Canned Fish

As you may have already known, I'm a bit of a fan of Good Eats, a cooking show hosted by Alton Brown (AB), that recently (2011) ended.

Sometime last year, I began watching the series from the very first episode, and just recently watched "Live and Let Diet" (click for transcript and info), where AB explains how he changed his diet (not that he is "dieting" in the sense that the word has recently taken on), and lost 50 pounds, all while still eating tasty things!

I like his "list" idea, though I still have yet to look into, for example, why specifically carrots, sweet potatoes and avocadoes of all things?

But when I heard about canned fish such as sardines, brisling and herring--in oil!--my curiosity was piqued!  You ever hear the description of something, then try to imagine it in your head, and get so caught up in trying to imagine it that you just have to know if your prediction is correct?  That happened to me.

(Click to jump to recipe)

I immediately went to Safeway and bought two cans of sardines in soya oil, sardines in spring water, and one can of "golden smoked" herring fillets.

(All the photos are of Brunswick sardines in soya oil.)

I decided the first can I'd try would be the smoked herring, since I felt I had a better idea how that would be.  Tasty!  Very light in flavour, I was impressed that it wasn't over salted!  It seemed to be a "snacking" food, which is exactly how it was marketed ("Brunswick Seafood Snacks"), so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. 

Later I tried the sardines.  I was surprised how soft they were!  The slightest prod seemed to break the tender flakes of fish meat!

The dark thing in the middle of the two halves--are those
organs?  It was sure tasty!!

I opened up the fish laterally (to expose the length of the "spine" bones).  There was a dark mass of fish meat.  Organs?  I tried the muscular meat first.  Tender!  Flaky!  A rather mild flavour, actually.  Oily.  A little "fishy", but not horribly so.  I tried the spine.  I loved the crunch!  Whereas I find canned salmon spine to be kind of disgusting, I loved the little sardine spines!!  The little spikes felt almost like a delicate, thin chain bracelet on my tongue--but I assure you I mean this in the best way possible!

Then the organs.  HOLY CRAP, fishy and delicious!  What is this, liver?  Is this why fish livers are so highly valued--well, at least cod livers?  The texture was....like a fine and ever so slightly sandy paste.  I don't typically eat liver, so maybe this is characteristic of the organ?

I decided to make a meal out of my next can, so I did what made the most sense:  put 'em on toast!  I've formatted this as a recipe below, but honestly, it's just assembly and heating.

Today, I decided to try even more canned fish.  I picked up kippered herring, and brisling in olive oil (which is what AB recommends over "sardines").  Myro and I made two batches of fish on toast, using the different cans.

I found the brisling to be more "fishy" than the sardines.  They had a more "distinct" flavour, but I can't quite put my finger on what that flavour was.  It may have been the olive oil, though.  The oil was surprisingly fruity! I would like to try sardines in olive oil for comparison.  But there was also an almost mustardy flavour to the fish.  Maybe this is what AB meant when he called it "sweet"?  It reminds me of the way people say lamb meat is "sweeter" than, say, chicken.  (I don't think that lamb meat is "sweet", but it definitely has more flavour!)

I think I would prefer eating the brisling straight out of the can, while the sardines I would use for toast--but the olive oil of course is tastier than the soybean oil!

Sardine Toast
Active work: 5 min
Toaster Oven: 5 min

Software:

• 1 can (106g or so), sardines in oil
• 3 slices, bread (Canadian rye works very well and is just the right size)
• 1 clove, garlic, peeled (alt: 1 tsp garlic paste)
• salt and pepper to taste

Hardware:

• toaster oven
• culinary brush
• chef knife
• optional: mortar and pestle

Method:
Open the can and let the oils drain into a small cup or custard dish.  Reserve liquids.

Make garlic paste:  Peel the garlic.  If you have a mortar and pestle, and don't mind having to clean it for just one clove of garlic, then pestle that clove into a nice, fine paste.  Otherwise, use your chef knife to garlic paste (click for nice instructional video; I don't think I can concisely describe what he's doing faster than it takes to watch the video).

Mix the garlic into the oil.  Brush the oil onto both sides of each slice of bread.  Designate one side as the "bottom" and sprinkle with just a wee pinch of salt.  (This delivers the salt right to your tongue, instead of putting salt on top of the fish where it won't be tasted as easily--you'd have to use more salt (or eat the toast upside-down) to experience the same saltiness.)

On the "top" side, evenly distribute the sardines.  I find I get 3 fish per can, so it works out well.  I like to open the fish up to expose the spine, so that it takes up more area on the bread.

Toast in toaster oven about 5 minutes or until bread is browned to your liking and fish is warmed!  Make sure that the bottoms also get toasted, otherwise the bread will fall apart under the wet fishes' weight!

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