Tinned Fish Saga- Pt. 3!

Well, as usual I am a bit behind on all my writings and somehow I only made it to three tins during the entire two months of February and March!

Daylight savings is partly to blame for this. We started getting longer daylight hours and nice weather and I have been living in the woods and birding ever since!

Speaking of which, I am writing yet another blog in relation to that! In truth, it is actually a return to one of my earliest blogs, the one I was writing when running a wildlife rescue in FuckingOklahoma. Since closing the rescue I have maintained my website and am slowly switching it over to focus on wildlife education only, in keeping with that theme, I will put birding and other nature based blogs over there. I recently posted the first entry in this new direction and would love for any readers here to check that one as well!

But let’s get into it! Tinned Fish pt. 3. Starting with some good ol’ reliable sardines! 

Tin 1- Riga Gold: Brisling Sardines in Olive Oil with Lemon. Love it. Honestly, I never expected to like sardines as much as I do but I don’t think I have had a single one yet that wasn’t at least good. These were excellent. Lemon and olive oil is a winning combination for tinned sardines every time! 8/10.

I think I will get some more lemony sardines next time I order.

Next up! Some fried dace. Somehow I messed up my usual photo sequence and do not have pictures of the box or can of this one. Also, no interfering Zodiac either! But I tried this tin while my primary partner (and beloved chef) was visiting so things were a little different.

Tin 2- Eagle Coin Fried Dace- with rice and egg. When I tried this one, my taste buds were a little fucked from congestion but I don’t think that ruined the taste, just made it a little dull. 

This one is a good fish jerky, and I am a fan of jerky! I am not sure it is quite good enough to just eat out of the tin but with a bit more work it’s a nice way to add protein to a simple rice dish. Spiced flavor is mild but nice. 7/10. Effort, but would eat again. 

Notes from the chef (my primary partner): add a bit of sweet chili oil, maybe eel sauce or simply teriyaki soy on the rice

The final tin for this post… is not terribly pretty.

Even Zodiac wasn’t really sure what to make of this. Opening the tin was staring into the dark inky abyss itself!

Tin 3- La Barca Squid in Ink. Visually not appetizing at all. The taste actually isn’t all that bad though I am learning that I might just not be a fan of squid ink. I have only had it a handful of times but each time it has been mildly off putting, but for different reasons? So I keep trying it. The ink in this case wasn’t too minerally, like in the past, but it still was too…strong? It is very hard for me to nail down exactly what my problem with it even is!

I added in some plain rice to cut the flavor a bit and that definitely helped. The squid itself has a nice squiddy flavor but more needs to be done to this one to make it a pleasurable meal in my opinion. 3/10, I can see some potential but it needs someone who knows what to pair with squid ink- and I do not.

Stay tuned for future tinned fish episodes! But I have a few other foodie blogs to get out before then.
And remember to check in at Nature’s Vein for birding and other wildlife blogs!