Sardine Love: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Canned Protein
I always HATED canned tuna as a kid because I thought it smelled like cat food and I’ve always been terrified of stuff like Spam, too. My father loves canned meats and fish, and combined with his multiple packs a day smoking habit (I’m only mildly certain that he smokes less now), he always smelled…interesting.
Then I realized - I’m an adult now! An adult who has ordered sardine toasts in restaurants and an adult who regularly uses anchovies to enrich her own cooking at home. Why not take a chance and utilize these proteins at home? These are the three dishes I made with canned salmon, sardines, and Spam:
Eric Kim’s Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl:
Okay, okay - so I wasn’t ready to commit to using canned tuna just yet! I swapped canned salmon instead, and it made me a lot happier (my mom would use canned salmon sometimes to make salmon cakes when I was a kid, which were damn delicious). I used Kewpie mayo and added some sriracha and furikake and got instant sushi vibes from this bowl. It was deceptively simple but extremely flavorful.
Sardine Toasts:
I made these to go alongside a cool and creamy bowl of gazpacho to make it a dinner (John doesn’t eat fish, so he made some delicious garlic bread to go with his bowl). Sourdough toast spread thickly with nice unsalted butter (wall to wall, you don’t want to miss a spot), layered with tender olive oil-packed sardines, and topped with lemon juice, parsley, Italian hot sauce, fresh EVOO, flaky salt and cracked black pepper. The fish was so tender and clean-tasting; I think I was actually moaning with every bite. I really should have stolen one of J’s garlic breads to build my toasts on though.
Eric Kim’s Maple Candied Spam:
Spam has definitely gotten its share of ridicule but with its versatility, it always gets the last laugh. The Maple Candied Spam from Eric Kim’s Korean American (one of my favorite cookbooks right now) has been lingering in my mind since I first read the book and this project gave me an easy excuse to try it out. You roast the sliced spam in a cold oven, and then glaze it with a mixture of garlic powder and maple syrup (the real stuff please, Mrs. Butterworth would just burn here). That’s it. I have to admit, Spam straight out of the can is less than appealing but when it’s all crispy and blistered right out of the oven, lacquered with that savory maple syrup - WHEW. Served with Kim’s Kimchi Fried Rice (made with some dank-ass kimchi from the back of the fridge and sans egg yolk for John), sheets of seaweed, and a cold glass of beer, you really have a perfect dinner.
I grew up having so much internalized shame and awkwardness towards canned protein! It makes me sad knowing that during my super broke years, I could have been eating so well if I had just given these a chance. Thankfully, I can make up for lost time right now by clearing a space in my cupboard for these preserved treasures.