Choosing the best canned saury

Sayra – the fish we forgot about. And that’s in vain! This fatty ocean fish is full of essential Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, vitamins B and D, and phosphorus. It is always wild because it would never occur to anyone to raise fish in cages or on farms, schools of which plow the ocean and get into nets relatively easily. And since it is wild, it means definitely without growth hormones, antibiotics and everything else that is not useful for us.

By the way, the Japanese are very respected by saury, and they, as you know, are picky about food!

Saira is waiting for us on store shelves, packed in cans. “Natural” or with a neutral vegetable oil: open and eat. Or prepare a salad “Mimosa”, because initially there is no pink salmon in it, but a simple, tasty and healthy saury. But which jar should you choose? The content is not visible, the composition indicated by the manufacturers is approximately the same.

We went to the nearest store, bought five jars of the product “Natural Saira” and arranged a tasting.

The tasters were professional chefs, photographers, editors, 12 people in total. We asked to characterize each sample for taste and texture.

And this is what we got.

Saury “Marine rainbow”: 245 g, 84,99 rubles. Price per 100 g: 34,7 rubles.

The cheapest, but not bad at the same time!

The tasters rated the fish from this can as quite dry. There is little salt, it seems there are no spices at all. If you want a neutral fishy flavor, this is a good option. Well suited for salads and pâtés with fatty additives like mayonnaise or cream cheese.

Natural saury “Dalmorprodukt”: 245 g, 149 rubles. Price per 100 g: 60,81 rubles. 

The most expensive sample we bought.

Some noted bitterness in the taste of the fish. Perhaps this is due to the large amount of spices in the brine. There are really a lot of them, especially cloves, the bright specific aroma of which came to the fore, “hammering” the taste of fish. This was noted by all tasters.

Pacific saury “5 seas”: 250 g, 115 rubles. Price for 100 g: 46 rubles.

Delicious fish, moderately salty, good ratio of spices, none of them are out of the general range of tastes. 

The tasters described it as delicious canned fish for any purpose – even for boiled potatoes, even for salad.

Natural saury “Tasty canned food”: 250 g, 113 rubles. Price per 100 g: 45,2 rubles.

An undoubted favorite among tasters: large pieces of saury with a good “smell of the sea”, sufficiently and balanced brine.

The case when you can easily eat a whole can of canned food just with bread. Almost all the tasters took pictures of the jar in order to buy this particular fish later.

Natural saury, brand name is not specified, produced by OOO APK “Slavyanskiy-2000”. Price per 100 g: 43,6 rubles.

The product from this can could be called “saury tails”. But despite the size and unsightly appearance, the fish pieces smell good and the brine is seasoned with no frills. Some tasters described the consistency of the fish as tender, while others called it dry.

One could recommend the fish from this salad jar, but sample # 1 is clearly more profitable in terms of cost per jar.

CONCLUSION: the high price, as well as the proximity of the producer to the place of fishing, is not a 100% guarantee of good taste and attractive appearance. But if you find a product that you like, remember the brand name or take a picture of the can so that next time you do not waste time on the flour of choice in front of the counter. 

Yes, Mimosa salad with saury, we, of course, also cooked and ate it with pleasure.