Recipe's for Sardines

[City__Datarer]

Just posting to thank the person who started this thread and everyone else who posted on it!

I had never eaten sardines but had bought a can a while back as "hurricane food." (I live in Florida, where we buy canned/bottled/packaged food in preparation for the possibility that a hurricane will knock the power out for a few days or, sometimes for some people, longer.)

I also had wanted to try sardines, since if I liked them, they would be relatively inexpensive and convenient (since they come in cans) to keep on hand, but I had the impression they were an acquired taste. (I realize now I was probably confusing them with anchovies, which I also have never had.)

So tonight I had my stir fry ingredients ready and was trying to decide whether to throw in a can of tuna or vary my seafood a bit (had a tuna stir fry a couple of days ago) and be adventurous and throw the sardines in.

I thought, let me see if anyone on City-Data can advise.

Well, after reading this thread, I threw in the sardines. Tastes fine, and so I'll make this again. I can't say anything yet about whether I'd like the taste of plain sardines, but in a stir fry with the ingredients I usually put in a stir fry (garlic, onions, paprika, ginger, curry powder, pepper, chili powder, a little tomato sauce, miscellaneous vegetables, and then mixed, after cooking, with some plain Greek yogurt), the sardines (which came unflavored, in spring water) more or less took on the taste of the stir fry, which is exactly what I wanted.

So thank you, everyone!

[MillennialUrbanist]

Originally Posted by City__Datarer

I had never eaten sardines but had bought a can a while back as "hurricane food." (I live in Florida, where we buy canned/bottled/packaged food in preparation for the possibility that a hurricane will knock the power out for a few days or, sometimes for some people, longer.)

I also had wanted to try sardines, since if I liked them, they would be relatively inexpensive and convenient (since they come in cans) to keep on hand, but I had the impression they were an acquired taste. (I realize now I was probably confusing them with anchovies, which I also have never had.)

Sardines, herrings, anchovies, sprats, and pilchards are all from the same family. So they taste quite similar. It's actually good to choose these fish over larger fish, like salmon or tuna. They're more plentiful, cheaper, and lower in mercury. The only catch (ha!) is that they have a flavor that puts off most Americans. So it's not surprising that a sizable portion of these fishes get used for things other than human food.

If you're anywhere near Miami, take a trip into a Russian or a Jewish neighborhood. Canned fish is popular in those cultures, so the selection is stores should be good. I, personally, like the Old Riga herring, imported from Latvia. It comes packed in oil or tomato paste, or as pate. When on sale, it costs as little as $0.79 a can, although usually closer to $1.99. It's too strong-flavored to use in recipes, but goes great on buttered toast or with cream cheese.

Old Riga makes a distinction between the fishes I listed, but I just go with herring. The labels are in both Cyrillic and English.