u/Jssaws

Manna sardines in pickling sauce. What is pickling sauce? I'm still not quite sure. Even though the word "escabeche" is on the packaging, I can assure you that's false advertising. The ingredients are sardines, vinegar, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, water, onion, salt, sugar and "aroma". Well even though the "aroma" is listed last on that list, it is the first thing that hits you. The aroma similar to a can of cheap tuna that is. It does mellow quickly, allowing the flavors of generic unseasoned tomato sauce and cheap vinegar to...shine. Four adequately sized sardines in this tin, which are permeated quite well by the aforementioned pickling sauce. The 'dines themselves are not fishy at all despite the "aroma" and rather nice overall with no scales. I think I paid $4.99 for these, so they seem to be on the cheaper end of the Portuguese sardine spectrum. And you can tell honestly, from the flatness of the tomato product and the touch of probable cheap white vinegar added. BUT, that being said these weren't bad at all, and I don't feel jipped at the price point I paid. If these were readily available I would almost definitely mix a few cans of these into my daily driver rotation for work lunches. 6.6/10 Manna "pickling sauce", I ain't mad at ya but you didn't tickle my pickle.

Sardines and black olives, two things people seem to either love or hate paired together in this Ferrigno tin. How does it fair? Well seeing as I like both of those things, pretty well! The same as other Ferrigno tins I've had, this one was packed with four huge chonky bois drenched in black olive tapenade. Really more of a puree because there was no textural bite or chunks from the olives left. Anchovy, capers, thyme, herbs de provence, salt and a blend of evoo and sunflower oil round this one out. The herbs are not heavily present, but their is some umami from the anchovies dancing in the background. The capers were non existent to my palette which is a shame because a touch more briny acidity would have bumped this one up a level. It wouldn't be Ferrigno if they didn't give you a bonus with every tin! That bonus being scales...BUT this one was probably the least offensive of the three I have tried so far. Which is good, because the sauce is quite nice. If you enjoy olives, and big honkin pilchards then you will like this tin. I wish I had some nice cheese to pair these with because they belong perfectly on a charcuterie plate. 7.8/10, could have been an 8 without Ferrignos always so generous gift of scales.

This is an umami bomb. My first time trying squid in ink, and was blown away. I was kind of hesitant to try this tin, but damn I'm glad I finally did. This one's not gonna win any beauty pagents; it looks kinda like...well shit. But the flavor is unlike anything I've had before. Deep, rich, and savory. The ink is thick and kind of floats in a nice olive oil. The perfect amount of salt and seasoning and the tomato and spices are very present. But not in a tomatoey way, almost the way tomato is often used as a base for barbecue sauce. There's an almost smokiness and deep, rounded, caramelized richness. Think perhaps the way soy or Worcestershire sauce have that intriguing depth of flavor that's unique to themselves alone. It's hard to put a finger on, and addicting all the same. The texture was a mix of chewier bites and softer pieces which was quite pleasing. Everything was cut into nice manageable inch to half inch pieces. I dumped the rest of the sauce on some pita bread, but taglietelle or fettuccine will be involved next time. For $3.99 at Central Market, this was an incredible value and I will load up on these the next time I see them. 8.4/10 and another banger from La Barca.

Glad I shuffled through the cabinet and found these guys because they were just past their best by date. One of the few Patagonia products I had yet to try. I had heard good things about these, but alas they were a bit of a letdown. I believe I had 7 of these dudes packed in the tin, with a thin slice of lemon and 5 or 6 olives at the bottom. The oil was fine enough, the lemon was present and clean, the olives were kinda lost in the shuffle. A little dry as I've experienced with 'chovies before, but the flavor was nice if underwhelming. These pale in comparison to their spicy brethren. I would gladly eat them if they were in front of me, but wouldn't grab them off the shelf over other Patagonia offerings. Kinda forgettable, 7.3 out of 10.

Thank god for pliers! This was my first La Curiosa tin and apparently they use adamantium to pack their fish. Tab broke so I had to muscle my way through, but we find a way. Six nice filets jam packed in quality olive oil with lemon thyme. Not sure what lemon thyme is, but to my amateur palette it tasted no different than regular thyme, which was very pleasant. They're liberal with the herbs here, and that's a good thing because they lose their potency after canning. Really great showing by La Curiosa for me, the fish is on the tender side for mackerel that can tend to run a little dry. The herbs and salt level are perfect. This would be fantastic with hummus on a cracker, put into a sandwich with a creamy spread and something pickled, or just with a squeeze of lemon. 8/10 for me would, absolutely purchase this again. Highly recommend.

The second of four different Ferrigno flavor tins I've tried. I was extremely excited to try this brand originally and started with the preserved onion sardines, which were to me, a disappointment. These were most certainly an improvement, but not without their flaws. The lemon flavor was kind of right down the pipe, I would give it a 5/10, but the flavor was pleasant unlike some I've had that reminded me of household cleaner. Other ingredients listed were onion, green olive, oregano, salt and sunflower oil. As I've noticed so far with Ferrigno there's not a ton of oil, mostly lots of bits of the mentioned ingredients and big fat sardines smashed into the can. They actually took the shape of the can they were so packed in. The oregano was definitely present, and loads of onion bits at the bottom with maybe some lemon peel diced the same size and mixed in. I didn't taste or see a singular piece of green olive which was weird, as they're pretty high on the ingredients list. Scales seem to be a given with Ferrigno unfortunately, which kind of put a damper on enjoying whatever lovely sauce is in the tin. I gave the preserved onion tin a 6.8, and these earned a 7.6. Better? Absolutely yes. Good enough to grab another? Maybe on occasion. Have Ferrigno or french sardines lived up to my expectations? Not yet.