I saw these at Fresh World in Manassas, VA a few weeks ago for $2.99, thought “I love kimchi!” and bought them. I didn’t pay attention to the brand, country of origin or ingredients list, and I take full responsibility for that.
Why would an Estonian cannery make kimchi sardines if they have no idea what kimchi means? They were canned in barely seasoned tomato sauce—I’d be shocked if it contained a single grain of hot pepper, and while I suspect there was a little garlic, there wasn’t even a hint of ginger flavor.
I only noticed that they were Estonian after opening it and wondering who thought kimchi was tomato-based.
I tried to make the best of this can—I put it on short grain brown rice with silken tofu cooked in dark mushroom soy sauce, black vinegar, and sesame oil, and added edamame, kale, actual kimchi, and golden bamboo shoots from my backyard (if you can’t kill it, eat it). I topped it all with sesame seeds, cilantro, and scallions.
The fish was mushy & bland, and the tomato sauce flavor was more than a little weird in my bibimbap-inspired bowl. I probably should have rinsed the sauce off. I still enjoyed the rest of my meal, but I mostly ate around them.
After being burned by the Sadaf sardines in tomato-based “harissa” before, I will now be a lot more attentive to the ingredients list for any sardines in red sauce. As W. once said in quainter times, “fool me twice, can’t get fooled again.”
by jules-amanita
8 Comments
I guess I should rate these:
Sauce: 0/5, it was a mediocre tomato sauce at best & bore zero relationship to kimchi
Fish: 2/5, itty bitty, mushy but not terrible
Value: 1/5, the dines were about beach cliff quality for nearly 3x the price, and were deceptively boring to boot.
Edit: these are kimchi sauce sardines from the brand Epinell in case anyone searches this sub for them.
Estonian kimchi – not a combo I ever thought I would become aware of!
I’m sorry you didn’t like the Sadaf harissa sardines – I loved those!!
Sadaf Sardines in Harissa – 11
https://www.reddit.com/r/CannedSardines/s/q6TlOSXM69
Also! Lmk if you want more details on foraging bamboo—don’t eat it raw; it needs to be parboiled with a change of water.
So much promise 😞.
sorry about the fish but the bowl looks really delicious and healthy. Does the bamboo just soak up flavor or does it have a taste? Have only had the stuff from cans that taste like stuff from cans
Those are some high quality bamboo shoots.
I normally hate bamboo shoots but I have to wonder how I’d enjoy these.
I don’t blame you for wanting to try these – as a Korean, I would have been too curious to pass these up, Estonian origin be damned 😂
Sorry they ended up being a disappointment, but it does look like you did the best you could with them! The bowl looks delish! ❤️
I’ve never tasted kimchi. maybe Estonian The word means something else.
like I think the Eastonian word for wife means ghost in Finnish.