King Oscar Sardines, Tuna Assassin

 

October 2018, Hagoromo foods collaborated with Golgo 13 for a Sardine campaign.

(I've never heard of Golgo 13 until I received this tin. Ahh, the world sardines opens for us.)

Why Golgo 13? It's said "Sardine" sounds similar to the English word "13" in Japanese. After discussing this with my two expert Japanese translators, Siri and Alexa, I could not find the similarity. 

So why collaborate with the world's greatest international assassin!? 

Perhaps it goes deeper than any of us realize! Could they be telling us that King Oscar will assassinate the canned tuna industry!? That the lowly humbled tinned-sardine will once again rule king of the land again before that fish soup in a can called tuna moved in with all those tuna eaters!? One can only speculate over a tin of Sardines! 

Each tin comes with a little recipe/serving suggestion booklet.

There are three different labels for this champagne, all containing soybean oil. Before you, soybean haters begin turning your noses up and casting empty tins at me. I assure you this is good quality, in taste and balances out these little fish. 

Rifle case with all three label varieties was released November, 1st 2018

If you think they couldn't top this killer collaboration and the rifle case (which would make you instant international "Sardine Assasin)

The campaign opened a bar! Yes, a bar! Alcohol and Sardines! The Sardine bars ran at twenty Hibya bar locations in Tokyo from Nov. 1st through Nov. 30th

The bars featured special drinks, Sardine dishes, and you could purchase the specially packaged Sardines on site. 

There was also a " Bar Golgo"  website in which Golgo portrayed a bartender; the site featured 13 dishes, recipes with pairing alcohol!

It sounds like a bar; I'd like to have a regular stool at it! I would become the "Norm Peterson" of the Sardine bar! 

(That's a Cheer's reference for you younger Sardine Eaters)

Regular King Oscar packaging available in Japan

It seems the first collaboration campaign was such a success that they went and did another at the top of the Covid crisis. 

Char Aznable of  "Mobil suit Gundam."  (Once again, first time of hearing of this anime? Comic? Show?)  

This campaign started on May 14th, 2020. With also three different covers, and in Soybean oil. A website was set up with videos and Sardine recipes. 

The kicker, they called them "Char-dines." Ah, such is a good Sardine pun. 

It would seem, Charaznable from the 40-year old mecha anima is also a villain!

Once again, what does King Oscar have up his royal sleeve!?

I was informed these were vast sellers on Amazon Japan; they even became the number one, top-selling item in the canned food category. 

It could also have been because of Covid too. Covid has made a whole new crop of new Sardine Eaters 

Covid has turned the world into a Sardine playground, new Sardine Eaters, Sardine Reviewers, Sardine Snobs, Sardine Everything; has popped up over the last year! Will this new crew last? Are they Tuna eaters in disguise!? But that's another post! 

Keep popping those Tins, Sardine Eaters! 

I love the posters for this Campaign 

He even has a fork!!!!

Vintage King Oscar

King Oscar Vintage. I never knew such a thing existed other than the tin of King Oscars' that I occasionally find in the back of a cupboard. That is until this past December when King Oscar ran their annual Haiku contest. Select winners were awarded a tin of Vintage 1999 King Oscar Sardines. I was fortunate enough to win such a tin. I was also fortunate enough to receive three tins from other sardine Eaters that could not bring themselves to eat a tin of vintage sardines.  Up until then, I thought only the French aged their sardines. It seems Norwegians have their little fish secrets--at least starting in 1993, when King Oscar first started aging Sardines. From KO Facebook:

 "Every year since 1993 when the tradition began, King Oscar produces a small batch of "Vintage Bristling Sardines" from what is considered the best catch of any particular year. This short run is sold in select stores in Norway, otherwise we store small quantities for special occasions".

King Oscar Vintage Sardines come in a set of three in a gift box that includes a certificate with information about the fishing boat, along with the place and date of the catch. Only receiving one tin, I did not receive a box or certificate. I would of like to, honestly. I wonder what they did with all the empty boxes? 

Photo: Via King Oscar product page. http://www.kingoscar.no/produkt/argangssardiner/

I've always been a fan of wrapped label tinned sardines, which are more popular in Portugal. Many sardine canneries are using plastic-wrapped tins.

label from the 2013 year. Photo via King Oscar Facebook.



Only having aged sardines from France, I was curious as to what to expect from King Oscar. My first thought was how are they aging them? Setting them in a dark warehouse somewhere perhaps... are they being flipped periodically throughout the years? I'm a huge fan of aged sardines, especially French ones. 

Popping open the tin, I am met with an aroma of olive oil. In King Oscar fashion, they are a tin of two layers. All else in appearance is what you would expect from a tin of King Oscar. 

    Removing the fish from the tin, using the server, they held their shape well.  Pretty little fish.

Being a tin of "Vintage" King Oscar, I found it only suiting to break out the vintage King Oscar sardine prong. (Being made in Germany, I'm curious about the year this device was made?)

These sardines were softer in texture compared to the ones not aged. The little fish broke apart pretty easily while attempting to impale the little fish. 

It was time to go back to the Sardine Server to get these little tender fish out of the tin. 

The fish themselves had a very mild flavor. The olive oil balanced out nicely. Like wine, olive oil in any given year can make or break a can of sardines, sometimes contributing to a bitter taste or some may even call it a green taste. I took my time to consume the tin. It was a very good treat indeed. While a tin from 1999 may seem like an old tin, I've had tins much older. The quality of the these fish and tin remains great. I would like to see these offered in the States, but I'm sure it would be based on consumer wants or willingness. 

Bottom of tin: Norway



Sadly, most Americans live by that expiration date printed on food packages. A day before or after, and people trash it. Aged sardines may be a hard sale to the mass public. If you have never tried aged sardines, as I've said numerous times, "You owe it to yourself." While you may not be able to find some vintage King Oscars nearby, you should be able to locate some aged French sardines at a specialty store or even online. Or, you can age your own. I always have some tins on hand that's ageing. I flip them about every 6 months. Just store them in a dark, cool location. 

I like to keep sardines for aging in old military ammo cans. The size will determine how many tins they will hold. (Olive oil seems to be the medium of choice for aging sardines.) I use a medium-sized ammo can. Each ammo can hold 27 tins of sardines.

vintage, King Oscar, 1999. Vintage Stanley thermos around 1913.

With the Vintage Sardines, who could resist some photo ops. Sardine food porn at its finest.

For more info on King Oscars aged sardines click HERE

King Oscar offers different variety of flavors of little fish in different areas.

Check out their other sites for more info.


Click HERE to see what is offered in other countries. 


Rather it's aged sardines or a tin fresh off the shipping truck, keep popping those tins, Sardine Eaters!

New Tins on the block

King Oscar is at it again. More flavors are being tested for their bristling sardines.

I was able to give two new test products a taste test. I can't disclose too much info at the moment since the products are still hush hush. I am curious to see which one or if both will make it to market.

Both tins were good in their own way. I ate both tins alone for half the tin. I finished off the tins with light bread. I can see one tin really resonating with the older generation, and the second tin just being for every one. The 2nd tin holds a high place in the flavor category amongst similar flavors of other sardines.

  I will release more info about these two tins once I'm cleared.

           

I must admit, I have forgotten how good just a couple of little fish wrapped in a slice of bread truly is. It takes me back to my child hood. My father had this orange/reddish oblong plastic dish he would place on the table. Whenever this dish was placed on the table I knew we would be eating one of two things: egg salad or sardines. That was all this dish was ever used for. He would open up two tins and dump them in the dish, he'd bring out a loaf of light bread, and we'd dig in. I recall him spooning out the oil from the dish and spreading it on his bread before placing the sardines onto the bread. I would just put sardines on a slice of bread, roll it up and squeeze the bread, making sort of a tightly wrapped fish snack. I never understood why he would dump two cans into a single bowl for us to share instead of just eating out of our own tin, but I'm glad he did.

As soon as I opened the can, the clouds parted... Make of that what you will

New for KO

 King Oscar is rumored to come out with even more varieties of sardines this year. King Oscar has changed ownership as of September  2014. I'm curious to see if any changes do occur. I was included in their taste test project last year. One of their new tins for 2014 was the Sardines in zesty tomato sauce; it is available in some markets now. This tomato sauce is thicker than its traditional tomato sauce blend. The sauce also has more flavor than the traditional. I'll attempt to add the can later this year for a full review. As good as the zesty tomato sauce was, I think if they added a chili pod or two to the tin, it would really set this tin off. Maybe for 2015!?

Traditional tomato sauce 

Zesty. Much thicker sauce.

The next sample I received was their mackerel. It was large pieces of white meat. The instructions said to taste test them in any way you liked. I, as always, try them straight from the tin. These are not sardines. I can see these in a spread, dip, sandwich, or other dish. Straight from the tin, for me, no. The flavor is there. They would be better not eaten alone in my preference. 

They are equipped with an easy-peel lid. When asked my dislikes of this tin, I disliked the easy-peel system (as I've mentioned on other sardine posts). It seems KO won the silver award at the Can Maker magazine "2014 Cans of the Year" competition for this design. The reason I'm not a fan of this design is that Season sardines use this design also. While hiking, I was a little rough with my pack while carrying said sardines, the lid did not withstand the impact, and it leaked out the oil into my pack. For at-home use or older or people with restrictions, this is probably a good thing. If you're an outdoorsman of any type and carry along tins, I would choose carefully. 

I'm a fan of aging sardines. King Oscar is a good brand to age, and it can readily be found at almost every supermarket chain. I wonder if the foil lid would allow such aging? The foil lid is said to be added on with the same canning process as the metal lids. I don't know. I hope they leave their sardine tins alone. Of course, I'm still nostalgic for the can keys.