From what I remember those are pretty tasty if you like smoke. By the way, the prices in some of the notes are in USD and are probably from around 2007 to 2010, so certainly out of date.

 

[dchang21]

Might be nice not to have to fly to Portugal.

portugal is really nice, make an effort to go some day...

 

[Seemore]

So far, this is my favorite brand that’s easy to find. But I’m definitely no connoisseur. They have different versions: packed in water, no salt added, and others.

 

[Michi]

Nuri is my favourite brand. Those are outstanding sardines, and not just the ones in olive oil; the other flavours are excellent, too.

 

[Seemore]

Nuri is my favourite brand. Those are outstanding sardines, and not just the ones in olive oil. The other flavours are excellent, too.

I’ve seen those, but not often. I’ll try them next time I come across them.

 

[Beerzebub]

Has anyone tried the Ortiz ones? They're available here in NZ but I haven't tried them because they're expensive at about NZ$14, that's almost US$9.

 

[PPIIBBSS]

I took tasting notes for a little while, wish I kept it up but here are my old notes in case they're helpful. Matiz Gallego is a reliable brand. King Oscar is good and very easy to find.

Seafood	Description	Brand	Nation	Review
Sardines	In olive oil	Roland	Morocco	Good flavor almost like tuna, pleasant aroma and texture. Very nice.
Sardines	Skinless & boneless in olive oil	Roland	Morocco	Great flavor and meaty texture. Slightly dry, but a winner.
Sardines	Skinless & boneless in spring water	Roland	Morocco	Tasty, Meaty, but somewhat dry. Very good.
Sardines	w/ cayenne, in extra virgin olive oil	BELA-Olhão	Portugal	Needs salt. With Mahon salt, these fish are good. Barely spicy.
Sardines	lightly smoked, in extra virgin olive	BELA-Olhão	Portugal	Tasty and tender, very nice
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Goya	Spain	Includes skin and bone. Very good flavor and texture. A bit too salty. Good.
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Matiz Gallego	Spain	Great flavor, tender, one fish includes a succulent liver and another has roe. Outstanding.
Sardines	In spring water, no salt added	Brunswick	Canada	Boring flavor and texture; somewhat improved by salt and pepper.
Sardines	Finest Brisling in Olive Oil	King Oscar	Norway	Tasty, tender, well seasoned; excellent sardines. These do have added salt (340 mg drained).
Sardines	In Olive Oil	Albo	Spain	Tasty, succulent skin, one liver, even better with pepper and a touch of salt. Still, pricy at $4.
Sardines	In pure olive oil, salt added	Nuri	Portugal	Tasty, meaty, clean olive oil and quality tuna kind of flavor, very nice
Sardines	In olive oil, salt added	Angelo Parodi	Portugal	Tasty, meaty, perfectly seasoned, clean light olive oil, tasty liver found. Outstanding.
Sardines	Skinless and boneless in olive oil, salt added	Sclafani	Portugal	Skinless, but excellent sardines. Tasty meaty fish, good olive oil, a nice liver. Great sardines.
Sardines	Lightly smoked, in olive oil (salt added)	Trader Joe's	Portugal	Tasty, tender, properly seasoned, good sardines, good value.
Roe of Hake		Albo	Spain	Like hot dog, in a good way. Tasty, especially with a little salt and pepper.
Octopus	Sliced smoked, in soybean oil w/ salt	Roland	Thailand	Very tasty, nice smoke. Well seasoned, no additional salt needed. Good meaty texture. Some pieces are a little too chewy, but it’s no big deal.
Octopus	Spiced w/ vegetables	Roland	Spain	Good spicy flavor, but too chewy. Pass.
Octopus	In olive oil and garlic sauce	Palacio Real	Spain	Pretty good with addition of salt and pepper; some pieces too chewy; too pricey at $4.
Cod Liver	Smoked	Roland	Denmark	Soft, silky, supple, rich & creamy. Delicious. Well worth the $4.
Squid	Ink sauce	Vigo	Spain	Good full flavor, even better w/ salt and pepper.
Squid (fillets)	In olive oil	Palacio Real	Spain	Satisfying steaks of squid. Not overly flavorful, but good.
Eel	Fillets, smoked boneless	Roland	Thailand	Somewhat bland and boring, but decent.
Mussels	In marinade (en escabeche)	Vigo	Spain	Very tasty sauce and good mussel flavor, oily, decent texture. Worth the $3.19.
Mussels	In kingscallops's sauce (salsa de vieira)	Palacio Real	Spain	Flavorful and well seasoned, even a bit too salty, but quite tasty.
Oysters	Smoked, in pure olive oil	Crown Prince	South Korea	Decent, but too chewy
Garfish (Agujas)	In Olive Oil	Palacio Real	Spain	Tasty, but somewhat dry. Good, but not worth buying again at $4.
Clams	Smoked Baby (w/ soybean oil, salt)	Napoleon	Thailand	Oversalty, but well worth it. Tasty clams.
Cuttlefish	In American Sauce	Albo	Spain	Tasty and tender. Plenty seasoned, and moderately spicy. Oily, but excellent.
Cuttlefish	Ink sauce	Albo	Spain	Tasty and tender, though oily.
Mussels	In water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Way too many crunchy bits, including a piece of shell and surprisingly several tiny pearls. Decent flavor, but had to chew very carefully, not very enjoyable.
Clams (cherrystone)	In water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Chewy as all hell. Avoid.
Mackerel	Hardwood smoked, in water	Bar Harbor	Maine, USA	Pretty good flavor, but way too dry.
Mackerel	In vegetable oil	Eva	Croatia	A bit dry, but quite tasty, and the salt level is just right. (note: consumed drained of oil)
Sardines	In vegetable oil	Eva	Croatia	Good sardines. Tasty, meaty, well seasoned. Not olive oil, but good sardines for a great price.
Sprats	Smoked, in Sunflower seed oil	Riga Gold	Latvia
Octopus	In olive oil	Matiz Gallego	Spain	Very tasty indeed. Great tender meaty texture. Well seasoned. Good olive oil. Expensive, but worth it.
Clams	Smoked baby (w/ olive oil, salt)	Crown Prince	Thailand	Bland clams, bland oil, but with salt and pepper it's not bad.
Sardines	In olive oil	Cole's	Portugal	Full flavor, meaty texture, quality olive oil, right level of salt. Tasty creamy livers. Seriously good sardines. Expensive, but worth it.

Oh my god this is incredible! I'll be moving to Granada later this year to open a restaurant, so I will for SURE be using this list. Thank you!!

 

[Beerzebub]

Nuri is my favourite brand. Those are outstanding sardines, and not just the ones in olive oil. The other flavours are excellent, too.

They're excellent, unfortunately I can't get them here. I love the packaging too.

(Edit: Just remembered I'll probably be in Sydney in a couple of months. I know what I'm bringing back in my luggage!)

 

[Jovidah]

I usually grab either Porthos or Ortiz simply because those are the 2 quality Iberian brands that are easily and affordably available to me.

 

[MarcelNL]

NICE list!!

I found that most Portugese brands do well, many Spanish also.

OT: I always wonder what 'sustainably caught' means, did they use solar powered boats, did they only catch 1 out of every 10 fish, do they keep count of total nr caught in a year?

 

[btbyrd]

OT: I always wonder what 'sustainably caught' means, did they use solar powered boats, did they only catch 1 out of every 10 fish, do they keep count of total nr caught in a year?

This usually means that the fish were caught with a line and hook rather than being caught with a huge net that scoops up everything or trawls the bottom of the sea. And that they were caught in accordance with seasonal quotas and whatever other environmental regulations there might be.

 

[Jovidah]

This usually means that the fish were caught with a line and hook rather than being caught with a huge net that scoops up everything or trawls the bottom of the sea. And that they were caught in accordance with seasonal quotas and whatever other environmental regulations there might be.

With these smaller high volume fish it's most likely all about tonnage caught and fishing quotas to at least theoretically prevent overfishing.

I'd be surprised if anyone is making line-caught sardines, you mostly see that sort of thing with larger fish like tuna.

 

[Beerzebub]

I'd be surprised if anyone is making line-caught sardines

Yeah, for little schooling fish like sardines I think you would avoid bycatch with methods like purse seining. I catch sardines ('pilchards' here) on a sabiki when I can, but wouldn't base a business model on it!

 

[Seemore]

That company also markets tuna, which has a higher chance of using damaging practices. Much of their earned respect and company identity is from how they collect tuna. As mentioned by @Beerzebub, purse-seines have smaller bycatch and don’t touch or scrape the bottom, so those habitats are left undamaged. Right from the start, sardines are a more sustainable choice which is why I eat them.
For me, a big part of sustainability is about how the humans in the operation are treated.
The company is easy to read about.

There are live links here regarding their operations:

https://wildplanetfoods.com/pages/operational-policies

 

[MarcelNL]

sad that this is not the 'unpopular opinion' thread, since I tend to think that sustainably caught most often is greenwashing and nothing else ;-)

yeah sardines are caught with large nets

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/can-portuguese-sardines-make-a-comeback
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pacific-sardine

That humans are treated normally should be something to expect...I mean, not belittling your post, what's the point of making a statement like that?
Adding a statement that 'no PFAS was or will be dumped in the Ocean while fishing' does not make overfishing anymore sustainable to me.

 

[Jovidah]

Actually since the human population is not even remotely threatened of becoming extinct it's perfectly sustainable to abuse your laborers and treat them as disposable...

 

[Jovidah]

On that note I think we as Dutchmen are the clear experts on sustainability. We once had an eighty year war. If that isn't the highlight of sustainable slaughter, I don't know what is.

 

[Seemore]

yeah sardines are caught with large nets

Nothing wrong with that if the target species is reproducing and maturing as quickly as we take them, and other species aren’t suffering heavy collateral damage.
I don’t dismiss small steps in the right direction; that’s all we’ve got.

 

[MarcelNL]

Nothing wrong with that if the target species is reproducing and maturing as quickly as we take them, and other species aren’t suffering heavy collateral damage.
I don’t dismiss small steps in the right direction; that’s all we’ve got.

for sure, I'm not sayin the catch method is at fault here...it's just that us humans universally seem to be overly greedy without much respect to our environment.

the good news is that the Portugese fishermen seem to abide by the set max numbers to catch so the sardines a have a good chance of repopulating or at least not disappearing completely due to global warming. So I guess it's fine to eat great Portugese canned Sardines.

That wild food company has a nice website with all kinds of (IMHO) non substantiated claims everywhere, but at some point you'll find that they sell north pacific Sardines caught by Japanese Fishermen.
Efficient fishing explained as 'Selective fishing' is a great marketing trick ;-
Selectively caught by fisheries targeting free-swimming schools of sardines.


https://wildplanetfoods.com/products/wild-planet-sardines
I cannot rhyme that with this; https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pacific-sardine

but what do I know....at best it's incomplete information, at worst something to try avoid.

 

[gentiscid]

Briesling and Sardines in olive oil and skin on and bone in. I don’t buy canned sardines in water and or sunflower oil. Not that they are bad, its just that I like the ones in olive oil better.

The chart above is exellent. Portugal and Morocco make very good canned sardines. Nuri is top tier canned sardines brand.

I eat them a lot as supplement for fish oil and Vit. D. or as snacks. Pictures are from late last night. I will upload some more pictures for canned sardines ideas later.

 

[Seemore]

I cannot rhyme that with this

Good to know. You read farther on their own website than I did - thanks. I was going more by what others (3rd party) have said about them.

I’ve been referring to seafoodwatch.org, but the NOAA site is clearer.

 

[Beerzebub]

for sure, I'm not sayin the catch method is at fault here...it's just that us humans universally seem to be overly greedy without much respect to our environment.

the good news is that the Portugese fishermen seem to abide by the set max numbers to catch so the sardines a have a good chance of repopulating or at least not disappearing completely due to global warming. So I guess it's fine to eat great Portugese canned Sardines.

That wild food company has a nice website with all kinds of (IMHO) non substantiated claims everywhere, but at some point you'll find that they sell north pacific Sardines caught by Japanese Fishermen.
Efficient fishing explained as 'Selective fishing' is a great marketing trick ;-
Selectively caught by fisheries targeting free-swimming schools of sardines.


https://wildplanetfoods.com/products/wild-planet-sardines
I cannot rhyme that with this; https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/pacific-sardine

but what do I know....at best it's incomplete information, at worst something to try avoid.

Not sure but is the NOAA page about the U.S. fishery? Seafood Watch, which I think is supposed to be one of the few actually reputable guides, gives Japanese pilchard caught with purse seine a thumbs up, so probably one of the better choices. Not that I'm an expert and don't make bad choices sometimes, I'm sure I do!
https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/search?query=:species;Japanese pilchard

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Well, we made it 12 posts into a sardine thread before the agenda rolled out...

 

[Jovidah]

Well, we made it 12 posts into a sardine thread before the agenda rolled out...

If 'the agenda' means that I'll still be able to eat sardines at a somewhat affordable price 50 years from now, by all means bring on the agenda.

Some of us are still young enough to care about sustainability even if it's just for selfish reasons!

 

[MarcelNL]

what agenda?

I like tuna but want to be able to eat it in 10 years from now too, so I try to pick as responsible as possible. Same goes for more things, if that is an agenda , sure.

 

[Seemore]

Not sure but is the NOAA page about the U.S. fishery? Seafood Watch, which I think is supposed to be one of the few actually reputable guides, gives Japanese pilchard caught with purse seine a thumbs up, so probably one of the better choices. Not that I'm an expert and don't make bad choices sometimes, I'm sure I do!
https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/search?query=:species;Japanese pilchard

(You might have to avert your eyes for a few more minutes, @HHC)

Yes I believe NOAA only deals with U.S. And true, seafoodwatch is regarding global sources.

My tin of sardines says “processed in Thailand”, not exactly transparent there. My tin of anchovies from the same company says “Product of Morocco”, better.

 

[aporigine]

Has anyone tried the Ortiz ones? They're available here in NZ but I haven't tried them because they're expensive at about NZ$14, that's almost US$9.

I’ve been wanting to, but nobody local carries them (not a lot of gourmet shopping here on the sun’s anvil) and the Zon is very pricy, and the reviews complain about a fair incidence of expired andor spoiled products. Food from the Zon is a gamble, and often an expensive one.