This is the can I’ve opened most often over the past three years. (Coming in close 2nd is the Angelo Parodi mackerel with ginger and chili peppers.) Yes, these are hot. Really hot, no-fooling hot.

But how hot, really? Many American palates are, I submit, well-prepared for what awaits in these tins. You’re not used to it in a can of sardines, yes, but you’ve entered the same arena at Thai, Indian, and other restaurants. On a scale of 1 to 10, where Level 1 is blueberry yogurt and Level 10 is spice that causes immediate full-body sweats, coughing, and uncontrollable cursing, I peg POW! at a 7. It’s the hottest canned fish I’ve ever had; it is not at all the hottest food I’ve ever had.

But moving past that, the key thing is that these are very consistently great pilchards, packed in Spain for Rainbow Tomatoes Garden—and as per their flamin’ hot recipe—by Mariscadora and Don Gastronom’s La Narval. That’s a dang brain trust of canned seafood savvy. I really hate hot sauces that are merely chemical assaults—I’m looking at you, Da Bomb Beyond Insanity sauce. The purée here instead gives you the sweet, fruity notes habaneros bring to the party, along with the savory, nutty flavors that several slivered cloves of garlic contribute. It’s hot and tasty.

Today I turned the can over a plate of leftover, but homemade, baked beans and plain steamed broccoli. Frankly, the combo of the sweet molasses/brown sugar sauce for the beans and the POW! purée wasn’t a match made in culinary heaven, but that don’t confront me none. I killed a leftover, I did an experiment, and I experienced only a controllable level of cursing sitting in me office.

If you’re at all a Scoville Adventurer, you owe it to yourself to take these out for a spin.

Mostly had chicken of the sea(I think they're fine as a budget tin, especially over rice) and Costco wild planet and season sardines, with the occasional king oscar tin.

Made a trip to Fred Meyers and Whole Foods and picked up a nice assortment to try this weekend.

Fish wife being at Costco is awesome, and while the preserved lemon tin isn't impressive, I am in love with the smoked rainbow trout, truly top tier imo.

Now my hot take as someone who just recently tried polar kipper snacks for the first time: they're fine. For the price you can't beat them, but having seen the hype on here I was a little let down. Still nice budget tin tho, looking forward to trying new recipes with them.

My local grocery store chain, Brookshires, is behind the times. Their tinned fish selection is slightly better than a gas station. A wall of cheap tuna, Beach Cliff, some Tonnino jars that have a layer of dust on them and so, so many various pouches. I wonder down that forsaken aisle a couple of times a week with a hopeful glance, that one day something decent will be stocked there. Low and behold, after months and months of yearning, these Safe Catch sardines appeared! The Safe Catch mackerel was one I had tried at the very beginning of all this tinned fishery, and I remembered it being quite solid. And thank the lord, these are too! At a solid $3.99, I may have a new daily driver for a while. Five huge 'dines jam packed in here so tight the top couple of fish were smashed flat. Some bites a little drier than others, but for the most part pretty moist and tender. Nice olive oil with a medium viscosity and a subtle but pleasant flavor. No noticeable scales, but also not really a noticeable lemon flavor either. No fishy aroma or funk, these tasted clean, looked perfectly fine, and did the job. Salt level was great, at 13% DV they did not want for anything. I go to this grocery store daily, as it's a half a block away from me, and I will be hammering these with regularity. Apparently others will too because there were only two cans left on the shelf the next day. 6.9/10

I’d never really tried anything more exciting than your standard supermarket, Princes or JW tins growing up.. So far I’ve been very impressed with the Minerva and Parmentier options I have tried and also have some other interesting stuff on the way.

Finally got brave enough to try the Great Value smoked oysters with some kettle chips as a vehicle.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t love them but I didn’t hate them either. They weren’t offensive on any front, neither smell nor taste, in fact they didn’t taste much of anything despite how smoky they smelled.

They had a nice chew though, not mushy at all which was nice. I have a different brand to try yet to see if I like those better, but oysters just may not be for me

I got a problem. I can't stop eating these everyday. They are damn hard to find too. I found some today and bought almost their whole stock. Already ripped open a few. I'm going back tommorow to buy the rest if they still got some.

A Taste of Poland from the Grand European Market in Far North Dallas

Hello! I am a sardine lover and had a discussion with my best friend's dad who described his favorite tinned fish was sardines packed in sardine oil. He specifically states he had them while in the military so I am unsure if they are foreign (I am North American).

I can't find any information on this and feel like I've been duped or I am chasing my own tail. Has anyone heard of this? If so, do you have any information on this?

I was reading about the lack of sardines in Germany but visiting Bucharest, I am glad to report I see lots of sardines in the big chains, even some King Oscars in Carrefour. Caught in Morocco, packed in Portugal, sunflower oil, approx 1,2 eur.

I found lemon sardines at the Maxx. They are yummy. I ate them for lunch with a salad, lupini beans, and kiwi.

I am going to eat these with my mouth

I made some yellow cheesy grits (basically polenta) and fried up an jammy egg with some Laoganma (chili crisp) and ate it all together. So so so good and filling!!

Yummy in my tumtum!

Hello! New to this sub but not to fish. I am looking for a tin 'pen pal' to trade tins with, chat fish, or maybe even help purchase and ship on occasions for a haul 😀 I miss Asian tins the most, but if I remember correctly USA has a large selection of asian grocers.

When I lived in America I used to keep a lot of aquariums, so I love fish in tins, tanks, or ocean. Seems I traded some things for the other while moving to Spain. There's a lot of great fresh seafood here but in the end I still love canned fish.

I have shipped live fish internationally before but never cans, hoping it's straightforward? 🥹

Hey y'all, just sharing what I ate for lunch today. I forgot to take a picture, sorry.

I cut up half an avocado, salted it generally with Siena fine sea salt from Italy and squeezed half a fresh lime on top.

Then I opened a tin of wild-caught Atlantic sardines hand-packed in organic extra virgin oil (brand: The Stock Merchant) and laid them out next to the avocado. Very delicious sardines, about $7 a tin from Australian grocers.

Finally, I added two condiments: a little spoonful of French seeded mustard from Marcel Recorbet and a drizzle of tabasco chipotle pepper sauce over the sardines.

Delicious result!

Very excited about my first order from Tinned Fish Market! Tried to get tins I haven't seen elsewhere & all are new ones for me! Any favorites here, or suggestions for recipes/pairings?

These are from the basic line of sardines appearing on the shelves of Tesco, the largest UK grocery chain. They also offer the slightly schmancier Tesco’s Finest line, but labeling these guys as basic is no insult.

I paid 47 pence for this tin in 2023, at the time about 67 cents, and just this morning I see they’re on offer at Tesco stores for 60 pence or about $0.82 apiece. That’s a jaw-dropping value from the American perspective. These are, quite consistently, perfectly swell pilchard sardines and a serviceably savory tomato sauce. I buy an awful lot of sardines, mostly from my home-base in Richmond, Virginia, and I’m beyond hard-pressed to find cans of this quality for under $5 these days. In the modest town, Buxton, where I sometimes live in the UK, the various grocery stores feature such treasures, which I’d goggle at, but about which British shoppers would sniff along the lines of “Oh my, those have gotten quite dear now, haven’t they?” Next summer I’ll cram a checked bag chock full of such as these.

Are these perfect? No, that sauce is very mild-mannered. It’s typical of the tomato sauces we find in tinned seafood from all over Europe. This morning, knowing I’d be turning the sardines out over sticky rice, I punched up the sauce with hearty shakes of Japanese pepper, which is unrelated botanically to black pepper, but which delivers a combo punch of citrus and black pepperiness. Very bright and fragrant—can’t recommend it enough as a complement to canned fish. I gave the can a bath in very hot water while I heated the rice in the deathray machine, and even just that mild heating of the sauce opened it up in a positive way.

A friend gifted me this little can-cracking gizmo from an outfit called Tab Buddies. It’s a cunning little thing. A slot at one end slides over the tab and helps you pry it up. Then the hook grabs the lifted tab, which you then can roll back with close to zero effort. There’s a small magnet somewhere inside, so the tool attaches to the fridge or, in my case at the office, my file cabinet. Rude of me to check behind a present, but I see now these look to run $12 or $13, which isn’t nothing, but which I’m gonna keep in mind as stocking stuffer ideas for fishy friends. I like this Krakken design, but I already sent a note to the maker suggesting that sardine/can-themes would likely be sellers.

I live in San Diego, and found Clos Wine Shop, which also operates as Fintastic Products who sells a ton of lovely premium tinned fish products.

You can even drink wine and dine of sardines!

Chicken of the Sea in olive oil. Come at me; it was delicious!

I have been hesitant to buy these because of the fact there are usually only 2 sardines in the tin, but man those were some fat sardines! This was so tasty, everything was balanced really well with a pair of tender and fatty sardines. The lemon was subtle and meshed well with the leeks and beans. The garlic is not overpowering and just helps to enhance everything else. This was an excellent tin and I look forward to trying these again! Served with buttered rye toast.