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The olive oil from canned sardine is delicious to eat with the sardines themselves on toast.

However the olive oil doesn't seem to pair with any other food. In the past I tried to use the oil with lemon juice/parsley/garlic/green beans, the food turned out to have a very potent unpleasant fishy smell.

Why is it that olive oil from canned sardine does not go with any other food?

Is this oil useful for cooking?

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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bakingfanatic
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    The sardines are swimming in the oil and the high temperatures during canning release the "fishiness" into the oil. You won't get that away. It's "fishy oil". – Johannes_B Feb 11 '22 at 16:26
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    Hey, "What dish can you make" is considered a recipe request, which is off-limits for SA. If you change the question to "is this oil useful for cooking?", which seems to be what you want to know, then it would be allowable. Otherwise your question is likely to be closed. https://cooking.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic – FuzzyChef Feb 11 '22 at 16:47
  • @FuzzyChef yeah I am not looking for a specific recipe and I've updated the post. – bakingfanatic Feb 11 '22 at 17:08
  • @Johannes_B yeah probably, but the oil goes well with sardines not other food like I mentioned above. I am wondering what makes the difference. – bakingfanatic Feb 11 '22 at 17:13
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    @FuzzyChef: there’s actually an exception for items that would otherwise be considered food waste, which I think this would qualify as. – Joe Feb 11 '22 at 18:14
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    My cat and dog would both be quite offended to hear one of their all-time favorite treats was characterized as "food waste" – Paperclip Bob Feb 13 '22 at 04:52
  • @PaperclipBob yeah they should at least be used for pet food. – bakingfanatic Feb 13 '22 at 21:44
  • FWIW, I use the oil from jars sun-dried tomatoes for cooking. Better than tossing it. – Steve Feb 13 '22 at 22:33
  • @Steve Does it work well? Sounds delicious since it's infused with tomato flavor I image. – bakingfanatic Feb 14 '22 at 01:56
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    @bakingfanatic it does...and I don't even like raw tomatoes ;o) – Steve Feb 14 '22 at 03:07
  • Does this answer your question? [What to do with the olive oil from canned sardines?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/110046/what-to-do-with-the-olive-oil-from-canned-sardines) – moscafj Feb 14 '22 at 11:58
  • @moscafj, No unfortunately because it didn't answer the question of what flavor works. – bakingfanatic Feb 14 '22 at 15:34

5 Answers5

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Yes, you can use the oil for other purposes, although due to the strong fish aroma and taste it would probably best be used only in a fish dish. I frequently use the oil from anchovies to fry onions to add to a Bolognese sauce to add a depth of flavour, a few anchovies being frequently added to this dish as "Italian MSG". It also works well added to tomato sauce for pizza toppings.

I would use the oil to fry onions and garlic for say, a fish casserole or stew. I would add some additional olive oil as well though, as the smoke point may be affected by the soluble fish oil already in the product.

Fish is a very strong aroma as you say, so you have to be careful what you use it in as it will overpower and dominate. Although I have not tried it, it may also work well as a replacement for fish sauce in some Thai dishes.

Greybeard
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  • I haven't tried frying with the leftover olive oil from the can yet, I suspected the oil might turn bitter and oxidize just like regular olive oil when used for drying. But yeah it sounds safer to put the leftover oil in fishy dishes – bakingfanatic Feb 13 '22 at 21:31
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    @bakingfanatic you didn't mean to write _drying_, did you? (Actually [a technical term for oils like linseed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil), but olive oil certainly doesn't do that!) — Olive oil _is_ perfectly suitable for frying as long as you don't overdo it with the temperature. Great for gently sautéing soffritto, garlic etc.. – leftaroundabout Feb 13 '22 at 23:58
  • @leftaroundabout, sorry about the typo, I meant "frying". good to know that olive oil can also be used for frying, thanks! – bakingfanatic Feb 14 '22 at 01:52
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    I do often use for frying when I cook with the sardines anyway; the real problem is not heating the oil (I think it's often sunflower oil where I live), but the residue of watery stuff and pieces of the fish, which I never can perfectly decant. This causes quite some splashing in a frying pan. – phipsgabler Feb 14 '22 at 08:16
  • I think lemon juice should react with the fish amines to yield a salt that would reduce or completely remove the fish aroma and/or can be flushed with water? – Frank Feb 14 '22 at 13:32
  • @Frank yeah I tried mixing with lemon juice. The dressing tastes fine by itself , but adds a strong fishy smell to salads. I ended up throwing away the salad. – bakingfanatic Feb 14 '22 at 15:39
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    Well said, also works well in Thai, Singaporean, Malaysian, and other highly spiced flavorful cuisines. Love it in Thai Currys. – elias altenberg Feb 15 '22 at 18:10
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That sardine oil is going to be primarily useful for dishes that already have a strong fish flavor -- such as from the sardines themselves. For example, multiple recipes for Pasta con le Sarde include using some of the oil to cook the pasta sauce, which also includes the fish.

It's notable, though, that many recipes do not use the oil from the can. Even in a dish that includes the sardines, that oil can be just too fishy (that's my own experience).

It would also be interesting to try using the sardine oil as a replacement for olive oil + anchovy in other recipes. However, that's not a swap I can find much support for online; Serious Eats even goes so far as to insist on anchovies in Pasta con le Sarde itself.

To sum up: feel free to experiment a little, but that oil is not particularly useful, and you're more likely to just throw it out.

FuzzyChef
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  • There is a chance that the fishy sardine oil does not go with onion, garlic and parsley. I am also in favor of anchovy for the pasta dish. – bakingfanatic Feb 13 '22 at 21:41
  • Or feed it to your cat they go mad for the fish oil. Even just the fish flavour brine from a can of tuna mixed with dry cat food makes my kitty very happy. – Neil Meyer Feb 17 '22 at 18:48
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I like to mix sardine oil with milk and serve it with granola. The milk neutralizes the fish flavor and it adds an interesting color to the milk. You may want to chop in fruit or add a pinch of sugar to set the flavor of the milk also.

Casey Milne
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Fish spread would be an example where you can reuse the oil, since you aim for the fishy taste anyway.

My basic approach is to mash the sardines (or any other kind of canned fish in oil) with a fork, and mix them with some cream cheese. The oil not only adds flavour, but also some additional creamyness (and I would add a dash of oil for these kinds of spreads anyway).

Then maybe add one or two diced boiled eggs (the yolk is a good emulsifyier), and season as you like (I really like tandoori masala here).

phipsgabler
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  • Yeah I do something similar. I use sour cream instead of cream cheese. Fish spread is the only application that I can find for the left over oil by far where it works well. Maybe its the dairy that neutralizes unpleasant fishy smell. – bakingfanatic Feb 14 '22 at 15:47
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I don't see why this cannot be used in a similar way to fish sauce. If a recipe requires a blast of concentrated fishyness go for it. The texture may be slightly different but unlikely to be of much notice. I like your frugality. I had a similar culinary upbringing.

Neil Meyer
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