How do you eat tinned sardines?

[Kagey]

The pretty package in the store tempted me and now I have a tin of sardines in Spanish olive oil. Boneless. I was planning just to eat them with a slice or two of no-knead bread, but I wonder if there's any special way you hounds like to eat them? What goes well with them? Thanks!

[MysticYoYo]

A schmear of cream cheese on dense bread or a quality bagel, sardines, thinly sliced onion and freshly ground black pepper. Sometimes a dash of hot sauce for an added kick.

[Davwud]

On a cracker with some hot sauce. The KISS method.

DT

[EmoryJ]

I second this emotion. Crackers and cayenne pepper sauce...in fact, I think this may be what saltines were invented for. When I was a kid I used to put Plochman's mustard on sardines and saltines. Today I can't imagine it. eeeewwwww!

[Gio]

Endive, sardine, splash of fresh lemon juice.

[TSQ75]

crackers, hot sauce.

*loves sardines

[sea97horse]

on a green salad with some chopped onion and a vinegary vinaigrette.

[LaLa]

saltines and hot sauce

[foodisgreat]

Open can, pour on a little vinegar or hot sauce, eat each sardine on top of a saltine cracker.

[TNExplorer]

We use this method from one of Andrew Weil's books. Empty the sardines into a bowl, add dijon mustard to taste as well as some minced onion, and mash into a spread with a fork. Very tasty spread on a whole grain cracker or good bread. (We also like to add a dry gin martini on the side.)

[Val]

Yes yes!!! Sardines with (red) onion and mustard is a delicious dish! Try it!

[FrankJBN]

Infrequently and with a fork.

That's how you eat canned sardines, right out of the tin.

[JoanN]

Me, too. One of my guilty, home-alone pleasures.

[GIAD]

Oh Yea!

[Bostonbob3]

My way is to mix Tobasco with cottage cheese and chopped onions, spread that on good bread, then add sardines on top.

Sounds kinda weird, but it's really good.

[EmoryJ]

That does sound weird but good Bob..

[rcallner]

For breakfast, I love boneless, skinless sardines packed in oil on a GOOD toasted bagel, sprinkled liberally with capers. It's full of protein and omega fatty acids, and a rare high source of Vitamin D. And tasty tasty tasty.

[StuCazzo]

Saute them and then toss them with some spaghetti. Sprinkle with cheese. This is how we eat on Christmas Eve. Very tasty.

[Kagey]

Isn't fish with cheese supposed to be scandalous and forbidden? (not that I'd judge; I like it on my linguine vongole :)).

[Bostonbob3]

Only scandalous in Italy, not in my house. :))

[4chowpups]

My grandmother used to make a red sauce on Xmas eve with sardines and sprinkled with fresh bread crumbs. I loved it, even as a teenager!

[millygirl]

Oh yeah, with spaghetti....deelish!!!! Don't forget lots of olive oil and good bread to soak it all up.

[Kagey]

Thanks for the great responses! I'll definitely be trying hot sauce, lemon, onions, and capers (maybe not all together!) in the near future. The pasta suggestion sounds good, too!

[rworange]

This was a thread from earlier this year that was revived. Out of all the canned sardine threads I've read on this board, it had the most creative uses
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/458828

One of the ideas for broiling them I never considered. There's another idea with a fried egg that sounds great ... and as the infomercials say ... and much, much more.

I think that sardines and fresh tomatoes are the perfect match. The ingrediants link on Chow has more affinities. It is about fresh sardines, but they work for canned as well ... hmmm ... olives with sardines ...that's sounding good to me.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/364987

[chef chicklet]

line up your saltines. Slather with dijon mustard, lay a sardine across the cracker, hot sauce, and fresh ground pepper. yum.

[Kagey]

I'm surprised by all the saltine replies! Who knew that saltines were good for anything other than eating when you have the flu?! Looks like I missed a trick!

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any saltines here in England. In four years of living here, I've never seen them. It's possible that they're called something else, but nobody I know knows of them. I may have to investigate.

[Springhaze2]

Kagey, I think they are called Soda Crackers in England.

[Missyme]

I mash them with chopped onion, some mayo and lots of lemon juice. Delicious on a toasted bagel.

[amymsmom]

Lots of chopped onion & ~2 tsps of white vinegar. Mash it all together. Usually I eat it with a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, or a quartered israeli tomato. Yum!

[saraeanderson]

Two ways:

(1) Paprika, salt, lemon wedge.

(2) Fennel and sweet onion relish and olive oil. Fennel relish consists of:

Juice and rind (finely chopped) of one lemon
1 large fennel bulb, minced
1/2 sweet onion, minced
1 tbsp dill seed
2 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp chili flake
1 large clove garlic (raw)
Sugar (some)
Salt (some)
Mix all ingredients, top off with vinegar (to taste; you'll probably want to dilute a little. Champagne or white balsamic vinegar would probably be best--something with a high wine flavor to acidity ratio)

[JungMann]

I can't believe no one's recommended the way I make them. I thought that it was the standard way to eat sardines, but I guess it might be a Spanish-Filipino thing.

Sliced an onion and saute in olive oil with garlic until translucent. Add chopped tomato and cook to a paste. Add sardines and saute until heated thru. Season with salt and pepper. You can also add oregano, bay leaf and/or smoked paprika. For probably the first 18 years of my life, that was the only way I knew how to eat sardines. Now I occasionally toss with spaghetti, lemon rind and parsley or eat it on buttered toast, but much prefer to revert to the comfort of a well-worn childhood classic.

[rln]

Oh, glad to see this. My thoughts exactly except we'd eat them cooked this way with garlic fried rice or plain and a fried egg.

I'm learning a lot more with this thread!

[dmfnole]

I grew up watching my dad eat them on saltine crackers

[lrostron]

Yep, saltines, the way my gramps did, and the way I do, with sardines or pickled herring ... (but not together!) No saltines? Then maybe a triscuit type cracker.

[4chowpups]

Wonder if we had the same "gramps?" (called him that too!) He'd eat them on saltines with yellow mustard and white onion...that is how I eat them too!!! Oh and he ate Limburger cheese as well.

[AntarcticWidow]

The book "Like Water for Chocolate" has a recipe for Christmas rolls using tinned sardines. I substituted a sweet baguette because I didn't have any hard rolls, and used fresh serranos instead of tinned. Still really good!

1 can sardines
1/2 chorizo sausage
1 onion
oregano
1 can chiles serranos (I used 3-4 fresh serranos with seeds, chopped fine)
10 hard rolls

Chop onions fine. Fry the sausage over low heat so that it cooks thoroughly without getting too brown. When done, remove from heat and add the sardines, which have been deboned ahead of time. Any black spots on the skins must be scraped off with a knife. Combine the onions, chopped chiles and the ground oregano with the sardines. Let the mixture stand before filling the hard rolls.

[Passadumkeg]

You beat me to that one. Just bought a copy in Spanish, to try to improve my bar Spanish. I love that book and taught it in a high school English class. The kids loved it and prepared foods from it.
We eat lots of sardine. Often on toast w/ boiled egg for brek. or in scrambled eggs. Blended w. olives and olive for a pasta sauce. In an antipasto, on boiled egg halves.
In avacado halves w/ a squeeze of lemon.

[MazDee]

In a restauraunt near Mazatlán I had sardine salad stuffed in an avocado. It was kind of like the usual tuna salad (mayo, onion, celery etc), and absolutely delicious! When I tried to make it at home, it was good but a little too rich. Perhaps I didn't drain of the oil as well as I should have. I am thinking about mixing sardines and tuna for my next stuffed avocado.

[operagirl]

Just had a can of sardines, on top of rye crackers spread with yellow mustard for dinner. Yum!

[Antilope]

What, no one eats sardine ice cream, as made by the Iron Chefs? ;-)

I eat sardines with saltine or fancy crackers, a little sour cream and a touch of sea salt.

[BobB]

I simply line them head to tail on a buttered slice of good rye or pumpernickel. Pure sardine deliciousness!

[chinatown]

In Hawaii, a traditional fish prep is poke ( po kay). Usually raw fish with onions, sesame oil and a variety of other optional ingredients. I make a universally applauded sardine poke which consists of homemade salsa typico (choped tomato, onion, jalapeno, etc.) with canned sardines. everyone loves it. great with rice.

[ChrisOC]

Butter two slices of white bread, put the contents of one can of sardines in between, mashed a little with a fork. Don't forget to drizzle the oil from the can over the mashed sardines.

[lagatta]

Tinned sardines from the Mediterranean are a mainstay for my friends from the Maghreb (North Africa). They simply dump the sardines onto a plate or dish (a tapas dish is ideal) with the oil or tomato sauce and chop up some good onions (I use a red onion) and smother them. Harissa can be added if you like spice, so can ground cumin - but you don't have to add anything. This is eaten with bread - not in a sandwich; using the bread as a utensil to eat with your hand.

But the boneless fillets you have would also make a wonderful light-meal salad atop some nice greens, with the same onion.

[millygirl]

On crackers, preferably Carr's. Straight up.
Or as others suggested, in spaghetti with chilli peppers. Yum!

[LaLa]

that does sound good.

[karykat]

Here's a dumb question: are tinned sardines already cooked? It seems like lots of us like them on bread so they must not be raw, right?

I know they have fantastic health benefits but have had trouble getting to them. And would like to.

[toodie jane]

they are fully cooked.

Trader Joes has some generously-sized tins of smoked sardines for about $2.50 now.

Best cracker, IMHO, are Stoned Wheat Thins, original brand or Trader Joe's house- branded ones.

Best too, if eaten al fresco.

[kobetobiko]

Oh, now I found that I am just plain weird! I usually put sardines on hot rice and drizzle some soy sauce... Looks like I am the minority...

[Cinnabon]

Wow, so many people love this delicious items. This is one of the few canned foods we keep in the pantry.

We eat them like many suggested:
Put sardines on hot rice and drizzle some soy sauce
Saute onions & tomato, cook to a paste. Add sardines SP & bay leaf, serve with rice.
Put on a cracker dab of hot sauce & enjoy!
Mix with hot pasta

Now need to try the mustard method.

[Westvillagenycity]

Sardine Mexicana – on Saltine, Cebollas encurtidas (pickled onions home made) on top and squeeze lime. Finish with a cilantro.

I don't know I can post this site but.....here is How to make Cebollas encurtidas. I made it and can not stop eating with many things.
http://laylita.com/recipes/2008/03/10...

[jedi1354]

personally i like using my mouth but on a quality cracker with cheese

[chazzerking]

black rye, thin sliced red onion, dash of hot sauce. Mmmm.

[Eat_Nopal]

In my dad's town their Seafood Gastronomic Intellet was nil... as such the only type of seafood they had was from a can... and Sardines (the Mexican brands are most often packed in Tomato sauce) where the most frequent type they had... usually chopped Sardines mixed with onions, jalapenos, lime juice, the tomato sauce & what ever fresh herbs were in season (Thyme, Marjoram, Spearmint, Oregano)... that is basically how I learned to prepare these.

[kare_raisu]

I think this is pretty typical in Veracruz as well. With lots a cilantro and limon those canned sardines in tomato sauce are fantastic comida naca for filling warm tortillas. Its the official work lunch of me!

[Passadumkeg]

I work as a registered Maine sea kayak guide in the summer. I take a bunch of tourists paddling around the Maine coast. I love it when we take a break on the beach of some island, I whip out a can of sardines from my dry bag, rip off the top and dig in with my fingers, when done lick my fingers, rinse out can in ocean, throw it back in my kayak and tell the folks time to get back in the boats. The reactions of the folks are far ranging and often hilarious.

[smtucker]

You don't bring enough to share? That would be the chowish thing to do. :-)

[Passadumkeg]

Twelve people? No Wonder Bread? I do cook for 9 on 3-5 day camping trips along The Maine Island Trail. I do bring tins of sardines, but once opened, I'm usually the only on that eats them. The same w/ lox. Americans are funny, fussy fish eaters.

[jnk]

The way my father taught me, bakery rye bread, sweet butter and the sardines on top. Top that off with some stewed prunes wit heavy cream and you've got a great meal and a coronary.

[Passadumkeg]

"a great meal and a coronary" Nope a Zen delight. The prunes and sardines balance the butter & cream. Yin & yang of food (I hope.). I'm taking ONE can of Beech Cliff Herring steaks in La. hot sauce on today's paddle.

[cubeoccupant]

Japanese style - empty about half of the oil in the can, heat the entire can on a frying pan, when the oil starts bubbling over, take it off the fire, sprinkle shichimi pepper, soy sauce, and squeeze a lemon wedge, maybe a little bit of minced scallions, eat with white rice

[Old E.]

On a saltine with a pickled jalapeno slice. ... or Tabasco.

[lamaranthe]

Mashed with Dijon mustard, then spread on a toast.