This IASA Grilled Sea Bass Fillet in Olive Oil came from a local gourmet specialties market some months ago. I figured I had put off opening it long enough. Let's see how it tastes.
You may see the product carton titled either in English or Italian, as mine was. The back of the carton, however, was all in English.
Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.9/5.
A nice looking fillet, filling the tin reasonably well. The aroma is mild and fresh. A sip of the nearly clear olive oil gives only a hint of the fish's flavor. There are grill marks on the fillet, but the overall color of the meat doesn't give the impression it was actually cooked that way.
Let's Dig In
The fillet was difficult to remove from the tin in one piece. It broke apart into several chunky sections.
There is a fairly large amount of oil remaining in the tin. The carton reveals the drained weight to be almost exactly half of the contents. Nevertheless, I poured all of it over the fish and rice.
The meat is incredibly tender, virtually melting in your mouth. The flavor is extremely mild, enough so to make one wish all canned fish fillet were as good. I still tend to believe the grill marks are strictly cosmetic, but the flavor and tenderness made me not really care.
The salt content is low, only 153mg. sodium for the entire tin. And that's fortunate, as anything more would have detracted from the spectacular flavor of the fish.
I searched the tin for an FAO fishing area stamp, but found none. The carton reveals the fish is actually farmed.
Main Takeaways
- Tender, mild and flavorful fish
- Simply packed in olive oil and salt
- A little pricey, but worth it
Brand: IASA
Description: Grilled sea bass fillets in olive oil
Species: Dicentrarchus labrax
Country of Origin: Italy
Source: N/A, Farmed
Skin/Bones: No/No
Net Wt: 5.11 oz.
Price Range: $12.50