In Portugal, canned fish is far more than
a standby staple, but it still doesn’t hold
the same storied reputation as the tins
from its Iberian neighbour.When José first
launched its range (above), it was in a wave of
companies looking to change that. For them,
that also meant commissioning illustrators to
design labels that could put the packaging on
equal footing with the quality of the preserves.
The range, which includes the likes of
spiced octopus in olive oil, and sardine pâté,
will be on show when Miss Wolf, a new bar
with a focus on canned seafood, opens in
Sydney’s Marrickville this month: the team
is decorating a wall with the cans and
they’ll be serving fish straight from the tin.
A collaboration between chef Max
Malcolm, Tracey Gumm and Simon Wheeler,
Miss Wolf will also be serving fun cocktails
and cool-climate Mexican wines. But it’s the
seafood that has Malcolm excited.He recalls visiting Cascais, a fishing town
near Lisbon, and dining on a can of bacalhau
à lagareiro, salted cod and potatoes packed
in olive oil, with an ice-cold beer, olives and
bread. Miss Wolf is a chance to bring that
experience home.
A similar story inspired Dario Guerreiro,
of The Canned Company, to distribute the
cans in Australia. He mentions another
coastal bar, this one in Setúbal, where he’d
ordered a dish of squid in ragú. “To my shock,
the waiter brought out a wooden board with
a pretty cardboard box and a half-open tin,”
he says. He was sceptical, but it was so good
that he now supplies the cans to local shops,
including Brisbane’s VJ’s Seafood, and
Marino Meat and Food Store in Adelaide.
“It opened my eyes to Portuguese tins and
their untapped potential.”
Miss Wolf, 285 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville,
NSW, 0409 400 279, misswolf.com.auIN THE CANNice catch
The best Portuguese seafood,
all wrapped up in a neat package.Need a little backup
in the kitchen? Visit
Winning Appliances
during “Foodie
February”, when
experts can help
home cooks
test-drive their
wishlist appliances.
There are cooking
demos, too.
winningappliances.
com.auWINE AND
WETLANDS
Twenty years ago the Buttery
family decided to restore
10 hectares of cleared bush
along a degraded creek in their
McLaren Vale vineyard, planting
50,000 native trees and shrubs
in the process. Gemtree Wines
now has a thriving wetland at
its heart, and winemakers
Melissa and Mike Brown have
developed three tours – from
90 minutes to five hours – in
their vineyard and along a
one-kilometre nature trail. They
aim to showcase biodynamic
winemaking, regional produce
and the beauty of their
sustainable farm. Gemtree
Wines, 167 Elliott Rd, McLaren
Flat, SA, gemtreewines.com22 GOURMET TRAVELLER
PHOTOGRAPHY BEN DEARNLEY (MIKE EGGERT) & ROB SHAW (JOSÉ TINS). STYLING AIMEE JONES (JOSÉ TINS).