A Hedonist’s Guide to the Best Tinned Seafood

I have yet to meet a tinned fish aficionado for whom this tin wasn’t on their top-10 list. This trout from Denmark represents all that is exceptional in Nordic tinned seafood: It’s fresh, bright, and clean, with just the slightest hint of smoke. This fish is perfect in a dip or flaked into hot pasta.

ABC+, a subsidiary of Portuguese conserva brand Jose Gourmet, is a luxury line of fine seafood preserved in sauce. This pick, one of its first offerings, is a beauty. The trout — from the Rio Coura in Northern Portugal — is bathed in a creamy, garlicky emulsion. Try it on toast with peas for a soulful breakfast.

A perfect example of what makes ABC+ such an exciting brand. Horse mackerel, known to sushi lovers as aji, is a standard in traditional Iberian canning, but here it is served in a red pepper brava sauce usually reserved for the classic fried potato Spanish tapas dish, patatas bravas.

This classic French cannery on the Brittany coast is one of the world’s best. While it has been canning French seafood since the 1950s, its recent offerings are some of the most exciting anywhere. Its use of sauces in its canning reminds me of ABC+ but with a distinctly French point of view. The mackerel in Muscadet wine is zingy and almost pickled tasting — perfect on cold pasta or alongside a gin and tonic.

The platonic ideal of the sardine. This tin is the expression of the Portuguese canning arts. Nuri has been operating in Portugal since 1920 and is consistently ranked as one of the best fish purveyors in the world. It still cans everything by hand using only the best fish. It would not be overstating it to say that to taste Nuri is to taste the soul of a nation.

These sardines from Southern Brittany are unlike any other on the list: dense in a way that is deeply satisfying between the teeth. But to be honest, I buy this can primarily for the oil the fish is preserved in: luscious lobster oil, redolent of French sardine and the perfect base for the most luxuriant gambas al ajillo you’ve ever had.

Gulf of Maine is one of the last canneries actually canning bluefin tuna, and they do everything right. Tuna is sustainably hunted and killed using the Japanese ikijime method. Each tuna is hand-caught with the name of the fisherman who caught it written on the can. This is special-occasion tuna; eat it on its own in a quiet room by the sea.

Another more casual but equally delicious take on tuna is this tuna pate from Jose Gourmet (parent company of ABC+). It’s the pickling that really sets this pate apart from other seafood spreads. The buzzy vinegar kick goes great with red onion on toast or even smeared on radishes in lieu of butter.

Octopus — hit or miss at even the best restaurants — is one of the most enticing reasons to get into tinned seafood. The dense, bouncy flesh holds up well under the canning process, and tinning seems to freeze the octopus in a state of perfect freshness. This octopus, caught and canned in Galicia, Spain, and served in a lovely red paprika oil, is one of the best canned octopuses on the market: flavorful, pretty to look at, and redolent of the Spanish Atlantic coast.

Ah, cockles in brine — the very first tinned seafood I ever laid eyes upon all those years ago. In the intervening 17 years, cockles have become my second-favorite bivalve. These beauties are born for the can. Open the lid to reveal their little pink bodies, arrayed in tight, fleshy formation. Despite their fragile, precious appearance, they are boldly flavored and perfectly suited for pasta with a splash of olive oil and a clove of garlic. (Food journalist Anna Hezel recommends splashing the brine into your martinis, which I haven’t tried but heartily endorse.)

I say cockles are my second-favorite bivalve because the top spot will always belong to the sleek and elegant razor clam. These long and pudgy clams come extravagantly unadorned, tasting of only the pristine waters of the Galician sea and the sweet flesh of the clam. These clams are one of the finest expressions of the tinner’s art. Enjoy them on their own as the star of the show, or over congee with lemon, cilantro, and chopped chilies.

These Spanish baby eels canned in olive oil are sweet, meaty and delicious. Baby eels used to be a delicacy all over Europe, but they are increasingly rare on menus and difficult to find even when in season. These show clearly what all the fuss is about. There is also, it must be said, something surreally pleasing about their tangled bodies and little eyes. Toss in spaghetti where the shape of the eels disappears almost completely among the pasta.

Tinned salmon can feel inferior to other ways of consuming its delicate, buttery flesh, but Fishwife’s collaboration with Fly By Jing for this Sichuan-peppercorn-forward seafood treat successfully synthesizes the best offerings of both brands. The result is a tingly-spiced, ultra-umami treat that’s absolutely decadent straight out of the can or a pleasure atop a bowl of rice or a salad.

These sprats (a small species of fish in the herring family) are beloved for a reason and have a perennial place on every fish lover’s top tin list. These are lightly smoked in heather and chamomile, bringing to mind a small fire on a cold day on a remote stretch of rocky beach. Eat in the evening or early morning, face the wind, grip the tail and lower into your gullet.