Seacuterie by the Sea

Picnic at Iona Beach

Originally Published: Sunday, July 30, 2023

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Iona Beach

With July rapidly wrapping up and one of the hottest summers on record still underway, we decided to take our show on the road. I picked out a few cans, packed some cheese and crackers, and grabbed my camera bag and headed down to Iona Beach in Richmond, BC for some birding, hiking (more of a brisk walk) and picnicking by the ocean.

Iona Beach is located at the mouth of the Fraser River delta and is a park famous for its long jetty and mud flats. It’s very close to the Vancouver International Airport and serves as a great location to watch planes take off and land. We like going to Iona for birdwatching since the mud flats and sandbars serve as popular hangouts for shorebirds and seabirds.

The jetty extends about three kilometers into the sea and offers a great view of the surrounding waters. It’s a popular location for joggers and dog walkers alike. The beach goes from sandy to silty to muddy, and at low tides one can walk all the way out to the edge of the mud flats, feeling the squishy, dark earth between their toes.

The wildlife is diverse and abundant in the area, and you can expect to see a few different species on your visit. We saw many species of birds as well as a fuzzy friendly otter, grooming and sunning on some driftwood.

The Reward

The reward for reaching the end of the jetty is a beautiful, unobstructed view of the ocean and a cool sea breeze which offers a bit of relief from the blazing sun. After taking in the sights, we do the walk in reverse to our picnic site by the sandy beach.

I tried to feature a few contrasting flavours and textures with the selections we brought along and selected four products to feature. In clockwise order from the top-left corner: Adriatic Queen Mackerel Fillets in Olive Oil, Sabor do Mar Sardines in Sunflower Oil, Spagnia Cod Fish (Baccala) in Biscayne Sauce, and Gabriel Sliced Calamari with Ragout Sauce Portuguese Style.

Queen of the Sea

Adriatic Queen is a label from Coatia that offers a good selection of products at a very reasonable price. This 105g can set me back about $3.50 CAD. Their other products all fall around the same price range and come packaged in a nice, sleek tin.

The Adriatic Queen label belongs to the Sardina family of brands, a company that’s been in operation since the early 1900’s mostly dealing in fresh, frozen, and prepared fish products. They broke into the canned fish market relatively late with the Adriatic Queen line of products circa 2013.

This was a very straight-forward product that allowed the mackerel to do most of the talking. The texture of the fillets was firm and solid, perhaps a bit on the “well-done” side. This allowed the fillets to stand up to quite a bit of manipulation with utensils.

The fillets were de-skinned and deboned and was relatively unseasoned. The light salinity that was naturally present in mackerel was amplified by the earthy flavours of the olive oil, which also helped to keep the fillets moist. The oil also suppressed a lot of the natural fishy funk usually abundant in mackerel. There was a bitter roasted nuttiness in the olive oil that was quite interesting.

Taste of the Sea

Sabor do Mar is a Portuguese brand of canned seafood that has a surprising lack of online presence. From what I can find, they are a very popular brand with a large catalogue of different products from pastes to fillets. These skinless and boneless sardines are a bit on the pricey side at $8.00 CAD for the 120g can, but they have other sardine products that start at around $2.50 CAD. They also have some unique flavours that I haven’t seen from other brands, such as Portuguese Sardines with Spiced Pickles that I will definitely be seeking out. I am a big fan of the retro groovy look with the big bubble letters and contrasting block colours.

The fillets were meticulously skinned and boned with no stray slivers or errant bones present. Presumably, the premium price tag went to paying for the labour involved in hand processing thousands of tiny fish.

The product was the most neutral of the day. The sardines were of a good quality and very tasty, but I found it a bit lacking in terms of excitement, especially because the accompanying sunflower oil was also very neutral and added very little to the overall taste profile.

The sensory experience otherwise was quite pleasant and the oil did help to coat the mouth and extend the natural flavours of the fish across the palate. Overall this was a very stereotypical example of a higher quality sardine can.

Spanish Tradition

Spagnia is not so much a brand as it is a rebrand. They are a mark owned by Mediterranean Gourmet Foods Ltd., more famously doing business as Bosa Foods, a major importer of Mediterranean food in Vancouver. This product is a house brand from Bosa Foods, prepared for them by an undisclosed maker in Spain. There’s not much I can find on the label besides a trademark registration in 2017 for the logo.

I am a big fan of cod; it’s often one of my first choices when ordering fish & chips. I love the flakey, moist texture and earthy flavour of cod, so it’s always exciting to see it on the shelves. This product is made with baccala, or salt cured cod, which increases the flaky texture by breaking down the proteins further. It’s a popular meat substitute for Lent and Christmas in the Mediterranean.

Biscayne sauce is a tomato, red pepper, and onion-based sauce that is popularly served with baccala. The red, savoury sauce offers a tinge of sweetness and not a lot of heat, and pairs well with the white-meat fish.

All of these components came together into a pretty good value proposition. The 111g can set me back about $5.00 CAD.

The texture of the cod was very delicate. The tin managed to preserve the flakey textures and moistness in the chunks of cod. The baccala was not too salty and retained some of the natural muddy cod flavours while being light on any funky fishiness. There was a bit of an ammonic taste at the very end, but it was very subtle and passed quickly without any lingering unpleasantness.

The tinned sauce managed to preserve the savoury character of freshly made Biscayne, with a surprisingly pungent onion component. Small slivers of the various vegetable ingredients could be found in the sauce as well, adding some interest to the overall experience. The sauce was a big hit and we eagerly scooped it up.

Gabbin’ with Gabriel

Gabriel is a label owned by the Ramirez brand in Portugal, which claims to be the oldest surviving conservas company in the world (founded in 1853). Gabriel as a brand is extremely popular in local bodegas and small groceries as they’re inexpensive, colourful, flavourful, and offer a large catalogue of different products featuring different ingredients.

This 120g tin cost $4.00 CAD from my local bodega and I’ve seen it available for less at other shops. While not my first Gabriel product, it is the first calamari-based product I’ve tried from this brand.

The sliced calamari pieces were squares and chunks mostly from the body. The chunks were quite small and we didn’t have any rings or tentacles in our can. The texture of the calamari was tender and snappy, but not chewy or rubbery. The ragout sauce had a powerful tomato flavour, with some herby notes (basil and oregano). The savoury sauce was hearty and satisfying and served as a good companion to the texture of the squid.

I wished there were more pieces of squid in the can overall, as most of the weight was in sauce. This was not surprising considering the price.

This product is like the cod and could be thrown on some noodles or rice for an easy meal.

Good Tidings

The seacuterie by the sea experience was a big success and will likely happen more frequently in the future (although not necessarily with as much foofaraw). I can’t recommend enough bringing a couple tins of fish along with your next picnic, just make sure to make a plan on disposal of the leftover oil/sauces/tins (mopping up the tins with bread and shoving them in your mouth is always a good plan).

As for ratings, all of these products get the Yum, with varying levels of value stars. A pithy tagline will accompany each rating.

Adriatic Queen Mackerel

A competent and simple product that offers a great value and quality.

Sabor do Mar Sardines

A high-quality product with a neutral flavour profile and competent technicalities, but a bit pricey for the offering.

Spagnia Cod in Biscayne Sauce

Great texture and value, but the flavour is king in this tin. A bit more in the can would've assured a 3-star victory.

Gabriel Sliced Calamari in Ragout

Big punch of flavour for not a lot of dough; a bit more squid would make this an A+ product.