RAVE

“Trader Joe’s farm raised Lightly Smoked Salmon, Skinless & Boneless Applewood Smoked in Extra Virgin Olive Oil”

(Note: This product is popular, and seems to have a tendency to get Sold Out; If you can’t find it, ask the front desk if they have any idea when it is expected. It always seems to come back eventually when they get a new supplies but sometime its gone for a month or more.

Personally I would call this a Trader Joe’s top 10 item. When I can find it. As mentioned, this OFTEN GETS SOLD OUT – as it is very popular among fans of #tinnedfish. The kind of fans of this who buy 10 at one time (come on – be fair) Please – maybe no more than three ? So you leave some for the rest of us?

Trader Joe’s Farm Raised Lightly Smoked Salmon in Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a skinless, boneless, applewood-smoked canned fish product from Chile priced at roughly $3.69 per 5-ounce tin. Reviewers note it offers a soft, buttery texture. It 21 grams of protein per serving.

“Lightly Smoked Salmon” comes in a square pink. Sold with about three other kinds of canned salmon (round cans) that Trader Joe’s carries like “Wild Alaskan” salmon. There is nothing wrong with the other cans of salmon they have. They are fine, pretty much similar to any canned salmon you’ve had. This canned salmon however is better: think “gourmet canned salmon“.

I adore this. Apparently along with many other Trader Joe’s fans of it (read some of the Comments below) and for good reason. It’s very good salmon that happens to come in a can – maybe the best you ever had. Once they try it, most people love this.

Now the very first time I saw this can I was both intrigued and maybe confused by the words, “Lightly Smoked” on the can. Basically ignore the word, “smoked” and know this has nothing to do with what you or I think of when we see “smoked salmon”.

What this actually is, is the best, I repeat “The Best” can of salmon you probably ever ate. Frankly I think the name they picked may not be ideal. A more accurate name would have been something like “Chilean Olive Oil Poached Salmon” as that is exactly what this is.

This tinned salmon makes me think about those imported tins of canned fish made by high quality Portuguese and Spanish producers. Like Ortiz’s canned tuna ($23/lb) and the like, cans and jars of which I see at gourmet grocery vendors like Zabar’s and Fairway. $18 for a jar of canned tuna? Yup. That stuff is not Chicken of the Sea.

As you can see when one opens this can, you see an appetizing piece of skinless, boneless salmon. Looks gourmet. It was cooked (poached) in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The label says this is a “Product of Chile”. I’ve since learned that Chile, after Norway, is the world’s second largest producer of farmed salmon. Overall the quality appears high. All skin and bones have been removed (much normal canned salmon has both). It is swimming in a golden orange liquid. This is decent Chilean extra virgin olive oil, mixed with the salmon’s own liquid juices. This sauce is very delicious. DO NOT DUMP IT OUT.

The salmon is moist and buttery and flaky, with both a wonderful flavor and wonderful soft texture. Yes, this is farmed Atlantic salmon (not wild) but its Top Quality.

About the word “smoked”, well “Applewood smoke” is listed among the Ingredients but honestly I don’t really taste any smoke flavor. Maybe it is so subtle in the background. It doesn’t matter. This stuff is really really good.

I opened a can the first time to review it. I found it so tasty I could not stop eating it. I kept saying to myself “just try one more bite”.

Suddenly I noticed the can was empty.

This can of fish makes a super easy almost instant lunch, dinner or healthy snack. Its got a whopping 21 grams of Protein. That Golden Oil the fish is swimming in? I implore you – do not dump it out. You would be making a mistake as this juice/sauce is delicious. A golden elixir that matches the salmon perfectly. It’s EVOO mixed with cooking juices, colored orange from the salmon, and its yummy, just oozing with UMAMI. Sprinkle some fresh lemon juice with it and it will be even better. I suggest when you serve it, spoon the golden oil over the fish with a squeeze of lemon. Perfection. You could equally spoon some of this golden oil on say this salmon atop salad greens, or boiled potatoes, or a rice bowl or what have you…

*Norwegian crispbread, salmon, cream cheese, pickled cucumbers, lemon. Yum!*

Basically this is a piece of poached salmon in a can. You can simply put it on a plate and you are done. Or on top of a salad or greens or a protein bowl…. Mashed up into an avocado with a little mayo and lemon. Voila, you have a delicious healthy meal with almost no effort. This salmon is wonderful as-is right out of the can. Try it on toast, or a toasted bagel, or on crackers. I found this is a perfect match with TJ’s great Norwegian CRISPBREAD for a Scandinavian style open faced sandwich.

This salmon is especially perfect for summertime heat or whenever you don’t feel like cooking. Mix a bit of mayo and lemon juice into this for lovely perfect salmon salad. The other night I didn’t feel like cooking. I found I had a nice ripe avocado I needed to use, so I just mixed a can of this salmon with a little mayo, lemon juice and some Peri-Peri sauce and spooned that into an avocado.

I ate this lovely avocado stuffed with salmon for dinner. It took me minutes to make and was so yummy.

RECIPE – Japanese Salmon Rice Bowl: I make this all the time. Put some fresh cooked rice in a bowl (if you have it, short grain rice is best but anything is fine) Now top with this drained salmon, flaked up. Drizzle on some of the precious salmon juice Golden Oil over. Lemon? Rice vinegar? Sprinkle on a TJ’s Furikake seaweed seasoning and chopped scallions. Mix gently. YUM. Dinner! Optional: a sprinkle of Soy Sauce and a sprinkle of Toasted Sesame Oil. Maybe slices of avocado and cucumbers?

*Seaweed Hand Rolls with Salmon and Cucumber*

One serving contains 190 calories and a whopping 21 grams of protein. The 5 oz can has about 3.6 oz of drained salmon. It’s $3.69. Product of Chile. Great pantry item. I would gladly buy it again.

Can one put this away in your larder for a year or two to improve with age like the do in Spain? (canned fish improves with age like wine*) *Spain and Portugal have some bodegas which specialize in tinned fish and seafood which they keep for a year or two or three… Believe it or not the cans of fish improve with age, just like wine. Search for a video of the late, great Tony Bourdain visiting one of the most famous of these bodegas in Spain, eating cans of seafood and loving every bite…. EL ESPINALER

https://amzn.to/4fVHDdh King Oscar salmon 10 pack, about $5 each (Amazon)

You might see people grabbing 6 or more cans of this salmon at a time – I have. Which is why you or I may not find even one can left. Please be fair. Leave some for others.

TJ’s Kimchi Fried Rice

Disclaimer: I only tried this at the Sample Station. In fact I confess the Sample Station is the locus where I usually gravitate to almost immediately after I enter Trader Joe’s. I check out if they have something interesting to taste that day, and of course to grab myself a little cup of free coffee. Don’t you? Truly the Coffee Station is one of the best things about Trader Joe’s, isn’t it? Every supermarket should copy them; going shopping would be much more fun.

Kimchi Fried Rice is a fairly new item and TJ’s seemed to be promoting it quite a bit. Recently it was the product “on sample” 2 or 3 times that I had been to TJ’s of late. What I found funny was they had a sign next to the samples: Its said something like, “Warning: Spicy! Try at your own risk! If you can’t take spicy food, be careful!” Then I tasted it and my first thought was “Huh? This is spicy?”. Seriously to me it was about as spicy as baby food (I can take the heat). I started discussing this disconnect of the “WARNING” sign with the TJ employee who was in charge of the Sample Station at the time. He was of the same opinion – the Kimchi Fried Rice is not spicy at all! He cracked me up when he told me however how many people actually complained “Jeez this is so spicy” after they tasted the Kimchi Fried Rice on sample. So many that they put up the “warning, spicy” sign!

So here is what I thought after tasting the Kimchi Fried Rice. My wife is Korean-Japanese. So I knows me some Kimchi Fried Rice (the authentic Korean kind). I adore it. I can even cook a decent version myself. So if I compare that taste to this stuff, I just have to say this is a pretty bland, insipid version. The two times I tried it was soft and fairly mushy, plus it had barely any kimchi taste; To me, its flavor profile was just weak, which I attribute to an industrial production of such a “homey” dish. For one, truly Kimchi Fried Rice needs real garlic flavor, as well as Kimchi. This barely even had any garlic nor Kimchi flavor for me. The real thing is a fantastic dish, and this? Frankly to my tastes perhaps it would be suitable for babies (ok maybe Korean babies). Now having said that – Trader Joe’s does have a decent “ethnic” fried rice. TJ’s JAPANESE FRIED RICE is actually pretty good. In my years, I’ve eaten tons of both Kimchi fried rice and Japanese fried rice and know what these should taste like, and I can cook decent versions of both.

So, sorry Trader Joe’s but in my opinion your KIMCHI FRIED RICE is a big miss!

If you try it, also try the JAPANESE FRIED RICE next time and see which you prefer. Pretty much same as TJ’s another new “Korean” addition, Trader Joe’s Kimchi, which I found such a poor product I actually “returned” it! Perhaps those who don’t live in a city where you can buy real kimchi sold at a Korean market, might think “so this is kimchi, tasty”. Actually if you had real Kimchi you would know this stuff is not even close to being as tasty as a real Korean-made kimchi – for example this brand (Tobagi) of Napa cabbage kimchi I get at H-MART supermarket on 32nd Street (Manhattan’s Korea Town). If you A/B taste tested this prepared kimchi vs. the Trader Joe’s version? It would be almost a joke, its just no comparison! Anyone who’s been to a Korean restaurant will know the real taste of kimchi. At $1.99 (10 oz) you can try TJ’s version and see for yourself. Let me know what you think.