Good morning. We’ve covered the tinned fish trend before, but today we’re diving into how you can shop for them and put them to use in your own pantry.

INGREDIENT DEEP DIVE 🍳

Tinned fish

Tinned fish is exactly what it sounds like: fish that’s been cooked, preserved, and sealed to be shelf-stable for years. Common options include sardines, anchovies, tuna, mackerel, mussels, oysters, octopus, and more.

Tins can range from dirt-cheap to fancy, wine-bar-level pricing.
Common formats include olive oil–packed (more unctuous), water-packed (leaner), and flavored tins (like tomato, chili, lemon, or escabeche).

What’s the flavor?

Taste: Salty, savory, deeply umami

Aroma: Briny, oceanic (varies a lot by species and packing liquid)

Texture: Flakey, meaty, soft, or chewy, depending on fish variety

Human: Many cultures treat tinned fish as everyday food or even a delicacy, not survival rations, such as in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan, & the Nordics

Why should you buy some?

Often, the hardest part of putting together a weeknight meal is getting the protein component done. Tinned fish gets you most of the way there.

Open one up and build from there → eat with bread, over rice, in pasta, on salads, or chop and mix into a tuna-style deli salad.

It’s an affordable, shelf-stable protein with real flavor.

What else can you make with it?

Sardines or mackerel on toast with lemon, chili flakes, and good olive oil
Pasta with anchovies, garlic, olive oil, and breadcrumbs
Tuna/trout/salmon mixed with mustard, capers, and herbs (way better than mayo-only tuna salad)
Tinned fish over rice with soy sauce, scallions, and a jammy egg
A sampler of tins with crackers and hot sauce
Sardines over a leafy green or veg salad to bulk it up

If you think you’re not into tinned fish, you probably just haven’t had a good tin yet. Our rec is to start with sardines, salmon/trout, tuna, or mackerel (all milder, meaty options).

FRAMEWORK OF THE WEEK ✅

Bento-style lunches

We’ve covered the merits of bento-style lunches many times now. While these work great with cooked protein like salmon (as pictured above), they can be assembled even more easily with tinned fish.

Take inspiration from this one, or for more guidance and options, check out our comprehensive bento framework on the app:

Explore the Framework

READER Q&A 🧠

Restaurant chips & salsa

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Question: “Why do chips and salsa at restaurants always seem to taste better than they do at home? I’ve tried a bunch of jars and even making homemade salsa.” - Will B.

Answer: The classic restaurant vs home cooking question is something we think about a lot. It’s a good question: even the “free” chips and salsa at a casual Tex-Mex spot somehow hit different than a bag at home.

Here’s our case for why this might be true:

1) Warm chips matter more than you think

They’re usually warm, freshly fried (or at least freshly reheated), well-salted, and thinner than most grocery store versions. Warm, crisp chips against cold salsa creates temperature contrast that makes everything pop.

Alternatively, some restaurants serve both the chips and salsa warm, which aplifies flavors of both. Temperature matters and is one of the biggest differences between home and restaurant cooking.
At a restaurant, you’ll almost always have an ice-cold water or drink nearby, which adds to the temperature experience.

2) The salsa might be packed with more aromatics

Restaurants do volume, which means they can make fresh batches daily and pack in fresh herbs, onions, etc that might otherwise oxidize or not hold up in a jarred salsa built for shelf life.

If making salsa at home, think of salsa less as a “tomato” based sauce, and up the ratio of aromatics: onion, garlic, lime, chiles, herbs. Check out this great video for more practical salsa tips.

3) The ambiance makes a difference

You’re out, you’re hungry, and someone brings you free food? Ambient noise, warm lighting, refreshing iced drinks, and good company all enhance the perception of foods too. This is the human element of flavor in action.

Our take: If you want to recreate restaurant-level flavor at home, the details matter: warm your chips, make a fresh batch of salsa loaded with aromatics, and even set the table to recreate the vibe.