Guide to Buying Canned Sardines

Originally Posted by foodguy

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actually, there is a huge sardine fishery out of central and southern california. with squid, it's probably the last of our great commercial fisheries. and they end up selling most of it for a few dollars a ton. it then gets frozen and shipped to Indonesia for processing.

Sea urchin is a major SoCal export, too, no?

--Andre

Ok bla bla bla bla

So what's a good brand for Sardines? Sorry if this sounds gross to anyone but one of my favorite emergency meals is to cook some rice and open a car of sardines then spoon some rice into the can for some yummy sardine oily goodness.

Originally Posted by why

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Details after you taste them.

Even if you can't have them with the bread, have them with a beer. It's like prosciutto e melone -- an amazing pair that needs to be tried to really be understood.

i will.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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Great. Can you do a post on anchovies next?

+1

Indeed. One can never have enough sardines.

Alright after many years I decided to open up a can and try them again. They were Brunswick and in hot Louisiana sauce. At first I was meh, but the taste became better as I ate more. Not exactly something I'd go out of my way to eat, but I will give it another try with the smoked variety.

I tried canned sardines for the first time only in the last few years.

I grew up eating canned mackerel, it's a common side dish in my parents' homeland. I never had a strong opinion about it but probably the worst aspect of canned mackerel is the bones - they are edible but a little gristly and gritty when you chew on it.

Sardines on the other hand, they are like eating baby mackerel. All the fish flavor, softer flesh, and the bones are barely noticeable. I don't know why I took so long to try it.

I also love $1.99 canned smoked oysters from Trader Joe.

Definitely picking some up on the way home tonight. I really do dig smoked baltic sprats, good stuff.

Originally Posted by BDC2823

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Alright after many years I decided to open up a can and try them again. They were Brunswick and in hot Louisiana sauce. At first I was meh, but the taste became better as I ate more. Not exactly something I'd go out of my way to eat, but I will give it another try with the smoked variety.

Look for Latvian or German ones. I've never been let down by them.

All the EU countries seem to have their information on the tin (usually in a little oval). It will say something like LV 44 Z, where LV denotes it comes from Latvia and the rest is the EU commercial approval number. Other countries will state something like DE GI-310 EG, where DE denotes German origin and the rest is again the approval number (I'm guessing some numbers are larger than others because of the higher number of EU commerce permits in those countries). FR is for France, IT for Italy, etc. -- they mirror URL endings for the respective countries.

Originally Posted by lemmywinks

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Ok bla bla bla bla

So what's a good brand for Sardines? Sorry if this sounds gross to anyone but one of my favorite emergency meals is to cook some rice and open a car of sardines then spoon some rice into the can for some yummy sardine oily goodness.

The reason I organized the guide in that way was to avoid mentionining brands. The brand can be the distributor, processor, or importer. Many companies will brand their product under a name, but the product quality varies immensely under the brand because they have products coming from all over the world. Bumble Bee sardines, as an example, are relabeled sardines fished and processed from all over Western Europe and Canada. There's no way to tell what's inside the tin by looking at brand name alone.

Thank you for this threak... it should be subtitled 'underappreciated foodstuffs' IHOMO.

I used to love opening the cans back in ole England - do they still come with the key?

And still remember fresh sardines in Turkey/Southern Portugal/the Med...

Anyhows a question regarding the canned variety - used to be a breakfast staple on toast with lashings of black pepper and fresh tomatoes but they started to erm reverb after a while... and even nibbling on fresh parsley did not seem to help - suggestions?

Originally Posted by why

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Look for Latvian or German ones. I've never been let down by them.

All the EU countries seem to have their information on the tin (usually in a little oval). It will say something like LV 44 Z, where LV denotes it comes from Latvia and the rest is the EU commercial approval number. Other countries will state something like DE GI-310 EG, where DE denotes German origin and the rest is again the approval number (I'm guessing some numbers are larger than others because of the higher number of EU commerce permits in those countries). FR is for France, IT for Italy, etc. -- they mirror URL endings for the respective countries.

Thanks. I'll make sure to do this next time I'm in the store.

Originally Posted by AcÃ

phale

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Anyhows a question regarding the canned variety - used to be a breakfast staple on toast with lashings of black pepper and fresh tomatoes but they started to erm reverb after a while... and even nibbling on fresh parsley did not seem to help - suggestions?

I'm guessing by 'reverb' you mean they gave you heartburn or an upset stomach. It's likely caused by the amount and type of fat in the sardines (large amounts of unsaturated fats). If most of the oil is removed (blot it with a paper towel if necessary) it should alleviate the stomach issues a bit. Also, because the fats in sardines tend to be oils that are free (i.e. they are separated from their constituents -- like how olive oil is squeezed out of the olives) they tend to cause a larger release of bile and pancreatic lipases at once than if the fats were still with their constituents. Eating sardines with bread or other starches will slow down the release of the lipases and bile and will allow easier digestion. As well, diets that are high in carbohydrates and low in fats likely cause issues when fats are ingested because the digestive system isn't accustomed to handling larger amounts of fats at once.

So, in summary, the best thing to do is eat sardines regularly with bread and pass on the tomato and pepper.

any preference to oil packed vs. water packed?

What about the Asian ones? Growing up, I loved the kind in cylindrical round cans with green labels for spicy sauce. They were slightly *****, and had roe.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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any preference to oil packed vs. water packed?

Water packed don't hold the flavor and are generally not good at all. I never buy them and urge everyone else to avoid them as well.

Originally Posted by intent

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What about the Asian ones? Growing up, I loved the kind in cylindrical round cans with green labels for spicy sauce. They were slightly *****, and had roe.

I avoid Asian seafood foodstuffs, since most are just sent to Asia for processing are are pre-frozen before being manhandled. See foodguy's post regarding California fisheries.