Absolute Beginner, Deluxe Starter

The flagship product of the line, possibly the most loved can of tinned fish in the world. If you’re not sure where to start, start with these. If you you’ve already had these, welcome back. If you didn’t start with these and have never had these, your cultural education is incomplete until you have had them.

The standard against which all other tinned fish is judged. And in our opinion one of the best quality to dollar ratios you’ll ever find.

Two layer, 12-22 fish

106g tin

Pictured on short grain rice with beet pickled onion and kale microgreens.

The curve for the ratio between quality and cost is not linear. What that means is a sardine that costs twice as much may not necessarily be twice as good, and a sardine that costs half as much may not be half as good. Just like wine, above a certain price point you can find quality products all across the range. Don’t let the price fool you on these, they’re a sardine a lot of sardine lovers love.

120g tin

The classic plain sardine from a fan-favorite producer in Portugal. If you don’t like your sardines too salty, the ingredients on these are just sardine and olive oil. You cannot go wrong with a tin or several of these.

120g (4.3 oz) tin

If you spend any time in any of the online groups where tinned fish lovers gather in any kind of numbers a few fan favorites become obvious, and this is definitely one of them. People who try this love it. We did and do, too.

It’s perhaps a tad stronger flavored in the fishy sense than other mackerels, and it’s not packed to be the centerpiece of your seacuterie board, but the quality of the meat and the flavor of the additional ingredients makes this an excellent tin to stock up on.

115g tin

Pictured on crostini with chive cream cheese, red onion, and scallions.

We love mackerel here, and believe it’s the sustainable future of seafood. People who don’t like mackerel either have never tried mackerel, or only know the soup can bone-filled version. Try using this any way you normally use tuna, or sardines. You will be surprised at how versatile it is, and you’ll wonder what took you so long to learn about mackerel.

85g tin

A really great tin of mackerel fillets, hand-packed in Portugal entirely by hand, without the use of machines. Also available in a spiced version.

Ranked #2 in the Mackerel category and #69 on the Overall list at worldbestfish.com.

125g (4.4oz) tin