Guest Review: Connétable Huile d'Olive vierge extra

After two consecutive days of food pilgrimage to San Jose's Grand Century Mall (for amazing Bahn Xeo crepes, Sugar cane juice, and other assorted awesomeness), I discovered that one of the deli shops carries a selection of yea olde tinny fish. Since Connétable tins have consistently scored high marks, I settled on investigating the Huile d'Olive vierge extra, a gorgeous red tin from Douarnenez, Bretagne.

The tin contains six medium sized fish, skin and bones on, as opposed to the Connétable fillets previously reviewed. They're préparées à l'ancienne which I took to mean prepared Old School. The fish are perfect - fresh smelling, mild tasting, firm. Exactly the type of tin one brings on a proselytizing mission to convert the Sardine-averse, those who got turned off to sardines thanks to mushy, nasty smelling Brunswicks from their childhood. Comrades and fellow travelers, this is the five tin deal.

A few notes on scoring any tin. Skin is where the flavor and best nutrients are, so lack thereof is a negative attribute. It's like the difference between a Salmon steak and a fillet. If you're not eating the cut with the skin, not only are you skipping on a lot of the Omega-3, but your texture preference is that of a baby. It's like eating skinless chicken - WTF is wrong with people? Bones are an essential part of the lovely texture of sardines, as well. Mushy sardines are the same as overcooking your steak, it's just wrong. And if the tin smells fishy when you open it, holy shit. No.

Finally, at $3.25 versus the $1.39 I pay for my stockpile of bon appétit this is a bit of a splurge, but it was definitely a treat with some Kalamata olive sourdough and blue cheese.

Arrr