If you’re eating them primarily for health reasons, why stick to sardines? There are other oily fish you may enjoy more:
Salmon
Trout
Mackerel
Herring
Pilchards
Kipper
Eel
Whitebait
Fresh Tuna
Anchovies
Swordfish
Bloater
Cacha
Carp
Hilsa
Jack fish
Katla
Orange roughy
Pangas
Sprats
Not all of these may be readily available where you are, but there ought to be enough to give you plenty of variety.
Get the kind that are packed in mustard. Put them on saltines and shake some hot sauce on them; Tabasco will do fine.
You should be able to get them packed in water, oil (olive and soya are locally available), tomato sauce, and mustard…and probably other things as well.
I prefer the ones packed in mustard sauce: mash them and stir them until they are an 'omogenous mess, guvnah, and spread them on saltine crackers. The crunch of the saltines hides the crunch of the spine/bones (which may be gross, but are loaded with calcium). They’re also good (IMHO) in deviled eggs.
Hot sauce is a good bet, as mentioned.
I just had some for lunch on Ryvita wholegrain crackers. My local supermarket turns out several different flavours; these were in oil with whole red chillies. Yum.
| to the threadshitters. :rolleyes:
Get the skinless boneless ones. They’re right there next to the rest. They’re more expensive, but worth it.
A tiny dash of Tabasco sauce can go a long way.
Are there skinless and boneless sardines? In the UK? Ahh, you’re in the US. Good grief, I wish I could find something like that here. I liked sardines when I was a kid, but that was because my mom bought them fresh and spent whole afternoons cleaning them. Lovely food, but I’d never spend all that time.
Didn’t marinara used to (ages ago) have sardines in it by default or is that another tomato sauce I’m confusing?
Either way - any body got a good recipe for tomato sauce for pasta with sardines? I bet that would be good.
Wow, I’ve always bought them in mustard or hot sauce and eaten them right out of the can with crackers and milk. (Yes, I know it sounds gross, but I like it.) I’ve never even considered eating them on a sandwich or mixing them with something out of the can. Thanks for all the yummy ideas everyone.
I 5th or so the hot sauce and saltine angle. Purists like myself in this school of of thought use Tabasco and plain saltine crackers. It certainly isn’t boring.
Ar? 
Actually tomatoes and capers with sardines sound pretty snacky.
Sounds like something out of a gay porn film.
Nah
Fair enough - but I still say it would be good.
Mama Zappa:
Profit!!
Sardine “salad” (w/scallions, vinegar & oil) makes a fine stuffing for an avocado. The rich smoothness of the avocado sets off the fishie tanginess quite well. Perhaps a dusting of parmesan?
My recipe is from a Mexican cookbook. This one has similar ingredients, presented differently.
For any recipe–try different types of sardine. I prefer the smaller ones. Pretty good simply on Ry-Krisp with pieces of red onion…
And I’ve seen some interesting pasta sauces, usually made with sardines in olive oil.
I used to make “sardine salad” as a kid. I must have started with the boneless, skinless, canned sardines - I was under 12 and opening the can was pretty much the limit of my culinary skills.
As I recall I opened the can, drained the oil (they didn’t even have tuna packed in water in those days), and mixed the sardines with sweet pickle relish to taste. (The same idea as tuna salad, but without adding mayo.) It was an easy lunch during my elementary school days.
I like them on a nice crusty baguette with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a good shot of hot mustard and/or hot sauce. Yum. Now I’m hungry.
Oh, and I don’t care about guts or bones or whatever. It’s all good. 