Ramón Peña Archives

Ramón Peña Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil

This Ramón Peña Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil has been in my stash for a few months now. I've had it since before I tried their sardines in olive oil, and I just felt like some tuna.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 5/5.

A nice big chunk of yellowfin. The aroma of the oil is neutral, with no real scent of the fish. A sip of it has just a hint of tuna flavor.

Tasting a bit of it alone, it has a mild flavor one would expect of yellowfin, with only the slightest hint of tuna "tang".

Let's Do Lunch

It was packed in tight, making extracting the fish from the can in one big chunk impossible. I inverted the can over the rice bowl, and used a fork to pry it all out. There wasn't much oil, but what little there was went in as well.

As I tried larger bites of tuna, I kept thinking it seemed a little dry on the palate. The initial taste was straight from the can and had relatively more oil with it. In the bowl, the oil kind of drained off into the rice, leaving the tuna not as coated with it.

I also thought it could have use a touch more salt, listed as a moderate to low 310mg.

Adding Some Seasoning

This next part was a bit premeditated. Rather than my usual basmati, I chose some sticky rice for this tasting. I also brought out some furikake and gohan desuyo, just for a little Japanese flair.

The furikake added the needed saltiness, its nori and sesame adding some beneficial umami. Gohan desuyo is usually more a flavoring for the rice, and in this case I probably should have left it off, as it did nothing for the tuna except to overpower it. I'll know better next time.

Main Takeaways

Nice, mild yellowfin tuna
A tad dry mouth feel
Needed some salt

At $8, I might have expected a little more from this tin, but at the same time I didn't go into it expecting to be blown away, either. This would be a good choice for some kind of salad with some additional olive oil to moisten things up a bit.

Brand: Ramón Peña
Description: Yellowfin tuna in olive oil
Species: Thunnus albacares
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: No/No
Net Wt: 3.9 oz.
Price Range: $8

Ramón Peña Sardines in Olive Oil 16/20

DeenLeave a comment

These Ramón Peña Sardines in Olive Oil 16/20 came with an order from International Loft about two months ago. Their inventory of the brand is not as large as others, but they did have this configuration when others did not. I was looking forward to these smaller pilchards. Let's see how they were.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.9/5.

The skin is a little roughed up, but it's a fault easy to overlook, as they are quite small and delicate. The can is a deep one, and contains two layers of eight fish. The aroma is fresh. A sip of the olive oil (not listed as EVOO) is neutral with a hint of saltiness.

A taste of the first fish alone is exquisite. It is extremely melt-in-your-mouth tender, yet just firm enough that the fish don't fall apart when plucked from the can. No scales at all. Some have partial tails remaining but they were in no way noticeable on the palate. I ate the first four this way, and had a hard time stopping.

Time For Lunch

I put eight more out over some sticky rice, but had to leave the last four in the can because there wasn't enough room for them all.

Bite after bite, I marveled at the tenderness and mild flavor. Very moist fish. Probably the best plain, small pilchards I've had to date.

After moving the last four fish to the bowl, I applied a few dashes of Salsa Espinaler, just to see what it would do. I found it a bit of an improvement, but mainly because the salt level of the plain sardines seemed rather low. Regardless, I enjoyed them either way.

The label calls the entire can two servings. But I'm not one known for tinned fish leftovers. At 200 calories for the whole can, I could afford to be a little gluttonous.

Main Takeaways

Super tender, mild flavored fish
Could have used a pinch more salt
A definite re-buy, if available

Brand: Ramón Peña
Description: Sardines in olive oil 16/20
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $9

Ramón Peña Sardinas Guisadas – “Xoubas”

DeenLeave a comment

The translation of Ramón Peña Sardinas Guisadas - "Xoubas" is, roughly, "stewed small sardines". Guisada means cooked in sauce or stewed. Xoubas is Galician slang for small sardines. In this case, according to the Ramon Peña website, the small sardines are floured, fried in olive oil, then canned covered in a traditional stew of tomato, onion and red pepper.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.8/5.

This is interesting. Most times, additional seasonings are placed in the can before the fish, then the can is topped up with oil. The appearance here is that the sardines have been cooked a little differently, not just steamed. The aroma is vegetal, like that of a long-simmered vegetable soup. Digging in, the fish have a bit of a roughened exterior, but with some skin left on.

Dumping them out over rice seemed like the prudent mode of consumption. There are five fish in the can, its bit of extra depth accommodating both the "stew" and a little more fish. The carton doesn't specify, but they are obviously pilchards. Again, I forgot to dissect a fish to see what the bones/spine situation was, but the unique cooking process rendered any skeletal parts that may have been there undetectable.

These were tasty, the fish very tender. The sauce complemented them well. They were a bit spendy, but I'd recommend them.

Main Takeaways

Unusual preparation
Kind of a tinned fish comfort food
Price makes a re-purchase uncertain

See Ramón Peña at Amazon.

Brand: Ramón Peña
Description: Small sardines, stewed
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $9-10