The oxymoron of luxury tinned tuna
You might think of tinned fish as a European invention. You would be wrong.
Luxury tinned tuna may sound like an oxymoron, although not if you pay a visit to the Tinned Fish Market in Borough, London SE1, or Spitalfields, E1.
‘People mistake high-quality tinned fish for a European invention,’ says founder Patrick Martinez, ‘when in fact it was nurtured on these shores and later became popular on the mainland.’ The best tinned fish, he claims, has been caught in Britain and marinated in Europe.
A native of Madrid, Spain, he first came to Britain 25 years ago and launched the Tinned Fish Market as a market stall in Liverpool in 2018. Tinned tuna, especially, is enjoying a moment due to a glut of bluefin in English waters. ‘There are 30 boats fishing for tuna around the UK,’ says Chris Ranger, founder of The Cornish Canning Co and allegedly the first Brit to ever tin the beast. ‘There are thousands of fish off Cornwall alone.’
A tuna, once gutted, can weigh 80kg, nearly half of which is pure meat. ‘A single fish yields about 400 cans,’ Ranger explains. He now makes about 80 a day, sold via his website, at market or at Falmouth Brewery in Cornwall, which has a pop-up shop at Upton Slip.
Another distinction of the age is encasing fish not in oil, but butter. ‘That’s how I really took off,’ Ranger admits. Don’t shy away from bolder flavours: Martinez’s shop, for one, sells everything from £4.50 mussel spreads to £45.95 tinned sea urchins. Does he have a favourite brand? ‘Rockfish is the best,’ he replies.
