First time trying deenz: a review

Well, I did it. I faced my fears and tried them. Yesterday I bought a single tin of Brunswick brislings on Amazon and it arrived today. I stared at it for a few hours until I finally bit the bullet and opened them.

The first thing I noticed upon opening the tin was, of course, the smell. But it wasn’t off-putting like I had anticipated. It was fishy, but appetizing. I was surprisingly intrigued.

I fished (heh) a sardine out of the tin and was surprised to see the tail still on; I then realized the fish was whole except for the head. I hadn’t expected that and wasn’t sure what to do with it. I broke the fish open and was a little grossed out by the innards, as again, I had not expected this. I picked it apart curiously to see what was inside as I’ve never gutted a fish. I found it pretty fascinating, to be honest.

By this point I knew I needed to just commit and do the damn thing. I picked up a tiny piece of meat and went for it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked it! It was “fishier” than any fish I have had before but not unpleasant. I liked the richness and the firmer texture (as compared to tinned tuna). I also nibbled on the spine to see if it was as soft as I had heard people say – it was.

At this point I realized the eviscerated sardine was a) not very appetizing to look at and b) not really how people tend to eat them, so I fed the bits to my cats. They went absolutely crazy. 11/10 from them.

I pulled another sardine from the tin and tugged off the tail (it was very soft but I still couldn’t get myself to eat it. Next time). I couldn’t help but think about the concept of eating a whole fish, guts and all, but I was not deterred. I put half of it on a multigrain cracker and popped it in my mouth. Wow! This was way better than straight out of the tin. The flavor and texture of the cracker helped immensely with the fishiness. I also didn’t notice any of the things that had grossed me out in theory: skin, bones, or guts. I put the other half on another cracker and put some Cholula on top. Even better! Next I tried a couple capers. Also delicious. I was sold.

In the end, I put them onto the crackers, dolloped some Cholula on there, zested a lemon and sprinkled it on, and topped with a couple capers. Extremely enjoyable. I even started to get used to the fishiness and I hope this is something I will just get used to. I was also pleased to find that there was no weird aftertaste.

To summarize, I am not immediately obsessed with them, but I definitely enjoyed them and will absolutely be trying more varieties. I’m excited to experiment with various flavors and sauces. And if I end up not liking a tin, I have five furry friends to feed it to. Tomorrow I am going to go to the Asian market and do some hunting. Thanks to all on this sub who helped me get here!