The editorial position of this publication, based in its proprietor’s philosophical convictions, is that cooking with tinned seafood is generally to be avoided. This isn’t because it isn’t worth the effort—I will never eat anything in a restaurant as good as the salmon croquettes my grandmother could make out of, as far as I can recall, a can of salmon, an egg, and some breadcrumbs—but because you, or at least I, rapidly hit the point of diminishing returns with tinned seafood, which is (usually) by definition already cooked perfectly. If you have time, cook something that needs to be cooked; if you don’t try out some mackerel with your leftovers has generally been my way of thinking about things.
For this reason, I was skeptical when I learned about Tin to Table: Snacky, Fancy Recipes for Tin-Thusiasts and A-Fish-Ionados, the new book from Anna Hezel, a senior editor at Epicurious. “What would I do with recipes for something that doesn’t need to be cooked—pitch them in the trash?” I wondered. When I was sent a promotional copy of the book, though—along with, ethics in journalism require me to disclose, four high-quality tins, none of which I have yet cracked—I figured I should at least look at it, and when I did, I was delighted. Reader, I strongly recommend this book to you.
I love cookbooks; along with mental reconstructions of watching various relatives cook in childhood, good ones are my ideal source of recipes, even if a depressing amount of recipes I actually use are derived from robots and humans aspiring to be robots. They have a sensibility; this cookbook has a sensibility. It’s structured partly as a novice-level introduction to tinned seafood, breaking down types of seafood and specific brands, and partly as a set of instructions for making accompaniments to and snacks, salads, sandwiches, and entrees out of canned seafood, with a strong emphasis on not-really-cooking; overall it’s an expression of a belief that if you have some tins, a knife, some acids, and a bit of time, you can eat well without it taking up your life. The overwhelmed novice and the war-weary veteran looking to pep up yet another tin will thus both find this all-encompassing, like the Trouser Record Guide. Here is how to make a beautiful romesco sauce, it says, and here is how to fry capers, and here, independently, is how to put a romesco sauce and fried capers together with some mackerel to make something a little nicer than mackerel on Triscuits with a squirt of Cholula. Or make some deviled eggs with pickled mussels! It’s been in my pantry for a couple of weeks and seems likely to eventually have its spine fall off, the highest recommendation I can give.
Rainbow Tomatoes Garden, often touted here as the best source for tinned seafood, has the book for sale, and also has a combination pack consisting of the book and tins Hezel has recommended for sale. I enthusiastically recommend either. Hezel answered a few questions from Popping Tins recently; our exchange has been lightly edited for clarity, but my stupid questions have been left alone. I’m off to make, or think about making, sardine curry puffs, which I’m pretty sure I can make even though I cook like I was just whacked in the back of the head with a shovel.
Popping Tins: What got you into tinned fish? For a lot of people I know it's something they associated with childhood, figured they'd outgrown at a certain point, and then rediscovered in adulthood—was that the case for you, or did you have a different route into things?
Anna Hezel: I grew up eating a lot of grocery store canned tuna and chopped clams and sort of graduated to sardines after college, and then when I went to Portugal in 2017, I was excited to learn that there was a whole world out there of small, family-owned canneries and hand-made products other than the three or four brands you see in every American grocery store. It's like beer or wine—you can try something new every week and still never run out of new tins to try.
PT: What is your favorite kind of tinned fish, and which brand makes your favorite tin of it? Related but distinct question—what's your favorite inexpensive tinned fish?
AH: Sardines will always have my heart. And for me, I can't get sick of Nuri Spiced Sardines in Olive Oil. Piri piri, cloves, bay leaf. They're just the best. I also find it very charming that they make an extra spicy version, where they just add these cartoon flames to this very old-school Portuguese three-color label. For an inexpensive tin: I eat a lot of the Matiz sardines in olive oil, which I think are amazing quality for about $5. Also, Naoko Takei Moore, whose donabe sardine rice I riffed on in my book, turned me on to the King Oscar Tiny Tots.
PT: What's your favorite recipe in the book? Related but distinct questions—what are the most fun things for you to make and to serve?
AH: It's hard to pick a favorite recipe, but the one that friends have cooked the most and spoken the most effusively about is the Spaghetti with Fancy Clams and Fancy Ham. It's basically a white clam sauce made with cockles (fancy clams), and topped with a big wavy piece of crispy prosciutto (fancy ham). The combo works kind of like how clams and bacon work together on a pizza.
I also find myself making the smoked trout dip all the time, because you can make it really glamorous for a party, piled with trout roe and chives, and served with potato chips, but then I'll also happily eat the leftovers on toasted bagels, saltines, whatever.
PT: What do you think the best thing to serve to a guest who's tinned fish-curious but worried they might be repulsed is?
AH: I might go with something smoked here! So many of the smoked tinned fishes just taste like freshly smoked or grilled fish. Smoked salmon deviled eggs ... smoked trout dip ... smoked mackerel onigiri.
PT: In some ways this book is an ode to a nicely-stocked pantry. What are the most important and most overlooked staples you think people should have to get the most out of their tins?
AH: Tinned fish people are all about their hot sauces and chili crisps. Hot sauce and chili crisp are important. Also important in my opinion: a really good sherry vinegar (to drizzle on clams or cockles, use in dressings, etc), and harissa (I like this one from Zwita) to have with tuna and olives and bread.
PT: I think a lot of the appeal of tinned fish is that if you're busy or working in a tiny apartment kitchen or (like me) have minimal to nonexistent cooking skills, you can still put together something that looks and tastes and is quite fancy without a huge investment of time or effort—something your recipes show off really well. How do you think that translates or relates to cooking not involving tinned fish?
AH: Totally. It's kind of a semi-homemade mentality (thank you, Sandra Lee). It can be fun to look around the kitchen (or freezer) and see what convenience items I have (frozen dumplings! a jar of olives! a sleeve of saltines! 200 cans of fish!) and then start to try to turn them into a meal.
PT: One of the fun things about this book is how many different cuisines are represented. What do you think the commonalities are among the cooking traditions that work best with tinned fish?
AH: I think a lot of the dishes that work so well involve a lot of fresh ingredients and a lot of textural variety. Eunjo Park, who used to be the chef at Kawi in Manhattan, contributed a kimbap recipe to the book where you mix tuna (just regular canned water-packed tuna) with mayo and gochujang, and then it gets rolled into warm rice along with crunchy danmuji, perilla leaves, spinach, and carrots. There's so much happening in every bite.
PT: At root, tinned fish is a convenience food, something I at least was raised to be skeptical of on sophistication and health grounds; it was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me to realize this stuff can be quite fancy and fresher than lots of stuff you can get from a fishmonger. Do you see any other convenience foods ripe for a similar reevaluation?
AH: There are some very exciting moves being made in the world of instant noodles right now. Brands like Momofuku and Omsom are getting in the game, and I think we're going to see a ton more in the next few years. My work from home lunches will definitely benefit from this, so the more the better to break up the tinned fish routine.
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