Adulting isn’t always fun, but being a grownup does mean no one can stop you from having a bowl of potato salad and fancy French sardines for breakfast. We visited our daughter in France at Christmas, and of all the cans I lugged home, this has become my favorite. The pilchards are consistently perfect from la belle-iloise, but the herbs-n-spices are what lifts them up here.
I’m not alone in questing after lemony sardines. So often promised on the label, so often disappointed in the tin. Instead of lemon juice or rind, here the cannery reaches for lemon thyme, and those leaves actually deliver a very nice, sunny citrus flavor. And that’s definitely complemented by the Timut pepper, which is one of those numbing, Sichuan-style peppers—fun in itself—but which also carries a distinctive pineapple-y note.
I really wish more producers would scrounge their spice racks and give us some new and different experiences.
by DreweyD
3 Comments
🤤
Gorgeous presentation
This one is a masterpiece from La Belle Iloise. I would like to age some of those tins, but I always end up eating them and buying them again, with the same goal.