Bar Harbor Skinless, Boneless Smoked Sardine Fillets
Smoke on the Water
Originally Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Specs
You can taste it!The Maine Event
Every once in a while, I encounter an unassuming product that beats the curve, and it’s always a pleasant surprise. Today’s selection is something I cracked open for lunch: Skinless, Boneless Smoked Sardine Fillets from Bar Harbor. This seafood company based in Maine offers everything from preserved fish to ready-to-eat chowder. Interestingly, while the company is based in the United States, the can is processed in Canada. Canadian seafood packers often process orders from their neighbours across the border, as do American seafood packers. Based on limited information provided from the brand, I suspect the product is packaged and processed in New Brunswick, home to centuries of fishing and canning expertise.
The Bar Harbor brand is very popular in the US as one of the main producers of culinary ingredients, such as clam juice. They are not uncommon in Canada, but the selection we have access to is a bit smaller than what they offer in their homeland. They pride themselves on their Atlantic caught stock and natural smoking process with real wood smoke.
I’ve used their clam juice in the past for cooking but have not noticed their canned fish for sale on our local grocery shelves. After finding today’s selection on my local store shelf for a very reasonable price I had to give it a try.
German style rye bread, nice and dense. Open Bar Harbor
The Bar Harbor brand used a beige cardstock sleeve with bold serif text as the protective covering for this can. Their oval logo was displayed prominently on the face of the sleeve. While not the most striking or attractive, it was unambiguous in telling me everything I needed to know about the product.
The can itself was the archetypal easy open sardine tin with rounded ends. Opening the can was a bit of a struggle even with the easy open mechanism because the liquid content was filled to the brim. The brine spewed forth at great velocity when the can was jostled accidentally while opening.
With the expulsion of the briny sardine juice came the promise of smoke as indicated on the label. A whiff of wood smoke mixed with a hint of sardine dribbled out of the can onto my table. I mopped up the mess and carried on.
The first visual impression of the fillets was very positive. They had a nice straw blond colour to them, an effect of the smoking process. There was very little oil floating on the surface of the brine and attached to the surface of the fillets; the skinning, deboning, and smoking process likely removed some of the excess oil from the fish, leaving a relatively lean product. The brine was just salt and water, with no added oils or flavours.
The fillets kept their shape very well and exhibited a good amount of bounce to prodding with the fork. These are larger than the average sardine fillets and had a substantial heft to them. Getting the fish out of the can was not a particularly easy task since it was very densely packed with little room to manoeuvre the utensils, but it was a worthy endeavour.
Part of a complete breakfast, lunch, or dinner.Less Skin and Bones, More Flavour
The fish was lightly and rightly salted; there was an unmistakeable saline quality to the brine, about the salinity of seawater. The level of salinity was pleasing and elevated the product from being an ingredient to being the focus. It wasn’t overbearing or cloying since I wasn’t begging for water or blood pressure medication after ingesting the entire can in one sitting.
Besides salt, the only other seasoning was the natural wood smoke, a process which Bar Harbor had every right to be very proud of. The smoking process was stopped at just the right time, every fibre of the fillets was impregnated with a smoky campfire quality. The smoke flavours were not too brash to cover up the natural qualities of the fish, allowing the ingredient to deliver an oceanic punch after the smoke slowly dissipated in the sinuses. There was a constant ebb and flow of flavours vying for control, with smoke leading the charge and the sardines beating them back. The metallic qualities of sardines were muted by the light bitterness that accompanied the smoky flavour.
In my opinion, the magic ingredient of this tin is the salty liquid that pooled at the bottom of it. The contest of flavours was regulated by this oceanic brine that was secretly puppeteering the unwitting combatants. It cleansed the palate and readied the battlefield for each coming skirmish. It was the distillate that was the combined essences of fish and smoke; it was essentially liquid MSG.
No skin and no bones meant the fillets will be even in texture throughout, with no crunchy or chewy surprises. This could be an upside for some, but I generally preferred my fish skin-on and bone-in, so the product would have to pretty special to justify removing these flavour packets. Bay Harbor justified the removal of these elements by producing one of the best textures I have ever tried in a canned fish.
Somehow, they managed to produce a moist and springy sardine with very little residual fat in the flesh. The fillets are actually tender, which is so incredibly difficult to accomplish in canned food I’m beginning to suspect witchcraft was involved. The flesh had a bit of a spongy quality to them as well, which meant they were able to soak up the aforementioned magic ingredient.
I do have to put a disclaimer here and mention that you should not drink the fluidized cocaine from the bottom of the can, no matter how tempting it may be.
Do not drink the brine… no matter how tempting. I may be speaking from experience.The Paradox
This product is paradoxical. It’s salty and savoury, yet subtle; powerfully smoky, yet subdued; tender and juicy, yet lean. I have no problems recommending this product as the main ingredient in a meal, either as the meat in a sandwich or even as the protein on a dinner plate. At about $5 CAD a can, with a generous portion in each can, It’s also one of the best valued products available. I can see this product on any Seacuterie platter, and it will be in my regular rotation for quick snacks.
If I have to nitpick, I would love to have the skin still on the product, as I love the texture and flavour of fish skin. I would love to see the same product offered skin-on and bone-in, just to see if the experience would differ greatly. Another small caveat is that if you don’t like smoky flavours and kippered seafood, this product will unlikely be able to change your opinions.
