King Oscar with cracked pepper

I see to my mild chagrin that I’ve posted about King Oscar Sardines with Spicy Cracked Pepper before, but I’m posting about these sardines again in a world newly attentive to “the small oily fish.” Click on the image if you prefer bigger fish.

The can of King Oscar I just had for lunch (with tomato soup and Saltines) was old enough to be missing the “Wild Caught” designation now on the wrapper. But whatever the label says or doesn’t say, these are extraordinary sardines. If there were such a thing as Szechuan sardines, these would be that thing. Intensely peppery, and the burn seems to be deepened by hot soup. Highly recommended.

Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)

[Since 2017, “the small oily fish” has been my deliberately dumb inelegant variation on “sardine.”]