Canned Tuna ended up being way more interesting than I initially thought! What did you find most surprising? We put together the high level takeaways and all the various cans of Tuna I tracked for this video in this notion page if you want to check it out: ethanchlebowski.notion.site/Tuna-Table-Shareable-12a0459921af44ca96590b227e0d234e?pvs=4
I find it most surprising that for a guy with 2 million subs, who spends hundreds of dollars on tuna, you're STILL too fucking cheap to hire a PA to set up the blind tests. Makes me think there's not a single human being on earth who wants to be in the same room as you.
As someone who grew up tasting really good canned tuna in Spain, it sucked watching this video because all the olive oil tuna cans you ate didn’t look good. None of them were extra virgin olive oil, and most looked like water even when it was supposed to be oil. Costco sells a really good virgin olive oil tuna that isn’t anywhere near as expensive as the crappy fancy ones you tried. I think it’s called “Portofino”. It’s the closest thing i’ve found to that european oiled can tuna I grew up with
@@EthanChlebowski Even Starkist has a super affordable Yellowfin in EVOO in a few options. (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO), (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO, Dill), (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO, Garlic)... All are super affordable around $2.30ish a can & taste really good for being one of the most well known American & even global brands. Also, Tuna in EVOO is probably the best, as long as it's quality and actually EVOO(NOT mixed or blended oils) 👍👍
Never has it been more clear that a video was unnecessarily padded out for UA-cam advertising revenue for the channel. This information could've been presented in a quarter of the time just fine. Thumbs down.
I wouldn't consider myself a foodie because I don't cook I'm just a fan of food so his channel is absolutely an amazing resource for food science and I learn a lot whether or not I eat the specific food.
100% There is a pretty significant diminishing return on technique and adding ingredients for most dishes and food quality matters a lot more. That said, as this series has shown, what constitutes food quality isn't as straight forward either so this is a great series to be more conscientious about ingredient quality as well. Ethan does a particularly good job of not arbitrarily ranking X over Y, which is better for content (but worse for us) but informing people what to look for and help most of us hit that 80/20 benefit of home cooking.
Agreed. I've been buying canned tuna in oil for years based on Julia Child's opinion, never thought about used water packed and providing the oil myself
Super interesting comparison! I think it'd be important to mention that the $21 bonito belly can comes from Spain, where it costs just ~€6 in a supermarket. It's not that it's a premium product, it's just that it's an overseas product and priced as such!
Thank you for taking the time to make such an informative upload. I think anyone who eats tuna should know this so they can try to make better choices based on sustainability, better/safer/less by catch, taste , texture, type, oil v water and price. I would find it difficult to find this information or I am too lazy but you've done it brilliantly.
The whole point of a spice is that it's full of tasty VOCs... and anything volatile will by definition run off over time once it's able to escape, so fresh grinding is usually going to turn out better. Cheap vs. expensive in general is still an interesting question.
7:23 I'll never forget the first time I ever had a tuna steak. With cheap canned being the only tuna I'd ever had previously, I had absolutely no idea just how meaty and tasty tuna could be.
@@Qlicky Do you remember the name of the dish that was "raw tuna in some kind of tomato sauce"? Was it a solid piece of raw tuna? Or sliced up strips of raw tuna? Ground raw tuna?
@@Qlicky It was likely Poké, a Polynesian dish typically made of diced raw yellowfin or bigeye tuna. The sauce used varies with type of Poké but it can be made with salmon, octopus, or other small reef fish. Around coastal cities it has become more popular in recent years.
Dude, I always hated tuna. Could never stand it, thought tuna was nasty and tasted bad. Randomly was at a back yard BBQ. They were grilling tuna steaks cut from a deep sea tuna that the guy had personally caught that same morning just off the Washington State coast... I ate 6 or 7 tuna steaks. Grilled with butter and lemon.... The #1 best food I have ever eaten in my entire life.
I used to buy cheap tuna - Yellowfin in spring water, about $8 for 4 cans. A friend mentioned that once a month he has a special treat of a single can of Ortiz ‘Bonito del Norte’, which is around $9 per can. I’ve tried it and it ruined cheap tuna for me. I can’t afford the good stuff regularly but the once a month treat is something I’ve now started doing too.
@moonshroom711 I guesstimated the $ amount based on £ amount multiplied by an arbitrary number because I couldn’t be bothered to look at the exchange rate. Stuff is expensive in the UK now too. £4.25 for 4 cans.
My father has an artisanal canning food company in Asturias, a region in the Cantabrian Sea (Spain) where albacore tuna (white tuna or thunnus alalunga) is widely consumed. You have made a great video, and I would like to share and provide my knowledge about this type of tuna. Every summer day, my father and I go down to the fish market at 6 in the morning to buy albacore tuna, which is caught with rod and line by Spanish boats respecting the environment. I mention this because, for example, in France and Ireland, the same albacore tuna is caught pelagically with nets, which bruise the skin, altering the texture and flavor. At the fish market, albacore tuna is classified by size and quality, which determines its price. Albacore tuna can vary from 3 to 15 kg, with the larger ones being tastier. We, having an artisanal factory, prioritize quality. That is why we process the albacore tuna while fresh, without freezing it at any time and handling it with care. This makes a huge difference compared to large-scale factories. Once we receive the fish at the factory, we cut off the head and gut it. Then, it is cooked in water and salt, which is the optimal method to guarantee quality flavor and texture. After cooking, the albacore tuna must be peeled by hand. It is worth noting that only 40% of the albacore is used as fillets for canning, and only 2-3% of each tuna is destined for ventresca or white tuna belly, which is the most prized and expensive part. By working the albacore tuna in an artisanal way, we obtain a juiciness that is incomparable to other canned tuna on the market. This is most noticeable in the ventresca, as it is the part of the tuna where the most fat is stored, it melts in your mouth. It is something so good that it should be tried at least once in a lifetime. In fact, in Spain, it is not as expensive as in America; here a quality can costs around 8€, and a can of fresh, hand-filleted albacore in olive oil can be purchased for less than €3, and it is nothing like the commonly consumed cans. Here, albacore tuna is consumed in refined olive oil; in water, it tastes worse. We also do not use extra virgin olive oil because it would overpower the delicate flavor of the fish. In fact, some manufacturers who can low-quality tuna add this type of oil to disguise its flavor. In summary, albacore tuna is a tasty and delicate type of tuna that, when well-treated, is spectacular. Most gourmet canneries in Spain are located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. In Galicia, they excel in seafood preserves; in Cantabria, in anchovy preserves; and in the Basque Country, in albacore tuna preserves. Lastly, in Asturias, although there are not as many canneries, albacore is also widely consumed fresh.
Have been to Asturias and Galicia. I totally agree the price is not top high and it tastes amazing, so much better than other canned tuna in UK. Seafood is amazing in Northern Spain and the companies take pride in making something delicious and hand crafted 🫡
I married someone who is Samoan and her family always gives us Wahoo which is presented just like Tuna. It comes in the can packed in oil and tastes a lot like Albacore. It's very mild, very meaty and I absolutely adore it in rice with some japanese rice seasoning. Pretty sure you can find it in a military commissary. Do try it if you can.
It is similar because they are all in the same scombrid family. Tuna, bonito, mackerel, all in the same family. Meat is similar among them. (Wahoo is technically a mackerel, which is why it is sometimes called spanish mackerel)
I did a bit of a tuna deep dive a few months ago since I was looking for options to create quick protein meals on certain work days, starting with Wild Planet Albacore and Chicken of the Sea. I've come to realize that if mercury content were to ever be a concern, you can always opt in for canned sardines. Not only do sardines have a lower mercury content for being smaller fish, they are also more nutrient dense compared to tuna; I've had no issues making the traditional tuna salad featuring sardines instead of tuna. Canned sardines come in different canned varieties as well-whole, fillet, boneless, etc.. Many from forums online opted to go for the Season brand which is readily available in Costco. They also tend to be less fishy and have a overall softer, less stringy texture. One thing I'd caution about buying flavored canned fish is that it is common for vendors to use inferior cuts and masquerade the quality of the meat with the various types of flavorings available.
@@tammyellison735 Flavor-wise, I do think that they're pretty similar. Compared to tuna, sardines have a milder, slightly "smoky" after taste. Since it's a smaller fish, you won't be able to very chunky versions of the tuna salad. For reference, the ingredients I use are diced celery, diced shallots, diced pickles, chopped hard boiled eggs, homemade mayonnaise, a crack of black pepper, and some lemon juice. I wouldn't be surprised if the more subtle differences are covered by the additional flavors.
The texture of canned tuna has changed over the years. What they now call 'chunk light' used to be called 'grated' and what they call 'solid light' looks like what they used to call 'chunk light'.
As someone who consumes a lot of fish for health reasons, I highly recommend making as a staple sardines and mackerel, whose tiny size and short lifespan means they only have a tiny fraction of the mercury found in tuna. There is even more variance in quality in sardines and mackerel than in tuna -- better quality brands feature fish that are firm and with a cleaner taste. Choice between bone-in or boneless for sardines; the better brands with bones are my first choice as I think they tend to be firmer. The bones are soft enough to be edible though also easy to remove. And mackerel make a good substitute for tuna salad as it too can be mashed up.
you should not be eating a bunch of fish, its not healthy no matter who you are. High protein diets (look up PHE, or phenylalanine, as only one of the many proteins that we only need smalllll amounts of) destroy the nervous system and cause brain damage in very short amounts of time. Unless you are doing the keto diet to curb off medicine resistant seizures, I'd highly recommend eating FAR less fish.
Canned salmon is a good consideration too, at least if you live in the uSA. The tall 15 oz cans are probably cheaper per fish; currently it's around $4.50 per can, which is among the cheaper meat or animal protein sources in general.
@@mindstalk Thanks. While I am sadly allergic to salmon (the only fish allergy I did not outgrow), I know many people like it. It also has low mercury, about ten-times lower than skipjack tuna and nearly 30-times lower than albacore. While I am not a big fan of farmed fish for other reasons, salmon is a good option for those who want to limit exposure to mercury and at an economical price.
I would love to see a deep dive video on citrus, in cooking and salads. Specifically, lemons, limes, pre-bottled lemon juice, pre-bottled lime juice, and maybe a couple of curveballs like grapefruit and oranges. A lot of people swear by fresh lemons and limes, obviously they're fairly cheap, but keeping the bottles is convenient and ounce for ounce cheaper. I think if you could shed light on this similar to your garlic video with jarred/paste/etc garlic, it would be very helpful!
I have to love the way ethan just comes up with the most convenient subjects to talk about and have a very interesting in-depth talking points on those subjects. I absolutely adore your work!
@@EthanChlebowski thank you for all the time and effort you and your team have been putting into this content. I have been following this channel since the frozen hashbrowns video. this channels brings out amazing and entertaining educational content, but also it has helped me a lot in saving money and helping me to cook when I felt burnt out. I'm excited to see your future content!
@@EthanChlebowskiCan you do a price comparison between canned cooked tuna and store bought tuna you cooked at home? Like what would be the yeld per dollar between to two finished products once you cook the store bought.
It used to be a really big deal even I was growing up. Save the whales, dolphins etc., was all over the news and talked about in school. We even had movies like free Willy.
At 14:02 to 14:10 you mentioned that you were going to do testing of "Adding oil to water packed tuna and comparing with oil packed tuna" but it was never tested in the video. Is that going to be an extra on the other channel? I was actually looking forward to that comparison the most but was a bit disappointed that it didn't appear in the video like it was mentioned.
@@mindstalk He has a second channel where he goes further in depth than this main channel gets into, it's a rather recent change only in the past year or so. UA-cam algo doesn't like 45 minute long videos apparently.
@BelligerentWoW it's not UA-cam but viewers. Most people grew up watching TV series which are less than 30 minutes around 25 to 23 minutes per episode. Now with shorter videos you will see a rise of content less than 10 minutes concentration has shortened due to TikTok and other shorter videos
@Lostboy811 It'a a vicious cycle at best but it's mostly f****** UA-cam and other platforms that are pushing childish, vertically cropped, short videos like crazy, because of the possibilities of showing ads in between them. And most people are dumb and swallow it
That is the most intensive study of tuna that I have ever seen. It will change what I look for the next time I make tuna salad or tuna casserole (one of my favorites). Thank you.
Years ago I remember on the news that people were buying cans of tuna that had a cat food label underneath the regular label. What happened was the tuna comes in to be canned and they can so many and label them for the customer. Whatever is left was sold as cat food. There was a mix up and they had to relabel some cans. All the same tuna, just different labels.
Ocean King Tuna. Happened at a Canadian cannery using decomposed tuna meant for cats. Impacted 38k cans that were labeled as cat food and relabeled as tuna. The Canadian government shut the cannery down after exposure due to unsanitary conditions. The ironic part is the cat food would have been more expensive in stores and more profitable for the importer had it remained properly labeled.
Your product reviews have become a must watch for my family members, we do base many of our purchases on your videos, knowing what ingredients you do or do not want is so helpful. Now when it comes to tuna we let our cat decide which one is the best..I have bought tuna that he has refused to eat, but he goes nuts for albacore so...anyway we do value your videos..thank you.
I used to eat tuna a lot as a kid, but I'd have a terrible time in the bathroom afterwards. Turns out there was a controversy where tuna companies were using a different fish in their tuna cans, and that fish's texture and meat causes bowel issues. After learning about this I set tuna aside for a number of years, and I think since they were found out it is less common (if not eliminated completely). Because of the aforementioned issues with tune, in the past 5-6 years my consumption of it has gone down significantly. For tuna salad I typically use a can of chunk light and a can of solid white because the textures work really well together.
Yes, shop carefully when dealing with fresh fish. Some companies, like with all olive oil not really being 100% olive oil, are cheating and putting in garbage filler fish and subspecies. Generally canned tuna in general is less likely, at least from major brands. That said, yes, I can tell when I get a cheap can of "tuna" by mistake as it's almost like chicken and has no actual tuna taste - but also an odd sort of greasy after-taste. The major brands tend to be more careful as well, as they have zero interest in bad press after the Tuna-Gate problem Subway had a while back. Which while dismissed, made the companies all increase quality control as nothing motivates companies to follow the rules more than potential lawsuits :)
It was skipjack. It's the same thing you're eating now. The controversy was over whether skipjack is or is not technically "tuna." I'm guessing you changed other things about your diet.
@@LeNeovein This is the stuff to avoid as it looks and feels like tuna, but it has the wrong taste and smell. Most people wouldn't know, though, same as olive oil that has been cut with other oils.
I love these videos. Literally, from time to time, I just enjoy it to sit here and listen about tuna that I rarely eat (but loved to many years ago and maybe I should consider getting it back into my diet).
I'm Japanese, and I grew up eating "Sea-chicken" シーチキン, Japan's most famous and beloved canned tuna brand. I was shocked when I came to the States and tasted canned tunas here, as nothing was better than "Sea-chicken." Today, it is still my #1 go-to canned tuna. It is so annoying that it is costly when I buy it here in the States as it is imported.
Pink salmon isn't a guarantee of anything. You can make farmed salmon pink by feeding them food with pigments in them. Why? Because consumers are stupid. Consumers are too lazy to read if something is wild or farmed. Consumers are too lazy to consider the consequences of not farming the salmon. Either prices skyrocket because of a lack of supply, or we end up killing off entire salmon stocks due to overfishing, which brings us right back to prices skyrocketing. If you REALLY care about wild vs farmed, that should be the question - not the colour. But ask yourself this - would you prefer to buy wild boar meat or farmed pork? Would you prefer to buy wild ox meat, or farmed beef? Would you prefer to buy wild poultry meat or farmed chicken?
Love these deep dives - so well scripted! I think it would be awesome if you did a deep dive on salt, like the different kinds (kosher vs table vs Maldon, iodized vs not, etc). Salt is one of those things that is so simple but so fascinating when you look more closely at it
It's so eerie seeing you make this now, when just last week I was at the supermarket asking myself these same kinds of questions and ended up buying some more different kinds to test for myself
It's because it is very difficult to get yellowfin in water as opposed to oil, & as he mentioned he considers canned in oil to be a different class of product. So instead he ended up just focusing on the 2 varieties available in water
"I'm gonna wait to try the yellowfin varieties, because these are all packed in oil, that I happened to find. So, it really wouldn't be a fair comparison at this stage, until we talk about variable #3, the packing liquid."
I like to combine 1 can of Skipjack, 1 can of Yellowtail, and 1 can Albacore for my Tunafish salad. Gives a balanced taste and texture, plus enough to have 5-6 sandwiches.
Skipjack is the best tuna to eat. Low in mercury, highly abundant, quickly reproduces, and it has flavor unlike most albacore which tastes like nothing.
I don't even like tuna... but, I'm watching this because I love the content... I love being educated on a variety of educational content, even if it's not directly related to anything I actively pursue in daily life, and because the content is so well put together and well-presented... :) Keep up the great work!
5 місяців тому+1
Wild Planet - Albacore Wild Tuna available at Costco is generally the best choice every time for many reasons: pole or troll caught, non-BPA cans, higher DHA Omega-3, water packed, no salt added.
This has convinced me I need to start buying tuna more carefully. I am really concerned about overfishing and bycatch, so I'm going to start buying only skipjack and albacore, and prioritize brands that focus on safe and ethical fishing practices.
One glaring ommission, Wild Planet sustainably pole and line caught Skipjack wild tuna. Hand cut, hand packed, cooked once directly in the can in its own juice & sea salt (without added water or oil) no need to drain. Phenomenal taste.
My Costco has albacore too. I'm not sure what the difference is between wild planet and safe catch but I assume it's the same real brand as they look so similar and the product is identical. Between the two I've seen skipjack, albacore, and yellowfin at various retailers. @@andrewschliewe6392
I haven't had canned tuna since going vegetarian in 2007, but one of the last meats I was eating was skipjack in water from the can, put directly onto a toasted bagel with mayo and mustard on the bagel. And salt and pepper to taste. I called it a tuna burger but really it was just a can of tuna on a bagel. Worth trying if you like skipjack!
I'm from Tunisia, where Tuna is a main part of our diet, basically in snacks and street food. Olive oil packed tuna with harissa is the best 😁. However, I never looked what exact species of tuna is packed, or what was the fishing method. We don't have these labels on the tuna cans unfortunately.
My go to can of tuna is Genova Yellowfin. The pain behind this is it claims to be responsibly and sustainably sourced but its tricky to find direct information on how they are fished. It seems the product comes from multiple locations and they do let you track your can but it kind of provides limited info. If anyone knows more I'd love to know.
This is the best canned tuna! I would use the regular cans for regular tuna salad or tuna pasta salad that has a mayo base but Genova is our go-to for everything else!
Yep yellowfin in olive oil like genova brand is our go to. It's not crazy expensive and can be used in lots of ways. Tastes way better than anything in water.
Very interesting. Have you ever tried Tuna, white pepper,finely chopped red onion, canned sweetcorn & mayo in a sandwich. YES, sweetcorn ! It's a very popular combo here in the UK and goes surprisingly well together in a sandwich. If you DO try it, I suggest you mix it all together a pop it in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours so that the flavors meld together.
@@hannahdeards9652 I have a relative who lives by the phrase "white pepper to make the meal, black pepper to garnish it"... And so far it always seems to work.
not a big fan of sweetcorn but in a tuna sandwich, honestly sounds like it’ll give it some nice texture and sweetness. im gonna give this a try tomorrow for lunch! how much corn should i use?
@@elot5146 Personally when I make it I use two small cans of tuna (102g each drained weight) And a 160g drained can sweetcorn, one finely chopped red onion, white pepper to taste and plenty of mayo. Give it a good mix and pop it into the fridge if you want the flavors to develop... though you can use it straight away. The slight saltiness of the tuna is off set by the sweetness of the sweetcorn. I have heard of people adding fine chopped red pepper too, but I think that's just over egging the pudding in my opinion. I understand it's an odd mashup for American pallets, but it's a popular combo in Britain. Let me know if you like it.. or throw up.😆😆😆
I have watched an ungodly amount of cooking content in my life, and yet I still learn something interesting that changes my perspective on something in every video you make. In such a saturated content field that’s a huge feat! Thank you for all your efforts ❤
Ethan Great presentation regarding the different tuna choices ! I had never heard it explained like that, I always choose Albacore as it makes great tuna sandwiches. Thanks again for your videos as they are always informative and makes the choice easy.
I keep buying the same thing, the one that I think is "the real tuna" and I just went to check the can. I have solid skipjack in oil. This video was actually more informative than I thought it would be. Well done!
Hmmm I feel like this deep dive could have been even deeper . There is do much variation in the oil based tunas. I always assumed that there is nothing you can do to rehydrate those super dry water tuna varieties. You should test your theory that fresh oil plus tuna is as good as EVO Canned tuna
I work outside year round in Montana, and I have nothing but comfort in having canned (In oil) fish around as more often than not a meal. It really is a boost of moral and is hearty to allow me to feel content.
For my tuna salad, I prefer solid white. It requires taking the time to flake into a fine texture, but I find it superior for the perfect tuna sandwich. It tends to be less oily or maybe drier, which the Hellman’s mix compliments. Try it some time.
I broke out a Kirkland solid white albacore can and made a tuna salad sandwich withHellman’s Mayo, sweet relish yellow mustard and lemon on sourdough toast while I watched this.
Having grown up in a household where we only *ever* bought tuna in oil (the stuff in water was considered inedible by my parents), I was upset when I moved to canada and found that all "regular" canned tuna is in water. But I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that I actually prefer water packed for tuna salad. It makes for a lighter and fresher salad, where the oil-packed is a little heavier, and slightly more towards greasy.
Reminder that if you want to feed your cat tuna from a can: Absolutely do not under any circumstances give them oil packed tuna! That is for us humans alone.
@@GreenCanvasInteriorscape The Tuna in oil almost always has things like salt and spices added, which is very unhealthy for pets. The oil also has no nutritional value to the cat, while any additional water that you can get them to consume is very beneficial to their health.
i don't think i'll be changing my tuna ways anytime soon haha, i sort of came to the same conclusion with a little less work some years ago, but this is still super informative and thought provoking. really love that you went into the sustainability of different tuna species and the effects the fishing methods have, if only briefly for the sake of the topic at hand. it's nice to hear considerations for this that feel pretty sincere; after all, knowing where your food comes from and how it gets to a plate is really interesting and worth caring about. easy to forget it doesn't come from nowhere! i don't have a lot of money lmaooo but thankfully albacore in water comes pretty cheap. if it's albacore, i tend to just go for the cheapest can or whatever's on sale and it does wonderfully for sandwiches. oil i think makes it a little bit smoother, but it's just as you said; you can add your own, and i like to just season mine up anyway. really like to taste the salt and pepper. might have to try your concoctions at the end there some time though! they look delicious. thanks for doing a deep dive on this one, tuna's so good.
I honestly had low expectations before watching this video. It turned out to be very informative and interesting. Great review and thanks for the education on tuna! Subscribed after this 1 video.
For a long time, as the price of Chanel increased, I no longer thought I could afford it. I think I'll be happy that I have the kislux as my travel bag that I don't have to take care of. By the way, I'm sure no one will have a hard time telling the difference. Thanks for the comparison.
Packed in oil is the only way for me. The water packed tuna is dryer, and I’m skeptical that adding oil to water packed tuna will put it on par with the oil packed. Seems like an unnecessary extra step anyhow as the oil packed is only pennies more
I agree and wonder if the amount of time the tuna is sitting in the oil (during transport, on the shelf, in the cabinet, etc) has an impact on flavor or texture. It feels like adding some oil just can't be the same as the fish sitting in oil for at least a few days.
Absolutely. Packed in oil is closer to confit, whereas water-packed with oil added is... water-packed with oil added. It can be delicious, but it's totally different.
Yep. I get that taste is subjective but it's not even remotely close for me. Higher end oil packed tuna is decadently tender and has a much more pleasant flavor. I've tried adding oil to water tuna and it's not the same thing at all. I get that if your intent is tuna salad maybe it doesn't matter that much. But for savoring the tinned fish on crackers even the tuna belly is worth it.
@@alfieboy4022 yeah, I was thinking that his focus was too much on tuna salad. Anything $10 and over is not intended for that, and there, the oil packing matters.
Yellowfin tuna (in olive oil), white rice and hot mustard is my favorite "I need protein but I'm lazy today," meal. Kinda a shame you didn't do a replica of the species test with oil-packed varieties.
@@pulykamell The thing with water packed vs oil packed is if you want you can add the oil to it yourself to get that same kind of flavor. So if your adding mayo to tuna then water packed is fine because your adding the oil back after you drain it so you won't really notice a big difference. If your eating it more plain on crackers or just plain from the can then oil packed makes more sense. Personally I always buy oil packed because I never know which way I might be using it.
Same here. I make half a cup of sushi rice mixed with Tonnino’s yellowfin in olive oil (discard oil) and one sunny side up egg on top plus natto with some yellow mustard,coconut aminos and scallions.
@@dianapennepacker6854 I was under the impression they could adjust the placement on the video timeline. Which is why every UA-camr has ads before big important parts of videos.
I never actually looked closely at the tuna cans until now. In Australia, we don't label the kind of tuna on the can. You have to look on the ingredients. A cheap tuna, which is what i usually like would be skippjack, and the higher end would be yellowfin
There are some tuna brands that don’t pre cook the tuna. They say not cooking it before canning prevents the fish from drying out. My staple tuna is either Safe Catch Yellowfin or H-E-B Yellowfin in EVO. I don’t enjoy the bland dry albacore. When I make tuna salad I add the oil from the can to the salad. It increases the flavor and blends perfectly with the mayo.
Yellowfin in EVOO is the ultimate canned tuna. I've tried a few brands i mean towards the starkist personality. I've tried other import options that are usually too salty or using inferior olive oil. Shout out to starkist solid Yellowfin in EVOO for about $2/can. Smokin deal. Eat or straight out of the cab ever morning.
I was just about to write this. I went to the supermarket today and picked up two cans: I easily have twenty cans in the cupboard. It's good enough to eat out of the can and is every bit as good as the bottled Italian tuna they sell at World Market. That stuff costs $8-13 per bottle or can.
Fascinating video. Here in the UK it’s 99% Skipjack. There’s way fewer brands here as well. It’s either Princes, John West, or supermarket own brand. There is a Spanish brand called Ortiz who sell cans of yellowfin and albacore but are literally 4-6 times the price of a regular can of Skipjack. The Ortiz does in fairness taste better but I can’t justify or afford to start spending £80-120 per month on tinned fish.
I tend to use a mix of the skipjack and albacore for my tuna salads. 2 albacore to 1 skipjack when I mix. I do not have any measurements for my dressing, just follow your heart. Mix of Mayo, Pepper Relish, ground pepper, dried onion and garlic, a squirt or two of yellow mustard and lightly salt. Makes me up to 5 sandwiches, go for provolone if you wanna make a melt.
This is such an informative video; I was JUST buying tuna this morning and again wondering about just about every topic you brought up here. I wish I had seen this before I went! One point of contention: while it's true that mercury is a naturally occurring element, the level of mercury that ends up being problematic from a health perspective in the fish we eat is mostly a result of human activity (coal fired power plants, gold mining, etc) and comes from the atmospheric emissions from these industrial processes that eventually settle out and end up in our rivers, lakes, and eventually oceans. Some estimates have these activities contributing to something like 5x the "natural" level of mercury in the environment that a person would come into contact with.
Traditionally fish was packed in oil because it was stable for a longer time. But it's more expensive. Eventually you could get long-term shelf stable tuna packed in water ( though most use broth and cheat a bit ). I am interested that he missed one of the most commonly available less expensive tuna in oil options, Genova. This is the "premium" brand from Chicken of the Sea (Tri-union seafood), and while more expensive than tuna in soybean oil, it's practically identical to most of the tuna in olive oil options that you find at specialty stores like Whole foods. IME, packing tuna in olive oil (vs vegetable oil) is a total game-changer, even for cheaper fish. So $3.50 for a can packed in olive oil is absolutely a must and a great deal for Mediterranean (and all Italian, obviously) and most cooked Western cuisine dishes, with water based reserved for basically tuna salad or cuisines where olive oil isn't used. The soybean tastes wrong to me by itself, but does work will in Asian foods, where soybean oil is commonly used. Basically match the oil to the cuisine, as with all good cooking practices.
I was raised and continued through most of my life on Bumble Bee Albacore Tuna in both oil and in water. However, I recently tried Tonnino Yellow Fin in olive oil. WOW, what a difference. It is now my go to favorite. Far more flavor, plus it is line caught and if you haven't tried it, I would highly recommend it. It is currently sold in my local Walmart at about $2.20/can, so very competitively priced.
I buy the Safe Catch brand of water packed Ahi Yellowfin Tuna from Costco because the label states this brand is 25X below FDA limit of mercury. It literally says "every single tuna tested to a strict mercury limit of 0.1 parts per million." I was hoping you were going to include more about Yellowfin tuna but I appreciate all the info about albacore and skipjack which are far more common at the supermarket. Canned tuna and sardines are wonderful products to keep in your pantry. Thanks Ethan!!
Despite common beliefs, water-packed tuna is nutritionally superior to oil-packed tuna because it retains more natural flavor and nutrients without the added fats from oil, making it a healthier and more versatile option for all recipes.
They'll 'magically disappear' into the oil, which most people will drain at least some (if not the majority) off... For example omega3s are fat soluble. You can in oil, you leech omega3s from the tuna into it then pour it down the drain.
Unless I'm eating it by itself, I don't think expensive canned tuna is worth. Expensive sardines are worth every fuckin time though. Bury me with a can of Nuri
@@ninjastiz9046 The extra spicy spiced sardines is my favorite but they are all insanely good. The mackerel filets are really good as well. I tend to stick to the spiced ones but the olive oil ones are great too.
I was just talking with a friend about how I prefer the cheap, chunk canned tuna because it's a little cheaper and I just mash it with mayo anyways. Nice to know the money I'm saving is only missing out on things I don't care about. Thanks for uploading this!
I get solid yellowfin tuna in extra virgin olive oil packed in a can with a pull tab top. If I pack it in a lunch I bring a bit of soy sauce to pour into the top after opening and eat it with a fork and whatever else I've packed. With minimal draining it works well for making onigiri/gimbap as well.
thank you for making these! they are some of my favorite videos ever! Also I agree with the albacore vs skipjack take, albacore is more neutral but there is some funk to skipjack that just feels nostalgic to me.
Lots of great info here. My mom swears by the "shake test" where she shakes a can of solid tuna in the store and can tell how "solid" it is by the sound it makes. We literally never had chunk tuna growing up. Mom is mortified by scales and bones, and the more solid it sounds, the less likely for scales.
Canned Tuna ended up being way more interesting than I initially thought! What did you find most surprising?
We put together the high level takeaways and all the various cans of Tuna I tracked for this video in this notion page if you want to check it out: ethanchlebowski.notion.site/Tuna-Table-Shareable-12a0459921af44ca96590b227e0d234e?pvs=4
I find it most surprising that for a guy with 2 million subs, who spends hundreds of dollars on tuna, you're STILL too fucking cheap to hire a PA to set up the blind tests.
Makes me think there's not a single human being on earth who wants to be in the same room as you.
As someone who grew up tasting really good canned tuna in Spain, it sucked watching this video because all the olive oil tuna cans you ate didn’t look good. None of them were extra virgin olive oil, and most looked like water even when it was supposed to be oil. Costco sells a really good virgin olive oil tuna that isn’t anywhere near as expensive as the crappy fancy ones you tried. I think it’s called “Portofino”. It’s the closest thing i’ve found to that european oiled can tuna I grew up with
Nc
@@EthanChlebowski Even Starkist has a super affordable Yellowfin in EVOO in a few options. (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO), (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO, Dill), (Yellowfin, Salt, EVOO, Garlic)... All are super affordable around $2.30ish a can & taste really good for being one of the most well known American & even global brands. Also, Tuna in EVOO is probably the best, as long as it's quality and actually EVOO(NOT mixed or blended oils) 👍👍
Never has it been more clear that a video was unnecessarily padded out for UA-cam advertising revenue for the channel. This information could've been presented in a quarter of the time just fine. Thumbs down.
These specific product deep dives are literally some of the best cooking content on the internet!
Was about to post that, that series is amazing.
I wouldn't consider myself a foodie because I don't cook I'm just a fan of food so his channel is absolutely an amazing resource for food science and I learn a lot whether or not I eat the specific food.
100% There is a pretty significant diminishing return on technique and adding ingredients for most dishes and food quality matters a lot more. That said, as this series has shown, what constitutes food quality isn't as straight forward either so this is a great series to be more conscientious about ingredient quality as well. Ethan does a particularly good job of not arbitrarily ranking X over Y, which is better for content (but worse for us) but informing people what to look for and help most of us hit that 80/20 benefit of home cooking.
Agreed. I've been buying canned tuna in oil for years based on Julia Child's opinion, never thought about used water packed and providing the oil myself
favorite one has to be on the air chilled vs regular chicken
Super interesting comparison! I think it'd be important to mention that the $21 bonito belly can comes from Spain, where it costs just ~€6 in a supermarket. It's not that it's a premium product, it's just that it's an overseas product and priced as such!
So its a scam
6 Euro a can is expensive as fuck.
@@dumpster_fiyahit is not so expensive if you factor in the taste and quality. It’s just that in the USA we are not used to paying for that.
@Egalitarian917 Supply demand situation I suppose.
@@iknownothing-49hahaha come on
Doing a comparison between cheap and expensive pepper and spices (maybe including freshly ground spices in a mortar and pestle) would be interesting
This is one I've been thinking about a lot recently. Maybe this year or early next!
@@EthanChlebowski CHOOBLOOSKOO
Thank you for taking the time to make such an informative upload. I think anyone who eats tuna should know this so they can try to make better choices based on sustainability, better/safer/less by catch, taste , texture, type, oil v water and price. I would find it difficult to find this information or I am too lazy but you've done it brilliantly.
@@EthanChlebowskiWould love a test with blooming the spices too 👍
The whole point of a spice is that it's full of tasty VOCs... and anything volatile will by definition run off over time once it's able to escape, so fresh grinding is usually going to turn out better. Cheap vs. expensive in general is still an interesting question.
7:23 I'll never forget the first time I ever had a tuna steak.
With cheap canned being the only tuna I'd ever had previously,
I had absolutely no idea just how meaty and tasty tuna could be.
I also went from tuna cans to fresh tuna at some fancy place. When I say fresh, I mean raw tuna in some kind of tomato sauce.
It was to die for.
@@Qlicky Do you remember the name of the dish that was "raw tuna in some kind of tomato sauce"?
Was it a solid piece of raw tuna?
Or sliced up strips of raw tuna?
Ground raw tuna?
@@miyojewoltsnasonth2159 it was slices of fresh tuna in some kind of marinade/sauce.
@@Qlicky It was likely Poké, a Polynesian dish typically made of diced raw yellowfin or bigeye tuna. The sauce used varies with type of Poké but it can be made with salmon, octopus, or other small reef fish. Around coastal cities it has become more popular in recent years.
Dude, I always hated tuna. Could never stand it, thought tuna was nasty and tasted bad. Randomly was at a back yard BBQ. They were grilling tuna steaks cut from a deep sea tuna that the guy had personally caught that same morning just off the Washington State coast... I ate 6 or 7 tuna steaks. Grilled with butter and lemon.... The #1 best food I have ever eaten in my entire life.
I used to buy cheap tuna - Yellowfin in spring water, about $8 for 4 cans.
A friend mentioned that once a month he has a special treat of a single can of Ortiz ‘Bonito del Norte’, which is around $9 per can.
I’ve tried it and it ruined cheap tuna for me. I can’t afford the good stuff regularly but the once a month treat is something I’ve now started doing too.
8 dollars for 4 cans is NOT cheap tuna,
@moonshroom711 I guesstimated the $ amount based on £ amount multiplied by an arbitrary number because I couldn’t be bothered to look at the exchange rate. Stuff is expensive in the UK now too.
£4.25 for 4 cans.
@ ok 😂 where I live 2 dollar per can is pretty high
My father has an artisanal canning food company in Asturias, a region in the Cantabrian Sea (Spain) where albacore tuna (white tuna or thunnus alalunga) is widely consumed.
You have made a great video, and I would like to share and provide my knowledge about this type of tuna.
Every summer day, my father and I go down to the fish market at 6 in the morning to buy albacore tuna, which is caught with rod and line by Spanish boats respecting the environment. I mention this because, for example, in France and Ireland, the same albacore tuna is caught pelagically with nets, which bruise the skin, altering the texture and flavor.
At the fish market, albacore tuna is classified by size and quality, which determines its price. Albacore tuna can vary from 3 to 15 kg, with the larger ones being tastier.
We, having an artisanal factory, prioritize quality. That is why we process the albacore tuna while fresh, without freezing it at any time and handling it with care. This makes a huge difference compared to large-scale factories.
Once we receive the fish at the factory, we cut off the head and gut it. Then, it is cooked in water and salt, which is the optimal method to guarantee quality flavor and texture.
After cooking, the albacore tuna must be peeled by hand. It is worth noting that only 40% of the albacore is used as fillets for canning, and only 2-3% of each tuna is destined for ventresca or white tuna belly, which is the most prized and expensive part.
By working the albacore tuna in an artisanal way, we obtain a juiciness that is incomparable to other canned tuna on the market. This is most noticeable in the ventresca, as it is the part of the tuna where the most fat is stored, it melts in your mouth. It is something so good that it should be tried at least once in a lifetime. In fact, in Spain, it is not as expensive as in America; here a quality can costs around 8€, and a can of fresh, hand-filleted albacore in olive oil can be purchased for less than €3, and it is nothing like the commonly consumed cans.
Here, albacore tuna is consumed in refined olive oil; in water, it tastes worse. We also do not use extra virgin olive oil because it would overpower the delicate flavor of the fish. In fact, some manufacturers who can low-quality tuna add this type of oil to disguise its flavor.
In summary, albacore tuna is a tasty and delicate type of tuna that, when well-treated, is spectacular. Most gourmet canneries in Spain are located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. In Galicia, they excel in seafood preserves; in Cantabria, in anchovy preserves; and in the Basque Country, in albacore tuna preserves. Lastly, in Asturias, although there are not as many canneries, albacore is also widely consumed fresh.
Good explanatory comment.
I learned so much about how delicate fish casing canning can be. Thank you and I wish your family’s business well!
Have been to Asturias and Galicia. I totally agree the price is not top high and it tastes amazing, so much better than other canned tuna in UK. Seafood is amazing in Northern Spain and the companies take pride in making something delicious and hand crafted 🫡
This was very helpful, can you please give us some names to try? I love canned seafood and I want to experience what your describing
Can this artisanal canned tuna be bought online somewhere (from Europe)?
I married someone who is Samoan and her family always gives us Wahoo which is presented just like Tuna. It comes in the can packed in oil and tastes a lot like Albacore. It's very mild, very meaty and I absolutely adore it in rice with some japanese rice seasoning. Pretty sure you can find it in a military commissary. Do try it if you can.
Next Video: I enlisted to do a deep dive into commisary produce - was it worth getting college paid for?
From American Samoa and love wahoo!!
Van Camps Chunk Style Wahoo is available on Amazon but it’s expensive
@@WilliamSanderson86agreed and ventresca in olive oil is fantastic,huge difference from the others. But varies by brand as every canned item.
It is similar because they are all in the same scombrid family. Tuna, bonito, mackerel, all in the same family. Meat is similar among them. (Wahoo is technically a mackerel, which is why it is sometimes called spanish mackerel)
I did a bit of a tuna deep dive a few months ago since I was looking for options to create quick protein meals on certain work days, starting with Wild Planet Albacore and Chicken of the Sea. I've come to realize that if mercury content were to ever be a concern, you can always opt in for canned sardines. Not only do sardines have a lower mercury content for being smaller fish, they are also more nutrient dense compared to tuna; I've had no issues making the traditional tuna salad featuring sardines instead of tuna. Canned sardines come in different canned varieties as well-whole, fillet, boneless, etc.. Many from forums online opted to go for the Season brand which is readily available in Costco. They also tend to be less fishy and have a overall softer, less stringy texture.
One thing I'd caution about buying flavored canned fish is that it is common for vendors to use inferior cuts and masquerade the quality of the meat with the various types of flavorings available.
I have wondered how sardines would work as a "tuna" salad
@@tammyellison735 Flavor-wise, I do think that they're pretty similar. Compared to tuna, sardines have a milder, slightly "smoky" after taste. Since it's a smaller fish, you won't be able to very chunky versions of the tuna salad.
For reference, the ingredients I use are diced celery, diced shallots, diced pickles, chopped hard boiled eggs, homemade mayonnaise, a crack of black pepper, and some lemon juice. I wouldn't be surprised if the more subtle differences are covered by the additional flavors.
@@HVTILLVIB Thank you, I am going to try it
You should also try canned mackerel, its good to have something different from time to time and its also cheap cause nobody wants mackerel.
Canned sardines on toast with melted cheese on top is delicious
The texture of canned tuna has changed over the years. What they now call 'chunk light' used to be called 'grated' and what they call 'solid light' looks like what they used to call 'chunk light'.
YESSSSS the cans lie .
That's what I was thinking. Whenever I've had chunk tuna it meant chunks that can be broken into flakes, not floating bits.
In fact, I just checked a chunk tuna can I have here, it is "solid"
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way more effort to look for ur comment then it is to skip the ad
I'm impressed by how every concept you mention is accompanied by a small visual that explains it in more depth. Thank you for that extra effort!
Yeah it's a nice video but Don't eat a lot of tuna it has very high mercury levels.
These segments on 'This over That' are the best part of this channel. San Marzonos vs plum vs...... keep doing them !!
As someone who consumes a lot of fish for health reasons, I highly recommend making as a staple sardines and mackerel, whose tiny size and short lifespan means they only have a tiny fraction of the mercury found in tuna. There is even more variance in quality in sardines and mackerel than in tuna -- better quality brands feature fish that are firm and with a cleaner taste. Choice between bone-in or boneless for sardines; the better brands with bones are my first choice as I think they tend to be firmer. The bones are soft enough to be edible though also easy to remove. And mackerel make a good substitute for tuna salad as it too can be mashed up.
Great call on sardines. They are inexpensive and delicious. You can eat them plain on a cracker with hot sauce for a quick snack
you should not be eating a bunch of fish, its not healthy no matter who you are. High protein diets (look up PHE, or phenylalanine, as only one of the many proteins that we only need smalllll amounts of) destroy the nervous system and cause brain damage in very short amounts of time. Unless you are doing the keto diet to curb off medicine resistant seizures, I'd highly recommend eating FAR less fish.
Canned salmon is a good consideration too, at least if you live in the uSA. The tall 15 oz cans are probably cheaper per fish; currently it's around $4.50 per can, which is among the cheaper meat or animal protein sources in general.
@@mindstalk Thanks. While I am sadly allergic to salmon (the only fish allergy I did not outgrow), I know many people like it. It also has low mercury, about ten-times lower than skipjack tuna and nearly 30-times lower than albacore. While I am not a big fan of farmed fish for other reasons, salmon is a good option for those who want to limit exposure to mercury and at an economical price.
There is an entire channel focusing on sardines and other canned fish , it is called the canned fish files, check it out, Mathew is great
Thanks for the amazing content🎉
I would love to see a deep dive video on citrus, in cooking and salads. Specifically, lemons, limes, pre-bottled lemon juice, pre-bottled lime juice, and maybe a couple of curveballs like grapefruit and oranges. A lot of people swear by fresh lemons and limes, obviously they're fairly cheap, but keeping the bottles is convenient and ounce for ounce cheaper. I think if you could shed light on this similar to your garlic video with jarred/paste/etc garlic, it would be very helpful!
I have to love the way ethan just comes up with the most convenient subjects to talk about and have a very interesting in-depth talking points on those subjects.
I absolutely adore your work!
Thank you!
@@EthanChlebowski thank you for all the time and effort you and your team have been putting into this content. I have been following this channel since the frozen hashbrowns video.
this channels brings out amazing and entertaining educational content, but also it has helped me a lot in saving money and helping me to cook when I felt burnt out.
I'm excited to see your future content!
@@EthanChlebowskiCan you do a price comparison between canned cooked tuna and store bought tuna you cooked at home? Like what would be the yeld per dollar between to two finished products once you cook the store bought.
21:59 Spent 15 years albacore fishing. Canned at home... i can't eat Comercial processed tuna. OMG, what a difference.
What is It that you feel is different?
i've had fresh tuna, pretty easy to find and it's far better than can boiled tuna
Is it really though bro? I doubt it
Bias.
I find it impressive that you include a brief visual explanation of each idea you discuss. I appreciate you going above and above!
not my dumbass thinking "dolphin safe" meant it was safe for dolphin's to consume
Ha!
Well, if it makes you feel better, tuna is in fact safe for dolphins to eat 😂
me too, no judgements here
It used to be a really big deal even I was growing up. Save the whales, dolphins etc., was all over the news and talked about in school. We even had movies like free Willy.
Your attention to detail is simply amazing.
At 14:02 to 14:10 you mentioned that you were going to do testing of "Adding oil to water packed tuna and comparing with oil packed tuna" but it was never tested in the video. Is that going to be an extra on the other channel? I was actually looking forward to that comparison the most but was a bit disappointed that it didn't appear in the video like it was mentioned.
Wait, he has more complete videos elsewhere? Is this why they've often seemed to be skipping information?
@@mindstalk He has a second channel where he goes further in depth than this main channel gets into, it's a rather recent change only in the past year or so. UA-cam algo doesn't like 45 minute long videos apparently.
@BelligerentWoW it's not UA-cam but viewers. Most people grew up watching TV series which are less than 30 minutes around 25 to 23 minutes per episode. Now with shorter videos you will see a rise of content less than 10 minutes concentration has shortened due to TikTok and other shorter videos
I was wondering this too. That was the main thing I wanted to know and it's almost completely glossed over, I was also disappointed.
@Lostboy811 It'a a vicious cycle at best but it's mostly f****** UA-cam and other platforms that are pushing childish, vertically cropped, short videos like crazy, because of the possibilities of showing ads in between them. And most people are dumb and swallow it
That is the most intensive study of tuna that I have ever seen. It will change what I look for the next time I make tuna salad or tuna casserole (one of my favorites). Thank you.
This is the perfect video to stumble upon at 4am in the morning
Haha. Reading this just past 4am almost a week later and laughing.
3
Years ago I remember on the news that people were buying cans of tuna that had a cat food label underneath the regular label. What happened was the tuna comes in to be canned and they can so many and label them for the customer. Whatever is left was sold as cat food.
There was a mix up and they had to relabel some cans. All the same tuna, just different labels.
Ocean King Tuna. Happened at a Canadian cannery using decomposed tuna meant for cats. Impacted 38k cans that were labeled as cat food and relabeled as tuna. The Canadian government shut the cannery down after exposure due to unsanitary conditions. The ironic part is the cat food would have been more expensive in stores and more profitable for the importer had it remained properly labeled.
This same video but with sardines would be interesting! Canned sardines come in so many different varieties
You have Matthew Carlson for that.
Your product reviews have become a must watch for my family members, we do base many of our purchases on your videos, knowing what ingredients you do or do not want is so helpful. Now when it comes to tuna we let our cat decide which one is the best..I have bought tuna that he has refused to eat, but he goes nuts for albacore so...anyway we do value your videos..thank you.
🤣🤣🤣 we did the same. And quality of dairy products (esp.yoghurts, sour creams, ...) was tested by her as well.
I used to eat tuna a lot as a kid, but I'd have a terrible time in the bathroom afterwards. Turns out there was a controversy where tuna companies were using a different fish in their tuna cans, and that fish's texture and meat causes bowel issues. After learning about this I set tuna aside for a number of years, and I think since they were found out it is less common (if not eliminated completely). Because of the aforementioned issues with tune, in the past 5-6 years my consumption of it has gone down significantly. For tuna salad I typically use a can of chunk light and a can of solid white because the textures work really well together.
Yes, shop carefully when dealing with fresh fish. Some companies, like with all olive oil not really being 100% olive oil, are cheating and putting in garbage filler fish and subspecies.
Generally canned tuna in general is less likely, at least from major brands. That said, yes, I can tell when I get a cheap can of "tuna" by mistake as it's almost like chicken and has no actual tuna taste - but also an odd sort of greasy after-taste. The major brands tend to be more careful as well, as they have zero interest in bad press after the Tuna-Gate problem Subway had a while back. Which while dismissed, made the companies all increase quality control as nothing motivates companies to follow the rules more than potential lawsuits :)
It was skipjack. It's the same thing you're eating now. The controversy was over whether skipjack is or is not technically "tuna."
I'm guessing you changed other things about your diet.
@@tinkdnuos You may be right, but I think the issue was they were including skipjack in cans labeled for albacore, which is all we bought.
There's also escolar "tuna" sometimes used as white tuna in sushi places. It's known to give you the runs.
@@LeNeovein This is the stuff to avoid as it looks and feels like tuna, but it has the wrong taste and smell. Most people wouldn't know, though, same as olive oil that has been cut with other oils.
I've always considered water packed solid white is the go-to. Best way to avoid the "tinned cat food" taste that the cheap chunk gets you.
Which brand is the best?
This makes me love the internet.
What a well put together video about something I have been curious about, but put no effort into researching
I love these videos. Literally, from time to time, I just enjoy it to sit here and listen about tuna that I rarely eat (but loved to many years ago and maybe I should consider getting it back into my diet).
I'm Japanese, and I grew up eating "Sea-chicken" シーチキン, Japan's most famous and beloved canned tuna brand. I was shocked when I came to the States and tasted canned tunas here, as nothing was better than "Sea-chicken." Today, it is still my #1 go-to canned tuna. It is so annoying that it is costly when I buy it here in the States as it is imported.
Thanks for the tip, I'm going to try this brand.
I wonder how similar it is to the American brand "Chicken of the Sea"
Is Chicken of the Sea the same brand?
@@blah7983 it is not
@@blah7983 "Seachicken" is a registered brand owned by Hagoromo Foods はごろもフーズ company in Japan. A completely different brand.
You should do Salmon. Pink Salmon vs others. I'm interested!
Alaskan Sockeye is my favorite. Wild caught, healthy, and affordable
Pink salmon isn't a guarantee of anything. You can make farmed salmon pink by feeding them food with pigments in them. Why? Because consumers are stupid.
Consumers are too lazy to read if something is wild or farmed. Consumers are too lazy to consider the consequences of not farming the salmon. Either prices skyrocket because of a lack of supply, or we end up killing off entire salmon stocks due to overfishing, which brings us right back to prices skyrocketing.
If you REALLY care about wild vs farmed, that should be the question - not the colour.
But ask yourself this - would you prefer to buy wild boar meat or farmed pork? Would you prefer to buy wild ox meat, or farmed beef? Would you prefer to buy wild poultry meat or farmed chicken?
This video got me thinking about salmon too since so much of it is farmed compared to wild caught these days!
Yes!
There are also five species of wild salmon, each with a different taste, texture, and fat content. I would love to see it!
Love these deep dives - so well scripted! I think it would be awesome if you did a deep dive on salt, like the different kinds (kosher vs table vs Maldon, iodized vs not, etc). Salt is one of those things that is so simple but so fascinating when you look more closely at it
A video on salt is coming in the next couple months, stay tuned!
dude. this guy WORKS for his content. love this channel
It's so eerie seeing you make this now, when just last week I was at the supermarket asking myself these same kinds of questions and ended up buying some more different kinds to test for myself
Where did all the yellowfin tins go? You mention having 3 cans of yellowfin but all you ever compare in the entire video is skipjack vs albacore.
I know, I was waiting for it. Yellowfin chunk in oil is my favorite.
@@PapaDikpill i think he has a second channel where goes more in depth idk if hes uploaded it though
It's because it is very difficult to get yellowfin in water as opposed to oil, & as he mentioned he considers canned in oil to be a different class of product. So instead he ended up just focusing on the 2 varieties available in water
"I'm gonna wait to try the yellowfin varieties, because these are all packed in oil, that I happened to find. So, it really wouldn't be a fair comparison at this stage, until we talk about variable #3, the packing liquid."
I like to combine 1 can of Skipjack, 1 can of Yellowtail, and 1 can Albacore for my Tunafish salad. Gives a balanced taste and texture, plus enough to have 5-6 sandwiches.
Dang wish I would have tried this for the video!
@@WilliamSanderson86 Skipjack is great. It's full of that fishy oil and reproduces quickly.
seems pointless to be honest but if it fits your budget , hey do you
Skipjack is the best tuna to eat. Low in mercury, highly abundant, quickly reproduces, and it has flavor unlike most albacore which tastes like nothing.
@@nocjef It's disgusting. Tastes like what I imagine catfood would. There's a reason it's cheap.
The tuna in oil is also essential if you want to light the tuna on fire and do "tuna al-esh" which gives it a smoked taste. Great if you're camping.
I don't even like tuna... but, I'm watching this because I love the content... I love being educated on a variety of educational content, even if it's not directly related to anything I actively pursue in daily life, and because the content is so well put together and well-presented... :) Keep up the great work!
Wild Planet - Albacore Wild Tuna available at Costco is generally the best choice every time for many reasons: pole or troll caught, non-BPA cans, higher DHA Omega-3, water packed, no salt added.
As a canned tuna lover, this was really educational. I'm definitely going to test some experiments for myself and see what my pallet wants more!
This has convinced me I need to start buying tuna more carefully. I am really concerned about overfishing and bycatch, so I'm going to start buying only skipjack and albacore, and prioritize brands that focus on safe and ethical fishing practices.
One glaring ommission, Wild Planet sustainably pole and line caught Skipjack wild tuna. Hand cut, hand packed, cooked once directly in the can in its own juice & sea salt (without added water or oil) no need to drain. Phenomenal taste.
It's a Costco item, too, so a lot of people probably eat this brand.
@@dennisbishop3842 Yes, widely sold also at Amazon, Whole Foods, Thrive Market, Walmart, Target, Publix, Kroger, etc., etc.
@@dennisbishop3842 If it's Costco, then its Safe Catch Yellowfin Tuna.
My Favorite is “American Tuna”. It is similiar as not oil or water packed, just whatever comes out of fillet in canning process.
My Costco has albacore too. I'm not sure what the difference is between wild planet and safe catch but I assume it's the same real brand as they look so similar and the product is identical. Between the two I've seen skipjack, albacore, and yellowfin at various retailers. @@andrewschliewe6392
I haven't had canned tuna since going vegetarian in 2007, but one of the last meats I was eating was skipjack in water from the can, put directly onto a toasted bagel with mayo and mustard on the bagel. And salt and pepper to taste. I called it a tuna burger but really it was just a can of tuna on a bagel. Worth trying if you like skipjack!
I'm from Tunisia, where Tuna is a main part of our diet, basically in snacks and street food. Olive oil packed tuna with harissa is the best 😁.
However, I never looked what exact species of tuna is packed, or what was the fishing method. We don't have these labels on the tuna cans unfortunately.
My go to can of tuna is Genova Yellowfin. The pain behind this is it claims to be responsibly and sustainably sourced but its tricky to find direct information on how they are fished. It seems the product comes from multiple locations and they do let you track your can but it kind of provides limited info.
If anyone knows more I'd love to know.
Genova is honestly the best canned brand I’ve had. The only stuff I’ve had that’s better is this St. Jude stuff I got locally in WA.
I only buy Genova Albacore in oil. It fits my needs perfectly
This is the best canned tuna! I would use the regular cans for regular tuna salad or tuna pasta salad that has a mayo base but Genova is our go-to for everything else!
I’ve found their products in San Diego
Yep yellowfin in olive oil like genova brand is our go to. It's not crazy expensive and can be used in lots of ways. Tastes way better than anything in water.
3:44 “How different are do they actually taste?” Words are hard lol
Very interesting.
Have you ever tried Tuna, white pepper,finely chopped red onion, canned sweetcorn & mayo in a sandwich.
YES, sweetcorn !
It's a very popular combo here in the UK and goes surprisingly well together in a sandwich.
If you DO try it, I suggest you mix it all together a pop it in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours so that the flavors meld together.
I've never thought of putting white pepper in my tuna and sweetcorn! Is that common? I'll have to try it.
@@hannahdeards9652 I have a relative who lives by the phrase "white pepper to make the meal, black pepper to garnish it"... And so far it always seems to work.
Squeeze some lemon onto it as well
not a big fan of sweetcorn but in a tuna sandwich, honestly sounds like it’ll give it some nice texture and sweetness. im gonna give this a try tomorrow for lunch! how much corn should i use?
@@elot5146 Personally when I make it I use two small cans of tuna (102g each drained weight)
And a 160g drained can sweetcorn, one finely chopped red onion, white pepper to taste and plenty of mayo.
Give it a good mix and pop it into the fridge if you want the flavors to develop... though you can use it straight away.
The slight saltiness of the tuna is off set by the sweetness of the sweetcorn.
I have heard of people adding fine chopped red pepper too, but I think that's just over egging the pudding in my opinion.
I understand it's an odd mashup for American pallets, but it's a popular combo in Britain.
Let me know if you like it.. or throw up.😆😆😆
Having thicker chunks in number 2 is certainly what you want to hear in a food tasting video :D
I have watched an ungodly amount of cooking content in my life, and yet I still learn something interesting that changes my perspective on something in every video you make. In such a saturated content field that’s a huge feat! Thank you for all your efforts ❤
Ethan Great presentation regarding the different tuna choices ! I had never heard it explained like that, I always choose Albacore as it makes great tuna sandwiches. Thanks again for your videos as they are always informative and makes the choice easy.
Has anybody asked why his watch is literally hanging on by a thread 11:51 ?
I came wondering about the differences in tuna and I got a full explanation with nothing unnecessary. Thanks Ethan!
I keep buying the same thing, the one that I think is "the real tuna" and I just went to check the can. I have solid skipjack in oil. This video was actually more informative than I thought it would be. Well done!
Hmmm I feel like this deep dive could have been even deeper . There is do much variation in the oil based tunas. I always assumed that there is nothing you can do to rehydrate those super dry water tuna varieties. You should test your theory that fresh oil plus tuna is as good as EVO Canned tuna
I work outside year round in Montana, and I have nothing but comfort in having canned (In oil) fish around as more often than not a meal. It really is a boost of moral and is hearty to allow me to feel content.
Any brands you prefer?
Reason why I keep saltines in my truck
I enjoy tuna mayo onigri thry are easy to make and bring with while hiking our out enjoying nature
You are by far the best cooking channel i've ever come across.
For my tuna salad, I prefer solid white. It requires taking the time to flake into a fine texture, but I find it superior for the perfect tuna sandwich. It tends to be less oily or maybe drier, which the Hellman’s mix compliments. Try it some time.
I broke out a Kirkland solid white albacore can and made a tuna salad sandwich withHellman’s Mayo, sweet relish yellow mustard and lemon on sourdough toast while I watched this.
Love this coming from a coastal city with easy access to tuna belly cans (~€5) I couldn’t believe it seeing it at $20 dollars here
Having grown up in a household where we only *ever* bought tuna in oil (the stuff in water was considered inedible by my parents), I was upset when I moved to canada and found that all "regular" canned tuna is in water.
But I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that I actually prefer water packed for tuna salad. It makes for a lighter and fresher salad, where the oil-packed is a little heavier, and slightly more towards greasy.
Reminder that if you want to feed your cat tuna from a can: Absolutely do not under any circumstances give them oil packed tuna! That is for us humans alone.
What about for my dog? 😂
@@silvestrelomeli6750double up and enjoy the poo.
What would be dangerous to a cat in canned fish oil?
@@GreenCanvasInteriorscape The Tuna in oil almost always has things like salt and spices added, which is very unhealthy for pets. The oil also has no nutritional value to the cat, while any additional water that you can get them to consume is very beneficial to their health.
@GrelgkgenCanvasInteriorscape
i don't think i'll be changing my tuna ways anytime soon haha, i sort of came to the same conclusion with a little less work some years ago, but this is still super informative and thought provoking.
really love that you went into the sustainability of different tuna species and the effects the fishing methods have, if only briefly for the sake of the topic at hand. it's nice to hear considerations for this that feel pretty sincere; after all, knowing where your food comes from and how it gets to a plate is really interesting and worth caring about. easy to forget it doesn't come from nowhere!
i don't have a lot of money lmaooo but thankfully albacore in water comes pretty cheap. if it's albacore, i tend to just go for the cheapest can or whatever's on sale and it does wonderfully for sandwiches. oil i think makes it a little bit smoother, but it's just as you said; you can add your own, and i like to just season mine up anyway. really like to taste the salt and pepper. might have to try your concoctions at the end there some time though! they look delicious.
thanks for doing a deep dive on this one, tuna's so good.
Going into cooking content but using scientific method is just genius. Absolutly the best content out there
Didn't he forget to test the yellowfin tuna?
That's crazy cuz that's the best taste to price ratio in my opinion
also the oil test I think
Indeed, that’s why I was here .
I respect that you used the "nicer" canned tuna as a "snack" and the "other" tuna as a "meal". ❤ too you brother for respecting food and life.
Whilst I hate tuna in all its forms this still an excellent comparison video that we need more of.
I honestly had low expectations before watching this video. It turned out to be very informative and interesting. Great review and thanks for the education on tuna! Subscribed after this 1 video.
For a long time, as the price of Chanel increased, I no longer thought I could afford it. I think I'll be happy that I have the kislux as my travel bag that I don't have to take care of. By the way, I'm sure no one will have a hard time telling the difference. Thanks for the comparison.
Packed in oil is the only way for me. The water packed tuna is dryer, and I’m skeptical that adding oil to water packed tuna will put it on par with the oil packed. Seems like an unnecessary extra step anyhow as the oil packed is only pennies more
I agree and wonder if the amount of time the tuna is sitting in the oil (during transport, on the shelf, in the cabinet, etc) has an impact on flavor or texture. It feels like adding some oil just can't be the same as the fish sitting in oil for at least a few days.
Absolutely. Packed in oil is closer to confit, whereas water-packed with oil added is... water-packed with oil added. It can be delicious, but it's totally different.
Yep. I get that taste is subjective but it's not even remotely close for me. Higher end oil packed tuna is decadently tender and has a much more pleasant flavor. I've tried adding oil to water tuna and it's not the same thing at all.
I get that if your intent is tuna salad maybe it doesn't matter that much. But for savoring the tinned fish on crackers even the tuna belly is worth it.
@@alfieboy4022 yeah, I was thinking that his focus was too much on tuna salad. Anything $10 and over is not intended for that, and there, the oil packing matters.
@@quirkyviper I agree. The tuna has time to soak up the flavor
Yellowfin tuna (in olive oil), white rice and hot mustard is my favorite "I need protein but I'm lazy today," meal.
Kinda a shame you didn't do a replica of the species test with oil-packed varieties.
Woah... I need this in my life. Thanks for the tip!
@@pulykamell The thing with water packed vs oil packed is if you want you can add the oil to it yourself to get that same kind of flavor. So if your adding mayo to tuna then water packed is fine because your adding the oil back after you drain it so you won't really notice a big difference. If your eating it more plain on crackers or just plain from the can then oil packed makes more sense.
Personally I always buy oil packed because I never know which way I might be using it.
@@pulykamell he didn't say that? He just said the water packed is more versatile if you can just add your own high quality oil.
@@salahmoharram6136 Actually, thanks for pointing that out. I'll delete my comment as it's not a fair summary.
Same here. I make half a cup of sushi rice mixed with Tonnino’s yellowfin in olive oil (discard oil) and one sunny side up egg on top plus natto with some yellow mustard,coconut aminos and scallions.
I got an ad at the beginning, then an ad 1:05 into the video, followed up with a sponsorship. Come on bro
Do they control when the ads play? Got 2 ads at the same time then the sponsorship lol.
@@dianapennepacker6854 I was under the impression they could adjust the placement on the video timeline. Which is why every UA-camr has ads before big important parts of videos.
Thanks!
I never actually looked closely at the tuna cans until now. In Australia, we don't label the kind of tuna on the can. You have to look on the ingredients. A cheap tuna, which is what i usually like would be skippjack, and the higher end would be yellowfin
There are some tuna brands that don’t pre cook the tuna. They say not cooking it before canning prevents the fish from drying out.
My staple tuna is either Safe Catch Yellowfin or H-E-B Yellowfin in EVO. I don’t enjoy the bland dry albacore. When I make tuna salad I add the oil from the can to the salad. It increases the flavor and blends perfectly with the mayo.
Yellowfin in EVOO is the ultimate canned tuna. I've tried a few brands i mean towards the starkist personality. I've tried other import options that are usually too salty or using inferior olive oil. Shout out to starkist solid Yellowfin in EVOO for about $2/can. Smokin deal. Eat or straight out of the cab ever morning.
I was just about to write this. I went to the supermarket today and picked up two cans: I easily have twenty cans in the cupboard. It's good enough to eat out of the can and is every bit as good as the bottled Italian tuna they sell at World Market. That stuff costs $8-13 per bottle or can.
Yellowfin every day is too much mercury dude
@oculargoose7361 The selenium absorbs the mercury. No worries.
Do one with differences in salmon, farmed, sockeye, silver, king, etc.
i was looking for a crash course on tuna species and this delivered exactly what i wanted.
Fascinating video. Here in the UK it’s 99% Skipjack. There’s way fewer brands here as well. It’s either Princes, John West, or supermarket own brand. There is a Spanish brand called Ortiz who sell cans of yellowfin and albacore but are literally 4-6 times the price of a regular can of Skipjack. The Ortiz does in fairness taste better but I can’t justify or afford to start spending £80-120 per month on tinned fish.
11:51 your watch strap is broken...
Very Informative!
8:33 pretends to turn the plate... slash cut to no plate and three placed out. >.>
I tend to use a mix of the skipjack and albacore for my tuna salads. 2 albacore to 1 skipjack when I mix. I do not have any measurements for my dressing, just follow your heart. Mix of Mayo, Pepper Relish, ground pepper, dried onion and garlic, a squirt or two of yellow mustard and lightly salt. Makes me up to 5 sandwiches, go for provolone if you wanna make a melt.
This is such an informative video; I was JUST buying tuna this morning and again wondering about just about every topic you brought up here. I wish I had seen this before I went! One point of contention: while it's true that mercury is a naturally occurring element, the level of mercury that ends up being problematic from a health perspective in the fish we eat is mostly a result of human activity (coal fired power plants, gold mining, etc) and comes from the atmospheric emissions from these industrial processes that eventually settle out and end up in our rivers, lakes, and eventually oceans. Some estimates have these activities contributing to something like 5x the "natural" level of mercury in the environment that a person would come into contact with.
2:16 wait a minute... say that again
Talk tuah?????
I was just abt to say this
3:48 how different are do they actually taste lmao
Traditionally fish was packed in oil because it was stable for a longer time. But it's more expensive. Eventually you could get long-term shelf stable tuna packed in water ( though most use broth and cheat a bit ).
I am interested that he missed one of the most commonly available less expensive tuna in oil options, Genova. This is the "premium" brand from Chicken of the Sea (Tri-union seafood), and while more expensive than tuna in soybean oil, it's practically identical to most of the tuna in olive oil options that you find at specialty stores like Whole foods.
IME, packing tuna in olive oil (vs vegetable oil) is a total game-changer, even for cheaper fish. So $3.50 for a can packed in olive oil is absolutely a must and a great deal for Mediterranean (and all Italian, obviously) and most cooked Western cuisine dishes, with water based reserved for basically tuna salad or cuisines where olive oil isn't used. The soybean tastes wrong to me by itself, but does work will in Asian foods, where soybean oil is commonly used.
Basically match the oil to the cuisine, as with all good cooking practices.
I was raised and continued through most of my life on Bumble Bee Albacore Tuna in both oil and in water. However, I recently tried Tonnino Yellow Fin in olive oil. WOW, what a difference. It is now my go to favorite. Far more flavor, plus it is line caught and if you haven't tried it, I would highly recommend it. It is currently sold in my local Walmart at about $2.20/can, so very competitively priced.
I buy the Safe Catch brand of water packed Ahi Yellowfin Tuna from Costco because the label states this brand is 25X below FDA limit of mercury. It literally says "every single tuna tested to a strict mercury limit of 0.1 parts per million." I was hoping you were going to include more about Yellowfin tuna but I appreciate all the info about albacore and skipjack which are far more common at the supermarket. Canned tuna and sardines are wonderful products to keep in your pantry. Thanks Ethan!!
Despite common beliefs, water-packed tuna is nutritionally superior to oil-packed tuna because it retains more natural flavor and nutrients without the added fats from oil, making it a healthier and more versatile option for all recipes.
Oh, please explain to me where the nutrients magically disappear to after it is canned in oil 😂
Aren't the fats from olive oil good for you though
Source- trust me bro
@@georgie-jp most of them arent packed with olive oil but seed oils
They'll 'magically disappear' into the oil, which most people will drain at least some (if not the majority) off... For example omega3s are fat soluble. You can in oil, you leech omega3s from the tuna into it then pour it down the drain.
Unless I'm eating it by itself, I don't think expensive canned tuna is worth. Expensive sardines are worth every fuckin time though. Bury me with a can of Nuri
Which flavor of nuri is the best?
@@ninjastiz9046 The extra spicy spiced sardines is my favorite but they are all insanely good. The mackerel filets are really good as well. I tend to stick to the spiced ones but the olive oil ones are great too.
@@Huckle777 nice. I just ordered some of the spiced ones in olive oil
@@ninjastiz9046 Hell yea. Enjoy :) I think I'll have a can for lunch today
Let's be real, we are all just gonna buy the Costco cans anyways
I was just talking with a friend about how I prefer the cheap, chunk canned tuna because it's a little cheaper and I just mash it with mayo anyways. Nice to know the money I'm saving is only missing out on things I don't care about. Thanks for uploading this!
Oh don't worry, "cheap tuna" won't be cheap for much longer the way things are going.
Just say no to oil.
I get solid yellowfin tuna in extra virgin olive oil packed in a can with a pull tab top. If I pack it in a lunch I bring a bit of soy sauce to pour into the top after opening and eat it with a fork and whatever else I've packed. With minimal draining it works well for making onigiri/gimbap as well.
thank you for making these! they are some of my favorite videos ever! Also I agree with the albacore vs skipjack take, albacore is more neutral but there is some funk to skipjack that just feels nostalgic to me.
One of the most annoying thing these days, is unsolicited ads about some crap that I can't block with my adblocker or youtube premium
Lots of great info here. My mom swears by the "shake test" where she shakes a can of solid tuna in the store and can tell how "solid" it is by the sound it makes. We literally never had chunk tuna growing up. Mom is mortified by scales and bones, and the more solid it sounds, the less likely for scales.