Cook-ING: Little tinned fish review

Welcome to Cook-ING, a biweekly series where writer Ingrid Doubleday (Ingrid, ING, get it?) shares recipe ideas and reviews, meal prepping tips, dinner party plans, and other fun cooking related tidbits, stories, and snacks. This week we’ll be Cook-ING up a little tinned fish review!

This week we are Cook-ING up a little tinned fish review! For the past few months, I’ve been watching a lot of tinned fish review videos on Instagram. I love watching cooking videos in general, but I’ve especially enjoyed these ones with all their cute colorful packaging and different varieties of fish and seafood. I thought it would be fun to do my own tinned fish review here to introduce you all to some of the varieties available and to offer some suggestions and tips for doing your own tinned fish sampling or turning it into a tinned fish happy hour.

In this taste test, I wanted to try out some of the brands I’ve been seeing everywhere and make it a cute little event. This is by no means an exhaustive or extensive list or review of tinned fish — it’s just my opinions and a structure for you guys to try out if you are also interested in tinned fish but not sure where to start.

Tinned fish is an excellent, versatile food. It can be delicious on its own as a quick snack, lunch, or appetizer (instead of a cheese board, next time make a tinned fish board). If you are interested in trying a bunch of different tinned fish brands, it’s a great idea to host a little tinned fish party; invite your friends, have each of them bring a little tin of fish, get some crackers and bread, sauces, dips, assorted crudités and pickled goodies. Make some martinis or a fun mocktail, get (or make!) some fun fishy decor, curate a little sea shanty playlist — you get the vibe, lean into the tinned fish theme, channel your inner Narwhal, and make it fun and fishy!

This is exactly what I did for my tinned fish review party. I bought eight different kinds of tinned fish and two tinned vegetables (to make it vegetarian friendly). I made a mini cheese board with pickles, pickled mushrooms, pickled peppers, olives, and served it all with a sliced baguette and a variety of crackers. I made pickle martinis (a dirty martini but with a pickle spear and pickle brine instead of olives). Then we all sat around and nibbled on tinned fish and had a lovely fishy time.

I bought my tinned fish at four different stores: Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Smør, and Big Night. There’s a ton of cute specialty food markets around New York City, similar to Smør and Big Night, that sell a wide variety of tinned fish. They do tend to be a bit more expensive at specialty food shops, but they usually have both international and specialized smaller brands that you might not be able to find at bigger grocery stores. Whole Foods had a really nice selection of brands and kinds of fish which ranged from about $5 to $15 per tin. Trader Joe’s had less variety in flavor and kinds of fish, however they were definitely the least expensive tins and still absolutely delicious.

To structure my review, I’ve developed a little fish rating system which goes from 0 to 5 fishies 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟. I use this scale to rate the overall flavor, the fishiness (how strong the fish flavor is), and the package aesthetics. I’ve combined the flavor and package aesthetics scores to create an overall score out of 10 fishies. I’ve also included the prices and locations where I bought each tin and some notes on the flavors and textures. Let’s get tasting!

Fishwife Sardines with Hot Peppers

$9, Whole Foods

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — super cute! Love the colors, love the illustrations, love the overall vibe, clear flavor descriptions.

Notes: These sardines were beautiful, and I felt like they offered the most “classic” tinned fish experience of rolling back the lid to reveal the rows of fish in oil. They are more of a typical sardine with the skin on. They also still have bones, which you can eat because they are so small and delicate, but the look could be a little off-putting if you haven’t eaten much tinned fish before. They had a very classic sardine flavor. I found them to be slightly fishier than the Trader Joe’s sardines I tried but still fairly mild. Since these are sardines with hot peppers, I was hoping they would have a bit more heat, spice, and flavor, but they weren’t that strong and the predominant flavor was just sardine. I enjoyed them, but I wasn’t necessarily wowed. Overall score of 8/10 fishies.

Trader Joe’s Skinless & Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil

$2.50, Trader Joe’s

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — pretty basic package compared to some of the other brands. I wish there was something a little more exciting going on.

Notes: These sardines had a very mild, easy, fish flavor, somewhat similar to the Fishwife sardines. These sardines are a great introduction to tinned fish, and sardines in particular. They’re boneless and skinless, so perhaps more appealing to the eye (they look more like a fish filet than a whole fish, which can be a bit daunting sometimes). They’re not too fishy, not too salty, and not too overpowering, which means they pair nicely with toppings as well. I really enjoyed adding a pickled pepper or an olive to these fish bites. I would definitely recommend these ones. The low price point makes them especially nice if you are curious about trying out tinned fish but are not sure if you will like them and don’t want to commit to more expensive brands. Trader Joe’s has a few other varieties of sardines which I haven’t tried but am definitely interested in now based on my experience with these. Overall score of 6/10 fishies.

Fishwife Smoked Albacore Tuna

$14.50, Big Night

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — super cute! Love the colors, love the illustrations, love the overall vibe, clear flavor descriptions.

Notes: This smoked tuna was delicious. It had a stronger smokey flavor that was very meaty; it almost tasted more like a porky-bacon flavor than fish, which was a nice break from some of the other very fish-forward flavors I tried. Very, very mild tuna flavor. The texture was a bit tougher than regular canned tuna, so I’d recommend topping with a sauce or a pickle, something to give it a bit more moisture. I used the extra tuna to make a little tuna salad sandwich with mayo, tomato, and pickle, which was delicious. The smokey flavor added a nice depth to the tuna salad, and I think it almost worked better in this form than as a standalone on a cracker. Overall score of 9/10 fishies.

Patagonia Provisions Roasted Garlic Mackerel

$8, Whole Foods 

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — I like the simplicity of the label and love the inclusion of the fish in the design: cute, simple, to the point.

Notes: This mackerel was tasty for sure, but there was nothing particularly special about it like some of the other sauces and flavors. I was hoping for a stronger presence of garlic in the fish, but it was quite faint, nothing more than a little hint of garlic at the end of your bite. This one had a very similar texture to canned tuna; it was nice and flaky but not dry. It had a mild, smooth, buttery flavor and mouthfeel. Good fish, good oil, but again, I was hoping for a stronger garlic flavor. Overall score of 6/10 fishies.

Tiny Fish Co. Chorizo Spiced Mussels

$8-10, Smør

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — super cute package, sea-themed jokes, fish facts.

Notes: These chorizo spiced mussels were super good. I was surprised by how much they actually tasted like chorizo. I was expecting a mild flavor, but the sauce was super strong. The oil was nice and smokey, salty, and rich with a slight meaty flavor, which paired with the chewy texture of the mussels really gave the impression of chorizo sausage. This one had a fairly strong, lingering fishy taste which I didn’t love because it was a bit jarring after the strong chorizo flavor. Since they didn’t taste super fishy to start, it was slightly off putting to have the ending note be overwhelmingly fishy. Overall score of 7/10 fishies.

Scout Canning Atlantic Canadian Lobster

$12, Whole Foods

Flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — fairly simple, basic information, does not include written descriptions of flavor add-ins, but I do like the drawing with the little lemon illustration.

Notes: I was a bit conflicted with this lobster — it had a lovely and powerful lemon smell and taste which was delicious, but I felt like it overpowered the flavor of the lobster a bit too much. I love lobster on its own so I wanted to be able to taste more of that lobster flavor rather than only lemon. The lobster meat was buttery, rich, and smooth. Incredible smell, delicious oil. Overall score of 5/10 fishies.

Island Creek Scallops in Vieira Sauce

$14, Big Night

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — I love the simple two-tone blue on blue package with the pop of orange in the cute illustration. It caught my eye immediately and had a really nice written description on the back of the package about the scallops and the sauce flavor profile.

Notes: These scallops were definitely one of the strongest fishy flavors out of everything I tried; they had a very powerful salty-ocean flavor. The scallops are in a Vieira sauce, a Spanish tomato-based sauce with onions and spices, which is lovely, rich, and delicious. The sauce is a nice compliment to the fishiness of the scallops themselves because it’s a more concentrated flavor. The texture of these scallops is on the chewier side, similar to a mussel or other shellfish. These scallops were picked as favorites by two out of the four other people who participated in my little tinned fish review, and I also enjoyed them so they are ending with an overall score of 9/10 fishies!

Fangst Danish Freshwater Trout (Regnbue Ørred)

$9-11, Smør

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — this packaging is simple but straight to the point. I love the watercolor trout on the front. The simple flavor description was super accurate.

Notes: This trout was my overall favorite! It was smoked with juniper, lemon, and thyme which was perfectly balanced with the mild fish flavor. It was a little smokey, a little woodsy with the juniper, a little herby, and had a hint of brightness from the lemon. The oil was lovely as well, perfect for a little baguette dip. This brand had a few other flavors that I was looking at purchasing, and I am definitely going to try them out now. I really, really loved this one. Overall score of 10/10 fishies!

Trader Joe’s Grecian Style Eggplant with Tomatoes & Onions

$3, Trader Joe’s

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — nothing crazy special going on with this packaging: pretty simple layout, clear description of flavor profile, and I do like how this tin (and the beans below) have the label and other information printed on the tin itself.

Notes: I decided to include this eggplant and the giant beans as vegetarian alternatives to the tinned fish, plus, they looked yummy! This eggplant was delicious. It had a nice slightly smokey, tomatoey, warm spiced flavor. The eggplant was in a chunky tomato sauce, which altogether had a somewhat strange texture — a little soft and mushy, but that is how most cooked eggplant turns out, so not entirely unexpected. This was a great topping for both some of the milder fish and some of the cheeses we had. I also put some of the leftover eggplant on a sandwich which was absolutely incredible. I think this would also be a great addition to a simple pasta dish; it did feel more like a sauce or dip than an appetizer in its own right. Overall score of 7/10 fishies.

Trader Joe’s Giant Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce

$2, Trader Joe’s

Overall flavor: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Fishiness: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟

Package aesthetics: 𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟𓆟 — very simple and straightforward design, clear description of flavor profile, I really like the bean illustration in the background.

Notes: I loved these beans as well! They have a very nice mild tomatoey flavor that keeps you coming back for another bite. If you haven’t tried giant beans before, you should definitely try these. They are a fun appetizer or addition to any cheese board or a good stand-in for those who don’t eat fish but want to participate in a fun little tinned fish party. Definitely give the beans a stir before diving in to make sure the ones on the top have enough sauce, otherwise they are a little dry. Both the tins of eggplant and these beans are pretty large, which is great for the price point, but definitely more than we needed for our happy hour. Overall score of 8/10 fishies!

That concludes our little tinned fish review this week in Cook-ING! My top recommendations for you all to try are the Fangst trout, Island Creek scallops, and all three Trader Joe’s products. There’s so many more brands and kinds of tinned fish to choose from, I’m barely scratching the surface here, so if you’re interested in tinned fish I’d definitely recommend trying some out for yourself. They make a great lunch or snack, or you can invite your friends over for a little tinned fish party. I hope you all enjoyed and are feeling inspired to go out and try something new!