Espinaler Archives

Espinaler Sardines in Pickled Sauce 3/5

These Espinaler Sardines in Pickled Sauce 3/5 (Escabeche) came from Caputo's. As part of the Espinaler "classic" line, they are still quite a bargain at $5. I'd had their mussels in pickled sauce before, and wondered how that might translate to sardines.

This was one of those deep, super stiff cans with the undulating ridges on the lid. Usually, that makes for a big mess when either your hand or the lid suddenly slips, and the packing oil or sauce flies everywhere. Savvy sardine aficionados have learned a "walk and rock" technique to get the lid off without incident. Typically, you can get the lid about halfway peeled back before things start getting dicey. But, if you "walk" it, concentrating on the left and right alternately, you can get to a point where you can "rock" the lid back and forth until it gently releases. Thus endeth the lesson.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.9/5.

On a 3/5 tin of sardines, I always hope for 5, but in this case got 3. Beautifully packed, pristine skin, no scales, fins or tails. The aroma of the sauce is immediately apparent when the lid is first cracked.

A sip of the oil/sauce is less revealing, but would bloom later on. The oil in this case is sunflower.

Time To Eat

I heaved the three big pilchards out over rice, and before pouring any of the sauce/oil over them, took a minute to whisk it back into an emulsion with a plastic fork.

Digging in, the fish are as tender as can be expected from pilchards their size. They are acceptably moist, with a good, fresh sardine flavor.

It hadn't struck me before now, only having had this sauce preparation with their mussels, that the flavor of this pickled sauce/escabeche is quite reminiscent of the Salsa Espinaler appetizer sauce. Both are vinegary, with a mild pepper note.

I didn't find these notably absent of salt, but the sauce made up for any lack thereof. Sodium is listed as a moderate 350mg.

I thought it was odd that the carton I received was printed (in Spanish) "sardines in olive oil". Only two labels, applied over the back and front, contained the name and information for sardines in pickled sauce. Someone must have forgotten to order boxes at the cannery.

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Sardines in pickled sauce
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4.05 oz.
Price Range: $5

Espinaler Galician Mussels in Pickled Sauce 13/18

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These Espinaler Galician Mussels in Pickled Sauce 13/18 came with my first order from Caputo's, about a year ago. I often look at the box and think, "I should really open those", but something else always seems to get in the way. Well, today's the day.

This carton says "mussels in pickled sauce". You may also encounter the same labeled in Spanish as "mejillones en escabeche" or in French as "moules", both of which will likely have a label applied with the particulars in English.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 5/5.

It's one of those cans where you pull up the ring and the packing liquid erupts all over the top of the lid and the rim before you can even get it fully opened. Pardon me while I go get some more paper towels.

Some beautiful, appetizing-looking mussels. The pickled sauce is tinged red with unnamed spices. The aroma is sweetly vinegary. A sip of it gives the impression of apple cider vinegar, but it's listed as wine vinegar. The oil is sunflower.

I had these straight from the tin, appetizer-style. The flavor and texture are of a sweet, meaty shellfish. I suggest using a spoon with a rounded bowl to get some of the sauce included with each mussel. It's like slurping a spicy morsel off the half shell, and doesn't let all that tasty sauce go to waste.

The 13/18 means to expect 13 to 18 pieces per tin, and this one had 14. The price on these rises exponentially when the mussels are larger, with the 7/10 count currently costing almost triple what these did a year ago.

Main Takeaways

Tasty, sweet mussels
Mildly tangy spiced sauce
Good QPR at this size

Unfortunately, these have increased in price since I bought them about a year ago. Now they're $8, up from $6.50. Although another place I (still) don't order from wants almost $11, so blame inflation (or tariffs).

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Mussels in pickled sauce
Species: Mytilus galloprovincialis
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO?
Skin/Bones: No/No
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $6-7

Espinaler Sardines in Spicy Vegetable Oil 3/5

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These Espinaler Sardines in Spicy Vegetable Oil 3/5 came with a Caputo's order from a few weeks ago. I'd had their baby sardines in spicy olive oil and their regular 3/5 sardines in olive oil, and found them both OK. I may have just added these to make the order a little bigger. They ship tinned fish orders for free, and I always like to get at least 6 or more cans at a time, out of a sense of fairness to the vendor.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.9/5.

The 3/5 means you should expect 3 to 5 fish. Here we have four. It's a deep can, so they're a large four. Nicely packed silver belly side-up, but I can see a few things I would rather had been cleaned out better during processing. There are no scales evident, but there are a couple tails. There are also a few bits of what looks like grass. The Espinaler in the blue cartons are their "classic" line, so they're not expensive as imported Spanish sardines go, but my previous experience with them has been of cleaner-looking fish.

The aroma doesn't reveal much. A sip of the mostly clear (sunflower) oil is neutral. I thought for a moment I detected a modicum of heat, but a second sip was confirmedly bland. The applied US label covering the back panel of the carton lists "sweet chili flavour", which I thought was odd for a tin labeled "picantes" (hot).

Let's Eat

Heaving them out over rice, they remained largely intact. I removed and set aside some things from the cavities that were visually unappealing. Don't get me wrong, I live in a part of the country with abundant, fresh seafood, and I eat some things folks from elsewhere probably wouldn't touch. It's not that I thought whatever these parts were was harmful, I just chose not to let them get in the way of my enjoyment, if you get my meaning.

Anyway, the fish are tender and moist. I wouldn't call them juicy, and honestly, I don't think I've ever had a sardine I'd characterize as juicy that wasn't really just mushy. These do have a good sardine flavor, though.

They're a bit on the salty side, even though the carton lists only 390mg. sodium. It's not a deal breaker.

The problem here is that there's no heat or spice. There's no physical pepper in the can, so I don't know if they just forgot to squirt whatever "flavour" makes them "picantes" into the can or what.

Main Takeaways

Tender, moist fish, but some visually unappealing bits I could have done without
A little salty
Where's the heat?

I've liked the other Espinaler tins I've had so far, so it's a bit disappointing this one didn't deliver as promised.

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Sardines in spicy vegetable oil
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4.05 oz.
Price Range: $5

Espinaler Variegated Scallops in Galician Sauce

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Hard to believe, but a first foray into tinned scallops. I've been sitting on this can of Espinaler Variegated Scallops in Galician Sauce for quite some time, not really knowing why I was waiting for an excuse to open it. Let's see what we've got here.

Initial impression upon opening the can: Uncertain.

There seem to be some shellfish hiding in a cloudy murk. They're variegated scallops, but some packaging calls them zamburiñas. The aroma is subtle, not really of seafood, but rather of cooked tomato with an overtone of wine. And along with oil, salt and spices, that's exactly what they're bathed in.

I fished around and pulled a few up out of the liquid to see what I had here. Looks like there are nine of them in total.

They didn't look at all like what I'm used to seeing in the way of scallops. Apparently, those pristine white pucks of scallop adductor muscle are what's left after they've been vigorously cleaned to remove any unsightly parts. The filet, if you will.

These have most of their mantle intact, or at least still attached, and as a result are a bit more rustic in appearance. Savoring the first one, I found the texture somewhere between smoked oyster and mussel. They are flavored by the sauce just enough to complement the taste of the meat. The sodium listed is a little on the high side at 543mg, but I didn't find them too salty.

Hitting The Sauce

As I plucked each from the can, I found it difficult to get any of the sauce to stick. It seemed like a layer of the oil (sunflower) was floating over the top of a nebulous, shifting mass of red. The scallops still tasted of the sauce, but I was wishing I could get more of it on them.

After finishing the scallops, I continued to examine the liquid in the can. Attempting to get a sip of the sauce, I was only getting the oil floating atop it. Stirring it, the oil and cloud of red beneath wouldn't mix. It looked for all the world like a broken emulsion.

Eureka! I used my chopsticks to whisk the oil and sauce below it into a cohesive combo, right there in the can. Then, I could easily take a taste of it in its full flavor. In fact-- and I recommend this-- for the next can, I will remove and set the the scallops aside while I do exactly this. And then I'll return them to the can for a thorough coating before consuming.

Main Takeaways

Rustic in appearance, but tasty
The sauce works well and has good balance
Another of those hard to open cans

Unfortunately, these have increased in price since I bought them about six months ago. Now they're $8, up from $6.50. Although another place I don't order from wants $11, so I guess you can just blame inflation.

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Variegated scallops in Galician sauce
Species: Aequipecten opercularis
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO?
Skin/Bones: no/No
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $8

Espinaler Sardines in Olive Oil 3/5

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Having been pleased with their other offerings, I picked up these Espinaler Sardines in Olive Oil to assess just their plain sardines, in olive oil, without any embellishment. I was expecting the same quality.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.8/5.

This was another of those stiff cans you really have to take care to keep from making a mess when you open it. You can see in the photo I held on to it so tight that I squeezed the can and it bent inwards.

Pleasant, subtle fish aroma. The 3/5 means there will be 3 to 5 fish per can. I was hoping for five, would settle for four, but got three. As you may have heard, given a choice, I like my pilchards smaller. These were really nice looking, however, almost enough to overlook the size. I didn't see any scales.

The flavor was what I expected. Fresh, mild sardine taste. Good quality olive oil. Nice tender meat. Espinaler, or whoever they source their tinned fish from, knows what they're doing.

These were good, but I think I'll stick to the 10/12 baby sardines from them, even though they only come in spicy olive oil. They do have a baby sardines 16/20, but it's in their premium line, which costs twice as much.

Main Takeaways

Nice looking can of fish
Fresh aroma and flavor
Still tender for their size

See Epinaler at Amazon.

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Sardines in Olive Oil
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4.01 oz.
Price Range: $5-6

Espinaler Baby Sardines in Spicy Olive Oil

DeenLeave a comment

First foray into a group of more premium selections I've accumulated lately, these Espinaler Baby Sardines in Spicy Olive Oil are a real treat. The 10/12 designation on the carton means you are to expect 10 to 12 fish. At first glance, you might think so many fish would mean sprats, but these are pilchards.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.8/5.

Tightly packed can. Nice skin, torn only in a few spots, probably to be expected with a pack this tight. Clean sardine aroma. Some have partial tails, but no prickliness. A few scales to be seen, but not enough to complain about.

Pulling fish from the can, they are tender. Melt in your mouth tender, in fact. There are 5 more under the 5 visible. The spice is subtle, letting the delicate taste of the fish shine though. The ingredients list only "spicy aroma" with no further elaboration. It appears to be bay laurel at least, with perhaps the slightest hint of clove. No real heat apparent. There is no smokiness, and none is indicated on the label.

The quality is what you should expect from a premium label like Espinaler. These in the blue box are from their "classic" line. The ones in a linen toned carton are their "premium" selections. Those are more costly, and don't necessarily have corresponding versions in the classic line.

Main Takeaways

Pilchards, not sprats
Subtle spiciness
Super tender

Recommended. I'd have no problem ordering these again.

Brand: Espinaler
Description: Baby Sardines in Spicy Olive Oil
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $6-7