I grew up with Bumblebee solid white in oil. The only change I've made is I get the water-packed. It's always reliable.

Bumblebee solid white albacore in water, here too. Nothing else. Chunk or light tuna is too close to cat food for me.

I know you said you didn't want to get into "other canned tuna issues just yet, such as the unavailability of oil packed tuna" but...

I always buy Genova brand tuna in olive oil. It's what I grew up on and I simply do not like tuna in water or even in "vegetable oil". Genova is available in at least 3 of the 5 big supermarkets in this area.

I never think about the "chunkiness" or lack thereof. It's simply great tasting tuna.

And I won't mention that my uncle, the sports fisherman brings home and cans his own albacore.

Joe

I don't suppose you can get this brand over there? Tamarindo is the brand and Bonito del Norte is the northern bonito tuna from Galicia, packed in olive oil and salt. It's the best Spanish white tuna.
Ortiz is another good brand of high quality white northern tuna and I think that's sold in USA.

I think you can count on getting solid white chunk tuna in olive oil if you look for Bonito del Norte and I see there are many brands, but I don't know which ones are available in N. America.

But I also buy water packed tuna when I don't want the oil.

SharonCb

Sharon, is anything from the linked website good?

This is the place we found when the LA Times ran an article about Tapas. Their take on it was that Spaniards considered varieties of 'conservos' or canned goods to be desireable and of quality. True?

Here is a link that might be useful: La Espanola Tuna

I often buy the store brand of albacore tuna. Most of the time it is indeed on nice solid chunk of fish.

: )
lyra

I most often buy Cento brand solid packed light tuna in olive oil. It has the 'bold' tuna flavor that I like. Although it's usually packaged in a large chunk as the label suggests, the texture of that chunk is soft rather than flaky.

For what ever it's worth Cooks Illustrated rated Starkist and Chicken of the Sea solid white Albacore as their top picks. Bumblebee finished dead last.

There are some very good imported Italian and Spanish brands but they cost several times what the American brands do.

I get my store brand when it is on sale. I prefer the stronger tasting cheap stuff over the mild white, or Albacore varieties.

Whenever possible, which isn't too often, the high-end brand for restaurants - Serco - is an XLN'T quality of solid, white albacore tuna - only avail. to the trade. Usually I can only get it if I find a friend in the "biz." Otherwise, it's one of the popular brands in the store. Also, Costco's brand is fairly good, too. All of them are packed in water, which is always a little healthier and helps balance out the mayo I use - lol.

arline

I avoid brands that contain soy, but since I'm a penny-pinching tightwad, I look at price first, and what the tuna will be used for, second.

When you figure the per pound price, cheap tuna at 59-cents a can tuna = $1.57/pound ... $1.29 per can = $3.44/pound etc... The high-end varieties aren't "cheap eats" when you figure the meat price per pound.

I use a brand I buy at Aldi - SeaNet Solid White Albacore, and it's a slice of tuna and works well for sandwiches and tuna salad - where you want to be able to identify it as a type of flaked fish and not turn into tuna salad "gruel".

I like to use the "stronger tasting cheap stuff", like cooksnsews, for casseroles, or a combination of the cheap for tuna flavor (and lower price) and the Albacore for texture.

-Grainlady

I usually buy solid white albacore, whatever brand is on sale, sometimes it is a gamble, but the last ones I got at Costco were really good (Chicken of the Sea). We had tuna salad on homemade rolls last night with it.

Jessy....
Yes the Spanish do use a lot of tinned foods, mainly seafood items for making cold dishes, salads and bocadillo sandwiches. The supermarket shelves have a great variety of products and qualities: baby eels (angulas), calamares, anchovies, mussels, cockles, scallops, sardines, squid, octopus as well as tuna. Of course these seafoods are also eaten fresh when available but tins are widely used as the population is accustomed to choosing seafoods for a snack item (eg. a baguette layered with sardines or anchovies) over things which we as N.Americans might choose. The diet is much more geared towards savory rather than sweet.

Jars and tins of white asparagus and piquillo red peppers (pimientos del piquillo) as well as small tins of sweet red pepper strips are common items used in salads as well as for stuffing. Olives are served constantly in tapas and "para picar" nibbles before a meal.
{{gwi:1554357}} of the piquillo red peppers stuffed with cod which I once made. It's a popular dish and most folks will buy the tinned or jarred red peppers which are cleaned and ready to use. You'll see these on your website link. Mussels are often served as a tapa or buffet item, if not fresh and in the shell, then from a tin served in a dish with toothpicks.
Tinned tuna is a prime ingredient in {{gwi:1554359}} (ensaladilla Rusa) popular in tapas bars as well as restaurants.

There seem to be many brands from mainland Spain which we don't see here in Canarias. But Albo and Ortiz are commonly seen in supermarkets. I notice all dollar prices on these websites for these import items are very much higher than what we pay here.

SharonCb

I have never seen or heard of many of the brands mentioned here. But I will agree that Bumblebee or Geisha seem to be the truest to their labels in my experience.

Starkist and Chicken of the Sea are the worst in my opinion. They are the ones that state "solid" and you get "cat food". I usually trust Cooks Illustrated's opinions but not on this one!

I don't like the new foil pouches, either. To me, the tuna packed in those tastes terribly dry.

Linda

I don't really like any of the grocery store brands of canned tuna. The cat food factor is just too great, IMO. I don't eat mayo based salads of any kind but DH enjoys a tuna salad sandwich once in a while. Mostly, I use tuna for topping a large meal-size garden salad, antipasto platter, & also a large piece of this tuna on top of hot bruschetta is wonderful. This is easy & so good it'll be hard to go back to canned tuna once you've tried preparing tuna like this...it's also easy to adjust for any amount of tuna you wish to prepare. I have dedicated an unglazed clay casserole dish for preparing this tuna. I don't use that dish for anything else now.

2 1/2 pounds fresh tuna fillets
Sea salt
6 cloves garlic, smashed with the back of a knife
2 to 3 sprigs fresh oregano
2 to 3 sprigs fresh marjoram or rosemary
Extra virgin olive oil, to cover (the EVOO is important because you can really taste the difference)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

In a clay or ceramic baking dish just large enough to hold the tuna in 1 layer, place the tuna and sprinkle generously with the salt on both sides.

Add the garlic & herbs then add enough olive oil to completely cover the tuna.

Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Cook until the tuna is thoroughly cooked and flakes easily, 3 to 4 hours. Note: this will depend on the thickness of your tuna; you will know that it is done when it flakes easily and the fillets feel firm from the edges all the way to the center.

Carefully remove the baking dish from the oven (remember the dish is now full of HOT oil) and set on a rack to cool completely.

Transfer the tuna, with enough oil to cover, to jars, and refrigerate until ready to use.

I prefere to flake the tuna in large chunks rather than mincing it into tiny pieces. We like it so that it's identifiable as tuna. Except for DH's sandwiches I serve it at room temperature.

Yum!

/tricia

Here's another vote for Bumblebee solid white albacore in water. I've tried all the popular brands and TJ's brand, but I like Bumblebee the best. The worst for me is Starkist.

I'm with Joe -- I'll only buy the Genova tuna in olive oil, which I think is fantastic... Makes for a great salad nicoise...

Emily

I found Aldi's SeaNet solid white albacore to be mostly reliable-- only once in a while not as solid as I'd like.
But since we've gone to mostly low salt canned goods I've been using Walmart brand Low Salt Albacore water pack or Bumblebee Very Low Sodium chunk white albacore in water-- even tho some cans turn out not as "chunky " as I'd like.

Neither of us care for any foil packed we've tried or "fresh" tuna. Guess maybe I'll try Tricia's method .

And maybe it's my imagination but it seems since the big "push" of the foil pack most canned tuna has lesser "solid ".

When using canned tuna I prefer Cloverleaf's solid white albacore tuna. Not sure if it's available in the US.

The Bumblebee premium albacore in the gold can (the label is upside down) is great. Solid piece of snow white tuna. Not cheap, but not bad at about $1.69-1.99 a can. I know what people mean about the 'cat food' tuna LOL. A former co-worker used to bring in her 'most requested' tuna noodle casserole. Ugh...when tuna is 39 cents....you can imagine. Disgusting! I'm fussy about my tuna!

Duane

I'm from Canada too!
Cloverleaf solid white albacore tuna is the best.

Thank you for your feedback everyone. I found all of it interesting. Now it's time to reveal the brand of falsely labeled, sneered-at-by-cats, fish flavored gruel that motivated the original post. Are you ready?

The label on the empty can says StarKist Solid White Albacore Tuna In Water. It has a picture of cartoon fish with hat and glasses and a huge smile (Charlie the Tuna?) and a picture of a fork loaded with three big, beautiful, overlapping flakes of tuna.

I'm not a fan of America's Test Kitchen (although I know of good cooks who are) and their tuna test doesn't increase my esteem for them. They did indeed blow it with the tuna test, based on what I and many of you have observed.

Now I will pay attention to brand when purchasing a popular brand of canned tuna. Bumble Bee has some adherents here, so I will look for that next time. Also I will consider springing for the more expensive types.

Thanks again.

Jim

Jim, for what it's worth, I agree with you on the America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated opinion, I very seldom agree with them. Of course, I'm a peasant, so what do I know?

As for tuna, Bumblebee is my most often purchased, I don't care for Starkist or Chicken of the Sea. I think I've seen frozen tuna here maybe twice in my life, so cooking fresh tuna isn't an option for me. I'm kind of picky because I tend to eat it straight from the can,without mayo or dressing. I've learned to prefer sardines because the tuna has gotten so bad sometimes.

Annie

Annie,

Let's think about something called Michigan's Test Kitchen/Jim's Illustrated.

Jim

I like the imported ones in olive oil, and if you're near a Wild Oats or Whole Foods, there's a terrific variety in sunflower and sesame oil.