I must admit I am new to tinned Salt Cod (Bacalhau/Bacalao/Bacalla) although I’ve had numerous dishes of the salted untinned type.
The presentation is great with a retro traditional picture and lettering.
Not much about the producer – Conservas Minhota do a few tinned fish products and appear to be a brand registered to Ventura Alimentar.
The label is Bacalhau a Portugueza (codfish in Portuguese sauce). Ingredients are 55% codfish, vegetable/soybean oil, onion, garlic, salt.
On opening the fish is pale in a rich oil. Fish portion sizes are mixed rather than uniform and the packing is slightly loose.
Aroma is minimal (of fish or anything else).
The sauce Portuguese is not obvious.
The flakes of fish are dense and solid with a firm texture.
Flavour is good. It’s clean and subtle. Not dominant of anything except salt cod.
The sauce Portuguese is comprised of a very small amount of onion in the bottom of the tin.
Summary
As a a different tinned fish product it is a very nice clean product. Slightly L more firm than I expected and the sauce didn’t seem to add anything (in fact at the end I added a splash of hot sauce – Crystal – and it was a welcome addition).
As a tin of fish on its own I think it was a bit bland but as a substitute for salted Bacalhau it would probably work well.
Score 3/5
Cost : around 4€ (i got this tin in the Lisbon store of a vida Portugueza https://www.avidaportuguesa.com/en/store/gourmet/fish-preserves)
(Note: Bacalhau a Minhota is a popular Portuguese dish of salt cod with onions, olives and potatoes – this would indeed be a good and appropriate use of this tinned fish)
Survival Rations 