Learn the Shelf

The Best Tinned Fish for Eggs
The Best Tinned Fish for Eggs
Eggs are one of the easiest ways to turn a tin of fish into a proper meal, and there's no reason to limit the combination to mornings. Fried, boiled, softly... Read more...
What Is Escabeche?
What Is Escabeche?
Escabeche shows up on a lot of tins. Sometimes the label translates it as “pickled sauce.” Sometimes it just says escabeche and leaves you to figure it out. The basic... Read more...
How Is Tinned Fish Actually Cooked?
How Is Tinned Fish Actually Cooked?
If you’ve spent much time in a professional kitchen, the machinery inside a cannery isn’t as foreign as it first appears. There are smokers, steamers, pressure vessels, knives, scales, drying... Read more...
What to Put in a Tinned Fish Gift Box
What to Put in a Tinned Fish Gift Box
A tinned fish gift box shouldn’t feel like somebody cleared five cans off a shelf and put them in a box. There should be some thought behind it, even if... Read more...
The Case for Small Fish: Sardines, Anchovies, Herring & More
The Case for Small Fish: Sardines, Anchovies, Herring & More
Sardines, anchovies, brisling, sprats, herring, and smaller mackerel occupy an important part of the food chain. They feed larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, and they have fed us and... Read more...
Why Is There a Sardine Shortage? What’s Driving the Global Supply Problem
Why Is There a Sardine Shortage? What’s Driving the Global Supply Problem
There is a sardine shortage. Kind of... That sounds like a dodge, but it's probably the most accurate place to start. There's no single global sardine stock, no single sardine... Read more...
Tinned Mackerel Explained: Types, Flavor, and How to Eat It
Tinned Mackerel Explained: Types, Flavor, and How to Eat It
Tuna gets hype. Sardines have the TikTok cult following. Salmon has the healthy reputation. Mackerel might be the most under-appreciated fish on the shelf. Tinned mackerel is one of the... Read more...
Tinned Fish Glossary: Conservas Terms, Fish Names, Sauces, and Cuts
Tinned Fish Glossary: Conservas Terms, Fish Names, Sauces, and Cuts
A working dictionary for the words you’ll see on tinned fish packaging, from ventresca, brisling, cavala, and atún to escabeche, molho cru, yuzu koshō, Galician butter, and more. Read more...
The Health Benefits of Tinned Fish
The Health Benefits of Tinned Fish
Tinned fish isn’t a supplement or a miracle food. It’s everyday food. Pantry food. For a lot of people, comfort food. It’s fish, shellfish, oil, sauce, salt, smoke, vinegar, tomato,... Read more...
What to Do With the Oil in the Tin
What to Do With the Oil in the Tin
A lot of people open a tin of fish, pull the fish out, and then ditch the oil.  This guide is written for those people. Sometimes the best part of... Read more...
How We Choose Tinned Fish for the Shop
How We Choose Tinned Fish for the Shop
We don’t carry every tin we can find. That would be easy enough. There are a lot of sardines, mussels, tuna, mackerel, trout, octopus, clams, cockles, and strange little tins... Read more...
What Makes a Good Tin of Mussels?
What Makes a Good Tin of Mussels?
I spent a couple of seasons in Coromandel, New Zealand, where I’d walk past the mussel farms on the way to work. When you see an ingredient that often, it... Read more...
The Tinned Tuna Guide
The Tinned Tuna Guide
Most of us grew up with tuna salad, tuna melts, casseroles, lunchboxes, and supermarket cans packed in water. I’m not above any of that. It has its place. But it’s... Read more...
A Guide to the Stranger Side of Tinned Seafood
A Guide to the Stranger Side of Tinned Seafood
There’s an old line, usually attributed to Jonathan Swift: “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” Swift called him bold, but I’m not sure bold tells the... Read more...
Tinned Octopus, Explained
Tinned Octopus, Explained
I cooked a lot of octopus while working on Mafia Island, off the coast of Tanzania. In Swahili, octopus is pweza. We often ate it with wali wa nazi (coconut... Read more...
What Alaska Taught Me About Tinned Salmon
What Alaska Taught Me About Tinned Salmon
I spent a few summers working on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Some of that time was around fishing lodges. Some of it was in processing facilities, cutting salmon, halibut... Read more...
The Least Intimidating Tinned Fish for Beginners
The Least Intimidating Tinned Fish for Beginners
A lot of people are curious about sardines, mackerel, mussels, trout, and conservas, but they're not always sure where to begin. People worry about bones, skin, strong fish smells, strange... Read more...
Sardines, Sprats, Brisling and Pilchards: What's the Difference?
Sardines, Sprats, Brisling and Pilchards: What's the Difference?
From European pilchards to Scandinavian brisling, the world of tinned fish is full of names that can be difficult to decode. Here's what they mean and why those differences matter. Read more...
How to Build a Tinned Fish Board
How to Build a Tinned Fish Board
A practical guide to building a tinned fish board with sardines, mussels, tuna, shellfish, and simple accompaniments. Start with a few good tins, add crunch and acidity, and keep the... Read more...
Why Some Tins Cost $30
Why Some Tins Cost $30
A $30 tin is not expensive by accident. This guide explains how species, yield, hand-packing, sourcing, oil, sauce, scarcity, and cannery reputation affect the price of tinned fish. Read more...
Beginner's Guide to Sardines
Beginner's Guide to Sardines
Not all sardines are the same. From species and packing methods to country of origin and preparation style, a few basic concepts can make the shelf much easier to navigate.... Read more...
Best Tinned Fish Gifts for 2026
Best Tinned Fish Gifts for 2026
Tinned fish makes a better gift than people expect. It’s shelf-stable, easy to ship, and it doesn’t come with the usual food-gift problems. No refrigeration. No clock ticking on a... Read more...