This thread will be a poll for people who like canned fish. People who don’t like fish, or don’t like canned fish are out of scope of the continuum of opinion I wish to observe - and so if you hate or strongly dislike canned fish, you need not respond.
The question relates to canned whole fish such as sardines, pilchards, mackerel, eels - any kind of fish that usually (or sometimes) contains the cooked (and edible) bones of the fish - what is your reaction and treatment of the fish bones?
It depends on the fish and the bones. When I answered, I was thinking of canned salmon and the bloody huge chunks of spine you always find in there. Yuck. I’ll only eat that if the bones are carefully picked out in advance. But tiny thin bones as with kippers or smoked whitefish, don’t bother me.
I agree it depends on the fish. I don’t mind bones on sardines or anchovies because I don’t eat them from the can, I cook with them and the bones more or less disappear.
Anything I’m going to eat from the can however must be bone free.
I love sardines and anchovies especially with lots of hot sauce if they are plain. The cheap kind are fine but the gourmet varieties can be outstanding. I kind of like the bones in those. They are supposed to a great source of calcium so I appreciate them for that alone. However, I wouldn’t pick them out even if I moderately disliked them because I am fundamentally lazy.
For that matter, I love the cartilage on the end of chicken drumsticks and cooked shrimp shells and tails especially if they are crispy. As long as something doesn’t taste aggressively bad and is part of something I am eating anyway, it is going down the hatch. Don’t ever try to swallow small catfish bones though. They are like sewing needles. I got one of those stuck in my throat once when I was a kid and it took all the dry heaving I could do all afternoon to get it back out again. Sardine bones aren’t like that though. They just crunch.
If the fish is chunked or ground like tuna or salmon, then bones are absolutely horrid. I check for them first, but there is nothing worse than biting into a salmon patty and getting a toothfull of spine. Ughhhhh. Shivers up my spine.
Now little tiny whole fishies, I still don’t eat the bones, but I accept them as part of the deal, and just fork them out and then spit out the itty ones I missed. Mmm, now I want some sardines on crackers with sharp mustard.
I love tuna. The advent of pouch tuna (which is noticeably less overcooked than canned) was a godsend to me. But I’m happy to eat canned as well. And tinned sardines - bones and all - are perfectly delicious to me.
