Tuyo (dried salted fish) substitutes

The same preservation idea from a different tradition, and available in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Caribbean shops. Soak it in cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water three or four times, then pat dry, flake it, and fry it hard in shallow oil until the edges crisp.

Best for

tuyo and garlic rice breakfast, tuyo pasta, fried rice, flaked fish with tomatoes and onions, fish spreads

Once soaked it is far milder and much less funky than tuyo, with clean white flaky flesh instead of tuyo's dense, oily, pungent bite, so the dish tastes gentler and more like a fried fish dish than a salt-cured one. Do not skip or shorten the soak, since unsoaked salt cod is close to inedible. The upside is that you control the salt precisely.

The best match for the specific pungency of tuyo, since both are small oily fish cured hard in salt. Rinse the salt off under cold water, pat them dry, and fry them briefly or melt them into hot oil.

Best for

tuyo pasta, garlic rice, fried rice, sauteed greens, dipping sauces

Gets the salt and the deep fermented savouriness right in a way nothing else here does, but they are much smaller and softer, so they dissolve into the oil rather than staying as crisp fried fish you can pick up with rice. You lose the crunch entirely. They are also extremely salty even after rinsing, so add no other salt until you taste.

The most practical option for tuyo pasta, where the fish is meant to dissolve into garlic and olive oil anyway. Melt the fillets or paste in warm oil over low heat until they break down completely.

Best for

tuyo pasta, garlic oil pasta, sauteed vegetables, dressings, quick weeknight cooking

Smoother, milder and considerably less aggressive than tuyo, so the dish tastes savoury and rounded rather than confrontational, which many people will prefer. There is no crunch and no fried-fish aroma at all, which is the main loss. Since these are packed in oil rather than dried, they contribute no dry salty flakes to the finished plate.

The most available option, and the same species in several cases, just canned instead of dried. Drain them, break them into chunks, and fry them hard in a dry pan so the surfaces brown and dry out a little.

Best for

fried rice, tuyo pasta, rice bowls, when tuyo is too strong for the household

Soft, moist and only lightly salted, so this is the gentlest option by a wide margin and the right one if the smell of tuyo is a problem in a shared kitchen. What you lose is the entire point: the aggressive salt, the concentrated cure and the crisp texture. Add half a teaspoon of fish sauce per tin to bring some of the savoury intensity back.

A different animal doing the same job, and a staple in Filipino, Chinese and Southeast Asian pantries. Fry the chopped shrimp in oil for a minute until fragrant and slightly crisp.

Best for

fried rice, sauteed vegetables, monggo, garlic rice, as a salty umami crumble

Salty, concentrated and crunchy, so it fills the same role in a fried rice remarkably well, but it tastes distinctly sweet and shellfish-like rather than fishy and funky. A garlic rice made with dried shrimp is delicious and clearly not tuyo. It also stays crunchy longer than fried fish flakes, which some people prefer.

Worth saying plainly. Tuyo with garlic rice, fried egg and a saucer of vinegar is a dish built entirely on the contrast between very salty crisp fish and plain rice, and there is no supermarket product that reproduces that.

Best for

tuyo, sinangag and egg breakfast, when authenticity matters most

Well-soaked salt cod fried until genuinely crisp gets you closest, perhaps seventy percent of the way, keeping the whole-fillet format and the crunch while losing the pungency. Anchovies bring the pungency but not the format. If this breakfast is the reason you are reading this, a bag of tuyo from a Filipino grocery keeps for months and is worth the trip.