Raw, right out of the can? Or is there a way they should be cooked? Do they have to be filleted? Or are they like smelt and the bones are small enough to just eat? Theres a can of them in our cupboard, but I’m not going to open them if I don’t know how to prepare them. What do they taste like? Anything like tuna?
Sardines are eaten (by me) with saltine crackers and a beer. Some people like additional condiments like tomato or mustard based sauces. As far as “taste” goes sardines are the ultimate “fishy” taste. When someone says something tastes “fishy” you’ll know precisely what they mean after you’ve had some sardines.
Like most canned foods, they were most likely cooked before they were put in the can, and you can eat them on toast, whole. They taste like any other small, oily fish - so yeah, a bit like tuna but you wouldn’t get them mixed up in a blind tasting.
I’d say they taste more like smoked oysters, but again you wouldn’t get them mixed up. Very strong taste, as well as oily. I ate them once as part of a diet and still wonder how I managed to stay on that diet, just for that reason. Eat on crackers or in a salad. :eek:
They are an excellent source of calcium if you don’t remove the bones (you can’t choke on them), I prepare them by:
dumping one can in a small bowl (with bones)
tablespoon of oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
twist of lemon
dash of pepper
mix throughly (the bones will disolve)
add to crackers for good eatin’
Putting them on crackers is all well and good, but it’s not a particularly portable snack. If you want sardines to go, then make a sandwich out of them by putting them between two slices of buttered toast. (Bread doesn’t work so well because the fish are usually oily.) No need to mash them up first.
On a bet.
Sardines are cooked in the can before it is sealed. Some people, like my wife, actually clean (read de-gut) them but most people just eat them. I put them on crackers right out of the can and eat them along with a glass of milk.
I eat them right out of the can, sometime with hot sauce. Great snack when hunting, fishing, or hiking. Excellent source for the omega vitamins.
With soy sauce over a mound of steamy hot white rice.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmm 
My understanding is that all sardines are ready to eat, right from the can. The ones I get certainly are, they’ve been smoked.
There are sardines, then there are sardines. The good ones (IMHO) are packed as numerous whole fish, the more per can (=the smaller the fish) the better. There should be at least two layers of them, well over a dozen per can. These are the ones that give rise to expressions such as “packed in like sardines.” They come packed in olive oil or sild oil, whatever that is.
Then there are the less desirable larger ones, still whole fish, probably less than a dozen per can. And then there are filets, maybe a few per can, and sometimes what’s probably part of only one fish making up the whole contents. Often these are available in tomato sauce or mustard sauce. Absolute sacrilege.
If you’ve got good ones, they go great with some nice Gruyere cheese and some plain crackers. If you’ve got the lousy ones, you have my sympathy (although apparently many people enjoy them–heathens!).
I said “whole fish,” neglecting to point out that the heads have been removed.
I don’t eat them often, but when I do it’s right out of the tin.
Mash 'em onto a slice of fresh rye bread, top with thin slices of raw onion, place a slice of buttered rye on top, and serve with a hard-boiled egg and a cold beer.
The bones and skin are quite digestible, but if you’re squeamish, boneless-skinless sardines are also available.
What about the heads? You eat them too? With the eyes, brains, etc? And what about the other end? Their stomach contents, intestives and poop?
I dunno…
…if you’re squeamish, headless-eyeless-brainless-stomach contentsless-intestinesless-poopless sardines are also available.
Sometimes in a mustard sauce!
I’ve eaten fresh sardines, cooked up (fried) by an Italian friend. Yummy. They were quite larger than the canned type, but still not very big. Maybe six inches or so. I don’t think I’d add any salt to the canned variety myself. Try scrambling sardine fillets up with some (chicken) eggs. Chop them, of course.
We also used to eat anchovies on a sandwich of lightly mayo’d sourdough bread.
Peace,
mangeorge
Fresh sardines are great raw. Firm and meaty.
Gut them. Get rid of the head and back bone if you wish. Marinade them in lemon juice or (better IMHO) red wine vinegar for half an hour (the acid “cooks” them). Add extra vigin olive oil, salt pepper and torn parsley (or basil).
But there is no such fish as a ‘Sardine’.
They’re really herring, or some other small fish.
Sure there are. They come from Sardinia!