This Is the First Tinned Salmon I've Ever Loved

As carefully planned as my weeknight dinners tend to be (during good weeks, when I've flipped through cookbooks, grocery shopped, and cleaned my kitchen), my workday lunches are often chaotic. I tend to prefer things that I feel will "tortilla well," like leftover roasted vegetables or chorizo, and while Fishwife's smoked salmon doesn't necessarily fall into this category, it's my new favorite exception to my rule.

I'm not typically a tinned salmon or smoked salmon fan. I'll reach for tinned tuna and anchovies with some regularity (the former does in fact tortilla well when mixed into a mayonnaise-heavy salad, and the latter is my go-to pasta topping with breadcrumbs), but other tinned seafood has honestly always struck me as less appealing. I first came across Fishwife's eye-catching packaging on Instagram and had heard about its cult following amongst tinned fish devotees, but was admittedly a little skeptical. I don't know if you've heard, but tinned fish seems to have natural wine's publicist.

When I hastily tore open the smoked salmon tin one afternoon in between phone calls, I was struck by the peachy pink, almost jewel-like color inside; tinned fish can often look sallow and murky at first blush, and this tin was ready for the spotlight. It added life to a bowl of almost-wilted greens and tomatoes, but more importantly, the backstory is much more confidence-inspiring than the usual mass-market tinned fish. Fishwife founders Becca Milstein and Caroline Goldfarb proudly source their smoked salmon from the Kvarøy Arctic, and the fish are raised by third-generation family farmers in the Arctic circle.

Beyond the inevitable brine, this salmon is packed with brown sugar and maple notes that I fully wasn't expecting from seafood. I'm not going to call it dessert, but it's certainly closer to a slice of brown butter pecan pie than, say, a crudo. Purchase the new smoked salmon here.