Mackerel Back to Backerel

Since José Gourmet and ABC+ come from the same producer, I felt like doing a comparison of the two mackerel products I recently received; being ABC+ mackerel in moqueca sauce, and José Gourmet mackerel in curry sauce. As a control, I had both on Japanese short grain rice.

The ABC+ was, without exaggeration, the highest quality mackerel I have ever had out of a tin. I expect tinned mackerel to be a little dry and almost…crumbly. Never unpleasant, but it has a distinct texture. Immediately upon opening the tin, I was surprised by the fillets’ appearance. I’m used to mackerel having, for lack of a better description, a perforated line that allows fillets to easily split in half. This appears they were canned already separated in half, but…rounder and smoother? Texturally…y’all, this was unlike any mackerel I’ve ever had; juicy and toothsome. Genuinely a pleasure to consume. As for the sauce, I won’t lie I’m a little disappointed. By no means was it bad, but seeing coconut milk in the ingredients had me expecting something akin to Thai curry. This was far oilier, with barely a hint of coconut milk to my palate. Taste wise, it was almost identical to Ramón Peña’s Xoubas, which is unsurprising given both include tomatoes, onions, and red peppers. Still, it paired well with the mackerel. Solid 9/10, carried by the mackerel itself.

The José Gourmet had mackerel more like what I expected (and, as expected from José Gourmet, a high quality representation of it), but the sauce was the star of the show. It tasted somewhere between a bisque and shecrab soup, creamy and full of pepper. Also a 9/10, but carried by the sauce.

ABC+ offers mackerel in curry sauce tin. If it combines the fish from the ABC+ tin and the sauce from the José Gourmet tin, it might break my rating scale. It’s immediately at the top of my list of tins to try ASAP.