Fishy Delights 52: Richfield Farms Ready-to-Serve Clam Chowder

I spent most of last week along the southern Maine coast, doing things like visiting lighthouses, walking the beaches, and gawking at the gorgeous New England autumn foliage (seriously, those of you who don't live here should put "Second Week Of October In New England" on your bucket list.) One of the things Maryanne and I always do on visits to Maine is hit up Marden's, a regional chain of discount/job lot/cultch stores. We generally go to the Biddeford store on US 1.

And it was here that I found a few cans of Richfield Farms Ready to Serve Savory Selections Clam Chowder, Healthy Chunky New England Style. (Look at all that text. Who designed this label, Leo Tolstoy?)

Clam chowder - even canned - is one of my favorite lunches. In addition, I try to keep track of what chowders are good and which are crap. In my Comprehensive Guide to Canned Clam Chowder, I've reviewed and rated nearly every available clam chowder I could find. Discovering Richfield Farms chowder in Marden's reminded me that the guide is still a work in progress.

So how is it?  Pretty good, I'd say.  The color and consistency is pretty much what you'd expect of a New England-style chowder, although the texture is a little on the "slippery" side. I was surprised to see visible bits of herbs in the broth - mostly, though, it seems to be finely minced parsley with enough thyme to give the chowder a vaguely aromatic aftertaste. I was also a little unsettled by these weird little white floaty bits that just would not stir into the chowder. I think that might have been some kind of starch or fat or something. The floaters persisted even after microwaving and the chowder didn't have an off taste. Despite how it looked, it definitely wasn't mold and probably wasn't a bacterial colony either (I ate it at the beginning of the week and I'm still alive.) 

There were big chunks of nice, waxy potatoes and plenty of clam bits of varying sizes. Overall flavor was pretty good - clammy and a bit herbal, but a little tinny. Like most canned chowders, it was improved with a good dose of black pepper.

I would love to give Richfield Farms a 7/10 but them floaty bits, yo. Gotta knock it down a tad to a 6+/10.

To see how this chowder stacks up against other canned chowders, you can click here to go to the Richfield entry in the Comprehensive Guide.

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Fishy Delights 51: Look's Atlantic Premium Smoked Sardine Fillets

Man, I loves me some canned sardines, as you can probably tell by looking at how many different brands I've reviewed over the years. I often take a can to work for lunch - they're easy to eat, wicked good for you, and they have a side benefit of making my office smell fishy until the trash is emptied (I derive amusement from the annoyance of the next shift.)

These smoked sardine fillets are a bit of a departure for me, since I usually go for the smaller cans of "whole" fish. And, as you might expect, not only the flavor but the texture of these little morsels are very different than whole canned sardines.

I've had many smoked sardines before. It's very common for a label to note that the fish are "lightly smoked." Sometimes - as with the Galleon brand sardines I recently reviewed - the smoke flavor is of the utmost subtlety, almost a whisper. Other times the smoke flavor is more distinct, though still gentle. Not, however, with these fillets. The smoke flavor is strong and assertive (though not as strong as with, say, Blind Robin smoked herring,) and the fish tends to fall apart and be a bit on the dry side. I think that this is because the fish are simply packed in the cans with a bit of salt - no added water or oil - and the resulting liquid in the can is released from the fishies when they cook during processing.

Like all the sardines I eat, I enjoyed these just the way they were, straight out of the can. But if you were to flake the fish with a fork and mix it well with some cream cheese and some finely chopped capers, and then season it with a bit of salt, some good hot Hungarian or Spanish paprika, and just the slightest dash of allspice, you'd have a pretty damn good cracker spread.

In New England, you can usually find Look's products at Ocean State Job Lot stores.

Fishy Delights 49: Brunswick Flavored Sardines

I've liked sardines as long as I can remember, and even though they seem to have fallen out of favor in the past 20 years or so, I still enjoy them and seek them out. There's been a lot of buyouts and consolidations in the sardine business as the years have gone by - that, and the huge decline in the Atlantic herring population, has pretty much killed off the American sardine industry, with the last US cannery closing in 2010. These days, the sardines available in your local supermarkets come from Morocco, Poland, Norway, and - like these Brunswick flavored sardines - Canada.

These are not the million-or-so-sardines-to-a-can tiny fish most of us think of when we think of sardines, but average 3 to 5 largish fish per can. Although they're bigger, the fish are no less tender and delicious as the tiny ones. All three varieties had that in common.

Soybean Oil with Hot Peppers - Packed with slices of hot chili peppers which infused the fish and the oil with noticeable but mild spicy heat. I found the heat level to be rather mild; if you're not into chili spice, you may find it a little more kicky. Very good.

Tomato and Basil Sauce - Sardines have been packed in tomato sauce since forever. The difference here is the savoriness of the sauce. Instead of just some simple unadorned tomato sauce, Brunswick uses a sauce that's heavy on the basil and sprinkled with a few other Italian herbs as well. This results in a surprisingly good (albeit fishy) tomato sauce with a certain hearty character.

Mustard and Dill Sauce - The mustard is very mild - even milder than out-of-the-jar yellow mustard - and is loaded with dill. Too loaded for me, because dill is my least favorite of all herbs (I like it dill pickles and that's about where it stops.) Because I particularly loathe the flavor of fish with dill, I didn't like these at all. Do you like dill? Then you might like these.

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Out of the Can: Caravelle Brand Canned Jack Mackerel (Fishy Delights 48)

The label on the can show a delightful slice of pink-fleshed fish steak, tastefully presented on a plate surrounded by parsely. Of course that's not what is actually inside.

Caravelle canned Jack Mackerel is pretty unexceptional stuff, as you would likely expect from such a basic bony fish. Somewhat coarse in texture, it's even more strong-tasting than the cheapest sardines, and each cut features a thick backbone (which is rendered soft by cooking.)

I don't actually buy this product for myself; I use it to supplement my dog Zim's supper. As he's gotten older, he's started to develop some arthritis in his hips. His vet has me putting fish oil and glucosamine caps daily in his food, and I add a chunk of mackerel to it both to hide the taste of the pills and give him the added benefit of the natural Omega-3s that are found in the fish.

Fishy Delights 47: Giovanni's Shrimp Spread

I never know what I'm going to find when I go into a Dollar Tree. The place is loaded with surprises - like this stuff: Giovanni's Shrimp Spread.

I'm a big fan of patés, potted meats, and confits both commercial and homemade, so I put this into my shopping cart without a second thought.

The photo at left really doesn't do justice to the  awesomeness of the spread's pumpkin-custard-orange color. Despite having a very strong "dockside" aroma, it looked like the center of a pumpkin pie.

The flavor was quite unique. Shrimpy, yes, but with a faint livery taste like lobster tomalley (even though there is absolutely no lobster or liver in this  paté.) Savory and not very salty, it paired well with the crackers we spread it on.

The dogs and I were the only ones with much appreciation for it. Maryanne told me it "wasn't bad" but declined further samples, and Lynnafred just flat out called it "another disgusting chapter in your food shenanigan journal."  Criticism notwithstanding, I would certainly buy this product again. I thought it was really good as a spread, but I can also think of at least a few applications for it in other recipes:

• Mixed with a little softened butter, spread on lightly toasted baguette slices, and run under a broiler for quickie shrimp toasts
• Added as a binder to the filling for stuffed crabs
• Mixed into the stuffing for deviled eggs

Look for it at your local Dollar Tree.  You can also check out Giovanni's Appetizing Foods on their Facebook page.

Fishy Delights 46: Iberia Canned Octopus

This is probably going to be the last time I review a tin of octopus - not because I'm going to stop buying it, but because it turns out that all brands of tinned octopus are pretty much the same. In fact, I suspect that there is one master cannery where all the world's supply of octopus is put up into cans, and then sold to various companies around the world who put the unmarked cans into their own branded cardboard box packaging.

And thus it is that I can say that Iberia brand octopus in soybean oil is exactly as good as you would expect if you happen to like canned octopus (which I do.) Inside the can you will find circular cuts of tentacles, tender yet chewy, with a very pleasant seafood flavor strongly reminiscent of calamari. 

Also: If you like seafood and you're trying to lose a few pounds, keep in mind that a 4-ounce tin of octopus is very satisfying (probably has something to do with the chewiness) and is only 100 calories.

Fishy Delights 44: Roland Mussels a la Nicoise & Mussels In Tomato Sauce

Roland Mussels a la Nicoise and Mussels in Tomato Sauce.  I turned the jars over in my hands at Ocean State Job Lot, peering through the glass at the shucked and prepared mussels inside, trying to make up my mind whether or not to put them in my shopping cart.  On the one hand, they were by Roland, a company I have come to trust through long experience with their truly excellent (and generally low-cost) products. On the other hand, they were mussels, which are delicious but somewhat delicate, and my prior encounters with canned mussels have been less than ideal.  In the end, curiosity won out. Of course.

Mussels a la Nicoise was more of a mussel salad. Tiny tender mussels, pickled in a vinegar brine along with small bits of cucumber, onion, celery, and red pepper. The vinegar was a bit overpowering but I have to admit the mussels were rather awesome - nicely prepared and not at all similar to the nasty tinned smoked mussels I've had in the past, which taste and feel like little lumps of smoked clay. These would be quite worthy served as one portion of a relish plate.

The Mussels in Tomato Sauce are equally well-prepared and tender but I thought they were somewhat less successful. I guess I was just not expecting the tomato-sauced variety to be pickled (though I have to admit the flavors of the vinegary brine and the thin but very tomatoey sauce blended nicely.) As with the mussels a la Nicoise, I wouldn't hesitate to put them out on a relish plate. I think I would dress them up with some horseradish, though.

Available at some Ocean State Job Lot stores in southern New England while supplies last.

Sardines In A Pouch

Love 'em or hate 'em, there is one thing no one can deny about sardines: they are fragile little things, and don't take well to being indelicately handled. More than once, a little fishy morsel has broken off and tumbled back to the plate when I've tried to lift it whole with my fork.

You'd think that, of all the people familiar with sardines in the world, the people who actually process and package and sell them would know this. Apparently not, because Crown Prince actually has tried selling sardines in pouches.

When I saw these at Big Lots! it was almost mandatory that I buy them.  I couldn't think of a more ridiculous way to pack sardines, and I couldn't wait to find out what they were going to be like when I opened them up at lunchtime.  I could just imagine what they would look like after having been tumbled through the wholesale and retail distribution chain without the traditional exoskeleton of a metal can, and I was sure it wasn't going to be pretty.

I opened the first pouch - sardines in soy oil, lightly smoked - and tipped them out onto a plate.  "Not pretty" was an understatement. These fish had the shit kicked out of them. I think there might have originally been four whole sardines in the package, but without the help of a forensic ichthyologist, there was no way to tell.  I found some fair-sized fish chunks, lots of little pieces, and plenty of tiny fragments and soft-cooked bits of rib bones.  There were also some long, semi-crunchy lengths of spine. I never remove the spines or other bones when I eat whole sardines, so I didn't bother trying to remove them when I ate these.  The fish tasted fine, although the texture was a little dry despite having been packed in oil.  And of course, there was the horrifying presentation.

The second pouch were sardines in mustard sauce.  These fish had successfully retained their shape, probably thanks to the high-viscosity mustard sauce which had the consistency of gear oil and likely provided some shock absorption during shipping. Unfortunately, Crown Prince's mustard sauce isn't the best I've ever had; it is strong and rather harsh and covers, rather than enhances, the flavor of the fish.

The final pouch, containing the sardines in "Louisiana hot sauce" (not pictured) was sort of in between the other two in terms of sardine integrity. The fish were broken but not mangled but I can't really attribute that to the presence of sauce.  As interpreted by Crown Prince, "Louisiana hot sauce" is a quantity of oil colored bright red by the clots of brownish-red pepper sauce which are suspended within it. It adds little to the flavor of the sardines, but does add a mild but irritating back-of-the-throat scratchy heat in the manner of cayenne pepper powder.

It is no surprise to me that the only place I have seen sardines-in-a-pouch offered for sale is at Big Lots. Only a job lot store could possibly sell them with a straight face, and a quick check of Crown Prince's website shows me that they don't even list this packaging option as one of their products.  Hopefully, sardine pouches were a marketing experiment that won't be repeated.

Fishy Delights 43: Sea Queen Crunchy Fish Fillets and a Tartar Sauce Recipe

Okay, I admit it:  I like fish sticks, and I don't really care how cheap or gnarly they are (as long as there aren't, like, bones or fins or a chunk of fish head staring out at me when I break the crispy crumb coating with my fork.)

Other people in the family, however, are more particular, so I always double-check labels to make sure that the breaded fish patty products I am purchasing are made from whole fillets and not "minced fish."

That's how I found out about ALDI's Sea Queen brand Crunchy Fish Fillets. I was actually shopping for larger fish patties - something I could use to make fish sandwiches - and I was conned by the box art to think I was getting sandwich-sized fish fillets.  What I actually got was a box of ten roughly trapezoidal-shaped fish portions, wider on one side than on the other, each with about two fishstick's-worth of material inside them.  So: fish fillet fail, but fishstick VICTORY.

As for the fish fillets themselves:  Judging against other fish sticks I've had, these are top-notch.  The fish within (Theragra chalcogramma, aka Alaska pollack or Walleye pollack) is flaky and tender.  They're covered with a crunchy crumb coating, also very good.

The flavor holds up well to both tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, so they're just as good on the plate as they are in a fish sandwich.  And if you have any leftovers, they reheat decently in the microwave.  (Personally, I don't bother reheating them - I love 'em cold right out of the fridge for a snack.)

Luckily, Crunchy Fish Fillets don't seem to be an ALDI "special purchase," so you can nearly always find them in the freezer case. I'm glad about that because we buy them fairly regularly.

Hey, speaking of tartar sauce, here's my recipe - I hate buying bottled tartar sauce, and this takes only a minute or so to whip up:

Tartar Sauce
Makes about half a cup

¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
about a tablespoon of lemon juice (adjust to taste)
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
Salt to taste

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and serve with fish, or use as a condiment on fish sandwiches.  You can serve it immediately, or make it an hour or two ahead and let it sit (refrigerated) to allow the flavors to combine.

Fishy Delights 42: Crunchy Whole Green Mussels

"Crispy Tahong," aka Crunchy Whole Green Mussels, are made by the same company which packages Crispy Squid Heads (previously reviewed here.) I try never to assume that I'm going to like a given product based on a different product by the same company, but I was thinking something like, "What the hell, it's just a buck, what have I got to lose?" when I put a packet of Crispy Tahong into my cart.

When I opened the bag, I  first started to suspect I might not be enjoying these as much as the squid.  The murky smell of low tide on the salt flats flooded my face. It wasn't just a briny seaweedy smell, either - it was more of a concentrated and slightly rancid nori odor that carries hints of salt water and seaweed slowly dessicating in the sun, of dead shellfish yawning in the sun as seagulls pick at them, of fish heads rolling up and down the shingle with the tide.

The flavor wasn't horrific, though.  Extremely strong and concentrated essence of shellfish.  Old shellfish right on the cusp of being where I wouldn't want to eat it, but shellfish nonetheless. The little mussels had been dried not fried, and they were certainly crunchy, but in a brittle and shattery way that spread tiny mussel crumbles around my mouth, over and under my tongue, between cheek and gum like some sort of algaenated snuff. Crispy Tahong overloaded my Shellfish Sensors and sent them into a death spiral.

While I'm probably never going to enjoy them as a snack, I did find that they weren't bad as an addition to a bowl of seafood ramen (just sprinkle a few of them into the bowl before added the water - the mussels will plump up and rehydrate with the water and add their noriness to the soup.)  Remember to just sprinkle a few, because believe me that will be all you need.

Fishy Delights 41: Ready-To-Eat Crispy Squid Heads

Ready-to-Eat Crispy Squid Heads.  I can't even begin to tell you how delighted I was to find this snack on my latest excursion to A. Dong Supermarket in West Hartford.  I just looked at the photo on the package and was overwhelmed with the urge to buy it.

I got home and ripped open the package.  A strong but clean aroma of fried clams slapped me in the face, and I peered inside the bag to find it filled with lightly breaded squid tentacle bunches, fried until crispy, fairly beckoning me to reach in and GRAB THEM AND NOM.

I managed to control myself long enough to take some pictures.  

You can see how deliciously delicate the tentacles are.  They're covered, as I said, in a light crunchy breading.  And they are scrumptious, though not in the way that I expected them to be.

Because when I smelled their calamarish perfume and saw that they were indeed actual squid tentacles, I expected an assertive squid flavor, which is not actually what I got.  No, the flavor is subtle and almost ethereal rather than bold and clammy. These tasty morsels are close cousins to those tins of French-fried onions that people dump out onto green beans at Thanksgiving time, only with a hint of seafood flavor replacing the onion taste.

Despite the gentleness of the squid taste, I found myself really enjoying them.  They were crunchy and satisfying and there was just enough in the package to make a perfect snack.  I am really glad that I bought two of them while I was there, so I can treat myself to them again without having to make the road trip out to West Hartford for them.

Fishy Delights 40: Del Sol Octopus In "Marine" Sauce

You know what seafood I find just about irresistible?  Canned octopus.  There are good brands and mediocre brands, but I've never had a bad one.

Take this very inexpensive brand, Del Sol, which is produced in Spain. It's amusingly labeled in both Spanish and English:  Pulpo a la Marinera / Octopus in Marine Sauce.  Heh.

Anyway, the moist cooking-in-the-can process that pasteurizes and seals the can isobviously an excellent way to prepare octopus, because just like every other tinned octopodes I've tried, the meat is tender yet firm, somewhat al dente, and just a bit resistant to chewing (but not at all rubbery.)  The sauce was nothing special - very oily, not much of a tomato flavor (not much of any flavor, actually) but still carrying a subtle hint of spiciness that complimented the meat.  Most remarkable of all to me was how very much this octopus reminded me of lobster.  No kidding, it had about the same level of chewiness as chunks of lobster tail, and the flavor was similar as well, though not exact.  I bet if I had rinsed some of the sauce off, pounded the chunks of meat to "loosen" them up a little, and dressed the bits in mayo, they'd have made a decent Mock Lobster Roll.

Normally, tinned octopus is cut into slices before being packed.  I think that someone on the packing line dropped their knife as this can rolled by their work station.  Pretty awesome, no?

Fishy Delights 39: Reese Spiced Octopus in Seasoned Red Sauce

Of all the canned seafood I've eaten, I think octopus is one of my favorites.  There is something about the taste and texture of tinned octopus that just appeals to me:  tender yet resilient, mildly briny and shellfish-like, but with an almost buttery aspect to the taste.  I rarely pass up the opportunity to pick up a few cans of octopus or the similar-tasting cuttlefish when they're on sale.

Because Reese has pretty high quality standards - I've yet to get a bad product from them - I snapped up a couple cans of the Spiced Octopus in Seasoned Red Sauce when it turned up at Ocean State Job Lot.

Check out that big meaty chunk of octopus.

The octopus is indeed tender, and the sauce is pretty decent, if a bit oily:  tomatoes and spices present but not overwhelming.  There's just enough for a light lunch or to toss into a seafood salad, or stirred into a bowl of ramen.

One word of caution:  The top to these things have a pull ring, which tends to make the lid splash oily red sauce nearly everywhere when it comes off.  Be careful not to open it right next to your keyboard. (Yes. Personal experience talking.)

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Fishy Delights 38: G'Day Gourmet Tuna - Tomato Salsa flavor.

G'Day Gourmet Tomato Salsa tuna has a rich, full tomato flavor with hints of red and green bell peppers and onions, and black pepper sprinkled throughout. It's really good, and not too 'fishy' the way tuna sometimes is. I really liked this particular flavored tuna.

 They call this "Australian style savoury tuna."  Are flavored tunas common in Oz?

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Fishy Delights 37: Almond Fish

Behold Almond Fish, another in the series of strange and unusual snacks sent to me in a CARE package from Stephanie in Shanghai. Almond Fish are exactly as the name implies:  Tiny whole dried silver minnows and slivered almonds, lightly seasoned and ready to eat.

Almond Fish are delicious and very satisfying, especially if you really like fish as I do.  The dried fishies are crispylicious and very slightly sweet - I suspect they're sprayed with a weak sugar solution before they're processed - and the almonds compliment the flavor nicely.  Strongly flavored but in a pleasant "clean" fishy way, I found them to be much more delicious than the dried eel I reviewed earlier.

Here's what you get inside the package (dime not included, I put that there so you can get a sense of scale.)  You can see that the quantity of almonds and fish are well-balanced, so you never have to get stuck eating just one or the other near the end of the pouch.  Cracker Jack could learn a thing or two from Almond Fish - they never put enough peanuts in.

I noticed something else:  Tiny dried fish seem to be most fragile right  behind the head.  If you sort of just randomly eat Almond Fish by nomming little portions pinched out of the bag, you wind up with a bunch of little tiny fish heads in the bottom of the pouch.  They're still tasty and crunchy, though, so you might consider this to be a kind of "saving the best for last" situation especially if you're really into fish heads.

As usual with this kind of snack, I couldn't get Maryanne or Lynnafred interested in trying them.  Actually, I couldn't get either of them to stop calling them "disgusting."  Zim, however, is always up for a new flavor experience (especially when it tastes of fish) so here's a gratuitously goofy-looking picture of him enjoying a crispy fish.

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Fishy Delights 36: G'Day Gourmet Tomato and Onion Tuna

While shopping at Ocean State Job Lot, Dave and I stumbled upon these cans of "Australian style tuna" called G'Day Gourmet. The shape of the cans amused me - they have the same upside-down can layout that cat food brand Fancy Feast does - so it immediately led to cat food jokes while we walked through the store. At a buck a can, they looked to be a sufficient lunch size, so I decided I'd give them a go.

When I opened the can up, the first thing I noticed was that it had decent sized chunks of onions throughout the tuna. It also had small, pale pieces of tomato swimming on top. And mixed within the tuna was a strange, sweet-tasting watery stuff.

The Fancy Fea-- I mean tuna -- tasted like it was swimming in cheap barbecue sauce. The tomatoes and onions were accented with vinegar and that annoying something sweet was probably covered under the "natrual flavors." Unfortunately, a lot of the tuna's flavor was drowned out with the sweet-vinegary-tomatoey flavors going on. I can definitely see why this flavor was in a job lot.

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Fishy Delights 35: Dried Eel Snacks

So I've had this package of fishy snacks lurking in my kitchen for a few months now; my altdaughter Stephanie (who is teaching in China and writes the blog Stephanie In Shanghai about her experiences) sent it to me in a sort of "CARE package" of Asian goodies.  I've kind of been avoiding opening it, because they're...um...eels, and eels totally squick me out.

But curiosity is a stronger primal force than squick, and so it was that I finally opened up the package to give them a try.

I've had lots of dried fish products, most of them pretty good.  I've tasted dried salt cod right off the sun-bathed racks of a New England fishing dock.  I've eaten shredded dried fish, and clam jerky, and leathery strips of dehydrated squid.  But none of it - not a bit - was as agressively fishy as this dried eel.  The taste is strong and deeply fishy, and not in a pleasant way.  And it stinks, as well. Imagine an old fish fillet, forgotten in the back of the fridge for a week or two, and then discovered.  That first whiff?  That's what the eel was like.

I ate a piece, and the flavor just gets stronger and more off-putting the longer it's chewed and held in the mouth.  It was truly Not Good.  And yet, for all that, dried eels snacks do have their uses.  

I don't know where the dog was when I first opened the pouch - he certainly wasn't in the kitchen with me. But within seconds, he was at my side, nose lifted, sniffing deeply in the direction of the pouch and looking at me with those big liquid I Love You Because You Have Snacks eyes.  Luckily for him, eel snacks are high-protein and low-fat, and so I indulge his craving now and then with them.  I'm glad someone in the house can stand them.

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Fishy Delights 34: Brunswick Seafood Snacks in Tomato and Basil Sauce

Much like the Brunswick Kippered Herring that I reviewed a couple of years ago, these delicious boneless herring fillets are carefully packaged and perfectly seasoned. The tomato and basil sauce added a very nice flavor without being overwhelming.  So far, I haven't had any unpleasant surprises from Brunswick.  Very nice indeed.

Link:

Brunswick's website.

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Fishy Delights 33: Ocean Queen Smoked Scallops

I've got a bunch of "Fishy Delights" posts coming up; this is partly because I enjoy canned fish and seafood and it makes a convenient lunch, but it's also because I'm on a mission to lower my triglyceride levels and one of the ways I'm doing it is to increase the amount of oily fish in my diet.

Today's entry - Ocean Queen Smoked Scallops - certainly qualifies as canned seafood, but doesn't really count for much in the omega-3 department, alas.  The consolation, however, is that they are delicious.  Probably the best canned shellfish ever.

I never have very high expectations when I buy canned shellfish.  Oysters, clams, and mussels turn into something alien and only vaguely edible once they've been smoked, packed in oil, and processed at the cannery.  (And yet, as I've mentioned before, that doesn't seem to stop me from buying and trying them whenever a new brand catches my eye.)  The first time I saw these smoked scallops at Ocean State Job Lot, I passed them by precisely because I thought they'd be just another nasty canned shellfish, but Steve at Connecticut Museum Quest bought a can on one of his own OSJL excursions  and emailed me about their deliciousness.  I just couldn't hold out against that arm-twisting.

The scallops are certainly not that impressive when the can is opened -  they look like murky little brown nubbins in soybean oil.  I drained off the oil and dumped the scallops onto a plate, and that was when it became apparent that these were whole scallops, not just the stripped-down adductor muscle Americans are accustomed to seeing at the fish market and on their plates.  No, these tiny morsels include the rest of the mollusk along with flat round muscle.  It adds up to a singularly enjoyable treat, delicious right out of the can.  The flavor is a complex and well-balanced interplay of both savory and sweet notes:  there's the gentle smokey tone, the strong clammy flavor of the scallop roe and "non adductor bits," the mild briny sweetness of the muscle, and a subtle but noticeable "milky" sweetness underlying it all.  Accenting it all is the texture of the scallops - at once creamy and smooth, yet firm.

I ate 'em with a fork, right off the plate, and although these really are too good to let their flavor be buried and lost to a recipe, I can think of at least a few ways to use them - they'd be great added to a clam chowder, for example, to round out the flavors and bring a pleasant and mild smokey flavor to the broth.  Or fork-mashed and added to a clam dip - again, the sweet scallop flavor would enhance and season the clams.  Or used as a topping for a bacon/clam/scallop/anchovy pizza.  Awesome.
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Fishy Delights 32: Riga Sprats

These days, it's hard to find sardines that are both inexpensive and tiny and delicate.  Riga Sprats, packed in Latvia and found in many international-style markets, fit the bill nicely.  

Lightly smoked and packed in sunflower oil, Riga Sprats are the kind of high-quality delicious little fishies we grew up with.  Each tin contains a generous 5.6-ounce portion of fish, carefully laid in layers - ready for lunch, snacking, or canapes and recipes.  And they're very inexpensive - the local markets here carry them for $1.79 - $1.99 a can, and you can even find them on Amazon for $1.79 each.

The tiny fish are quite wonderful - scaleless and perfect, mildly fishy and with a hint of smokiness.  They're great on crackers with some thinkly-shaved sharp onion and some Turkish beyaz peynir (white farmer's cheese.)

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