A thread in The BBQ Pit was hijacked by a discussion of surströmming, followed by anchovies, followed by herring and sardines. I agree that surströmming and hakarl sound disgusting. The others though? Very tasty. I’ve just had a few bites of pickled herring.
Anyway, here’s a thread for discussion of tinned, pickled, or fermented fish.
I didn’t want to join the highjack.
Anchovies really add flavor to a leg of lamb. Make several holes along the leg with a thin knife, like a boning knife, and shove those little suckers in there. Toast as usual.
Anchovies are my secret ingredient in chili. Drain the oil off a can of flat filets, mince them fine and add to a large pot of chili (6 quarts).
When I was in college I would occasionally get anchovies on pizza. Haven’t done it in years, because nobody I know can stand them, and I’m not going to get a whole pizza for myself.
It’s been a long time since I ate any, and temptation to have some again is easy to resist.
Reminds me of a classic Woody Allen anecdote.
"A man who could not marry off his ugly daughter visited Rabbi Shimmel of Cracow.
“My heart is heavy,” he told the Rav, “because God has given me an ugly daughter.”
“How ugly?” the Seer asked.
“If she were lying on a plate with a herring, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
The Seer of Cracow thought for a longtime and finally asked, “What kind of herring?”
The man, taken aback by the query, thought quickly and said, “Er - Bismarck”.
“Too bad,” the Rabbi said. “If it was Maatjes, she’d have a better chance.”
I worked at a pizza place and we hated it when people ordered anchovies. It didn’t happen often, but when it did it was awful. You just couldn’t get that smell off your fingers no matter how many times you washed your hands.
I pretty much always have tins of sardines, sprats, mackerel, and herring in the house, as well as a jar of anchovies. I’ve had surströmming exactly once in my house and plan to never repeat that. One of the very few foods – perhaps the only food – I’ve had so far that I found absolutely as disgusting as advertised.
A smidge or so of anchovy paste in spaghetti Bolognese is very good, too.
When I was about 10 or so, our family was invited to a celebration which I have no memory of what was being celebrated. It was a catered backyard affair, and it was my first time eating pickled herring. I loved it. I like it pickled or in sour cream. Yum. My mom never served it to us (nor did I ever see her eat any), because when she was a little kid during the Depression, one month the only thing the whole family had to eat was a barrel of pickled herring. I can understand her aversion.
I love a good lox/cream cheese/capers on a (poppyseed bagel).
At a going-away party for a coworker years (decades?) ago, someone ordered a pizza for the guest of honor to be delivered to the restaurant where we wer having the party. That particular pizzeria put whole anchovies – including heads and tails – on the pizza. Guest of Honor was the only one to eat any of it. It was his favorite.
Of the fish mentioned, yes, surströmming and hakarl sound disgusting. Wikipedia quote:
A newly opened can of surströmming has one of the most putrid food smells in the world, even stronger than similarly fermented fish dishes such as the Korean hongeohoe, the Japanese kusaya or the Icelandic hákarl.
The others can be fine, though they may be an acquired taste. I love herring fillets with onions in wine sauce with sour cream on the side. Anchovy is great as an occasional pizza topping (not an everyday one) and in Caesar salads.
Sardines is a rather loose category describing many small fish. Most of us think of “sardines” as those things in little flat tin cans usually packed in oil. I’m not too fond of those, and I’ve never tried making fresh ones at home. But many years ago a new seafood restaurant opened near where I used to live, and as is typical of new restaurants, the menu contained lots of good stuff, which tends to prevail until management figures out how much money they’re losing! 
One of their early dishes was the “fisherman’s platter”, which is usually code for “bunch of crappy sea creature parts we throw together for diners not discriminating enough to know what they want”. But in this case it was an excellent assortment in those heady early days, and my favourite part was the pan-fried sardines. I’m sure it was by far the cheapest component of the dish, so there was lots of it, but that was fine with me!
Relegated to the bottom of the pizza-topping list, anchovies in the States are often poorly cured in weak white vinegar and thought of as “fishy,” musty, and too strongly flavored to be given a second thought.
I actually do not mind fermented or “stinky” foods; I draw the line at actually rotten, though… Re. specifically surströmming, I have not been to Sweden for many years but I believe it is usually eaten with other stuff, not by itself straight from the can 
With a type of flatbread, some boiled potatoes,onion, and often chased with aquavit. Still awful, and I like fermented foods like natto and fish sauce straight out of the bottle.
That sounds like something I would like to try! I but the bottled anchovy sauce for various things but have never even considered it in chili.
These types of anchovies are absolutely awesome. I bought a tin of the Greek version when I was in Greece and just cracked them open a few days ago. Plump, firm, delicate flavor. Just awesome, and absolutely nothing like the typical salt-cured stuff we see here in the US.
This guy actually recommends going to a bait store (if you live on either coast of the US) and getting bait anchovies to make something approximating what you will find in Spain (as tapas) or Greece (as mezze):
Here’s a thread about herring at the corner market.
I kind of like the canned sardines as is. But what I’ve discovered is that if you squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice onto it, it reaches another whole level of deliciousness.
The “fish and chips” that I have most often is a couple of hash browns topped with tinned sardines in chili oil and some thinly sliced onion.
That sounds good! I occasionally have made a sardine sandwich (American tinned variety). Been a while though, so I don’t recall what if any condiments I used.
Now I’m thinking I’ll see if there’s an orphan can of sardines in the cabinet, and use an aioli – got sriracha aioli, barbecue aioli, maple-bacon aioli, a couple other flavors I could try.
I might let the cats lick the can, too, although I wonder if that much fish-infused oil would be bad for them.
I’ve wanted to try Dutch harringhappen, but it looks like there is no place in the USA for it. Only way is Holland itself.
Last time I had sardines was in a little Basque Bar. Served with a dry salami and cheese, crackers. After a night of drinking, it was great!
I love the chovies and gotta have em on my pizza.