At the request of u/Patient_Vehicle_1272, I decided to try another Battle of the Budget Brands, this time with Walmart Great Value versus Aldi Northern Catch. Both cans were packed in soybean oil.
One thing I noticed initially was that the Northern Catch sardines are sprats from Poland, and the Great Value sardines are from Thailand, perhaps standard pilchard sardines. On opening the cans the Great Value can had four large fish lined up neatly, and the Northern Catch was a pile of smaller fish.
The oil the fish were packed in was darker for the Great Value, and both were clear and clean looking, especially compared to Beach Cliff which had very cloudy oil.
The smell on opening the tins: The Great Value tin had a bolder fishy smell than the Northern Catch, but it was slightly sweet, not "dead fish from the lake" smell. The Northern Catch was a milder, sweet fish smell, maybe a little cleaner than the Great Value.
Plain on a cracker test: I broke the first cracker trying to mash a piece of the Great Value onto it. Very firm meat. Northern Catch was softer, comparable to Beach Cliff (which was also sprats). The Great Value had a strong flavor but not what I would call overpowering. Northern Catch was milder by comparison, closer to Beach Cliff but not as mild as Chicken of the Sea (also sprats). The Northern Catch was also saltier than the Great Value.
Sauce test: Mashed up some of each with some lite soy sauce, rice vinegar, a dab of mayo, and crushed red pepper flakes. For the Great Value, the fish flavor came through and I found the sauce to be a good compliment to it, toned it down and sweetened it slightly. For Northern Catch, the sauce dominated the milder flavor.
Winner: I'm not sure if it's a fair comparison because of the different species of fish used, but for my taste I found the firmer and stronger flavored Great Value to be preferable. The Northern Catch was comparable to Beach Cliff but perhaps a slightly cleaner, milder taste, but without being as mushy as Chicken of the Sea. It's probably a good option for people dipping their toes into canned fish but wary of strong fish flavor.
by Nate5702
15 Comments
I love this idea! Thx so much for the review. I appreciate this post
You’re doing gods work
Love to see quality content like this, as opposed to yet another mindless “look at my expense tins, which should I eat first?” post.
The Great Value ones are my go-to. They can’t be beat at their price point (which is the price point I want my sardines to be at).
Now this is the news I want to be watching
Well done here.
Those pacific saridne from great value sure look 😍
Something to note for the Northern Catch brand: they’ve apparently changed up their manufacturing and a lot of cans are transitioning to herring mid-cuts instead of actual small sardines/sprats, so make sure to read the label if that matters to you
For some reason, sprats upset my stomach. Actual sardines don’t. 🤔
Great content
I recently tried out the whole tinned fish . I found the season peppered kipper snacks smoked herring one of the better ones.
Wild caught and boneless and the pepper with smoked gives it pretty good flavor
Like $19 for a 6 pack on Amazon so $3 per tin .
I did buy some Latvian smoked sprats online but haven’t eaten that . The wife spooked me with the whole don’t they have bone in it still . Working on that mental barrier lol
Just a heads up, Walmart has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturing of their off brand products, its most likely a name brand with a different label.
both look like trash
I just tried the Northern Catch for the first time the other day- truly not bad at all, I was expecting more mushy or like CotS, like you said. I have eaten mostly Wild Planet sardines because they’re what have been easily available where I live… I feel like Northern Catch was close to that experience. Larger, meaty, clean tasting cuts. And 99 cents a tin vs. Wild Planet’s $4-5. Best I’ve ever had? Nope. But not bad at all.
Awesome review! Thanks for doing it and thanks for the shout out ☺️
OMG sardines in plastic Tupperware 💀
Northern Catch tins are 50/50 for having scales or not here.
Great review. I don’t shop at Wal-mart, but the comparison is still valid.