24 February 2015

Fried Mackerels in Chilli Sauce (Chinese Market, Birmingham) [By @SpectreUK]


This tin of Fried Mackerels in Chilli Sauce was produced by Smiling Fish in Thailand. Smiling Fish or smiling assassin? The can had a redness to it denoting hot chilli. The fish image on the front of the tin was decidedly fire engine red in colour. There was even a serving suggestion on the front of the tin that looked like pieces of sumptuous mackerel covered in a very red chilli sauce.

I love mackerel. Seldom do I go through a fishy meal without having one or two mackerel on the side. It's probably one of my favourite fish to eat next to cod and tuna. I also like tomato sauce on fish; especially pilchards. I noticed from the ingredients that these fried mackerels are covered in chilli sauce, not tomato, so all that redness in the photograph on the front of the tin is chilli. Better open the tin and find out just how hot the sauce is then...


I must admit on opening the tin the fishy contents didn't look the most appetising snack, more like the insides of a zombie. There were plenty of chilli seeds floating menacingly around the tightly packed container also. There was a goodly hit of mackerel in the smell and the chilli lightly tickled my nose hairs. On first syrupy sweet taste the fried mackerel was pretty tough to cut through with a fork. There was a sugary sweetness to the chilli sauce that made this a very moreish almost pudding-like dish. The chilli had a medium to hot taste to it that both heated up my mouth and insides as it went down, and also cleared my sinuses. I found this a very tasty hot treat, sweet and warming. Indeed my mouth was on fire by the end of the tin. I ate it out of the tin, of course, which is the only way to eat a tinned fish snack! :-)

Information on the tin;
Net weight 155g, 93g when drained. 298 calories with 15.3g of fat and 15.7g of sugar. The "high calcium" ingredients included; mackerels (57%), water, palm oil (12%), sugar (10%), chilli (15%), soybean, salt, and vinegar.
By Spectre

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