The Last Word (for now) on Sardines - Russ Parsons Has It

After writing about my experience filetting sardines and using them to make an escabeche, I got an email from my friend Russ Parsons, food and wine writer for the Los Angeles Times, and the author of How To Pick a Peach (a fascinating read).

Russ is a certified fan of sardines and, when writing about them for the Times, described his way of dealing with the bones:

The flesh of the sardine is so tender and soft that you could probably do all of the cleaning using a butter knife. But in the interest of time and a neater piece of fish, you'll probably want to use a paring knife.

 

Still, there's not much to it. Begin by laying the fish on a board and making a small cut on the dorsal side right behind the head and straight down through the backbone. Make another incision on the belly side just behind the front fins. Holding the fish under running water, gently twist the head from the body. If you do this right, most of the innards will come away with the head. Discard these.

 

Using the same small knife, cut a slit the length of the belly and rinse out the inside. Lay the fish on its back on the cutting board and make two shallow parallel cuts the length of the backbone. You'll want to be careful not to cut all the way through the meat.

 

With your thumb and forefinger, grasp the exposed backbone near the tail and pull up, using the fingers of your other hand to hold the meat in place. The backbone and larger ribs should lift cleanly away, leaving you a neatly butterflied fish.

 

Finish the preparation by scraping away the black skin along the ribs and cutting away the rib endings on either side. There will still be some bones left, but these will be so fine they won't be a problem. Do check to make sure all of the bones around the collar of the fish are gone.

 

And then Russ sent along his recipe for Sarde in Saor, the classic Venetian sweet-sour dish that's related to escabeche.  Russ says that the raisins and pinenuts are optional, that the way to eat it is on a slice of toast and that the traditional Venetian accompaniment would be a glass of a less Verdicchio.  Mille grazie, Russ.

 

 

SARDE IN SAOR

From Russ Parsons and The Los Angeles Times

 

Makes 4 to 6 servings

 

Oil

2 pounds sardines, cleaned

Flour

Salt

2 pounds onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup white wine

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup toasted pinenuts

 

Heat 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil in a large heavy skillet until it is hot enough that food sizzles when added to it. Lightly flour the sardines on both sides and fry in the hot oil until lightly browned, less than a minute per side. Using a slotted spatula, lift the sardines from the oil and drain on paper towels. Season with salt.

 

Drain the oil from the skillet, but don’t wipe it clean. Combine the onions and the olive oil in the skillet and cook over very low heat until the onions are very soft and just beginning to turn golden (not brown). This can take as long as an hour. Stir the onions from time to time, scraping the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits of sardine that are stuck there.

 

When the onions are soft and sweet, add the vinegar, white wine and bay leaf and increase the heat to medium. Cook until the liquid has reduced to a glaze. When you tip the pan to the side, there should be only a couple of tablespoons of liquid left. Remove the pan from the heat, discard the bay leaf, and stir in the raisins and pinenuts.

 

Arrange 1 layer of sardines in the bottom of a small baking dish. Cover it with a thin layer of onions. Repeat with the remaining sardines and onions, pouring any liquid that’s left in the pan over top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 days before serving.

Comments

[Sandy]

Hi Dorie,
I just had to tell you that I just got your cookbook "Baking from my home to yours". It is the best baking cookbook I have ever seen. I've made a few recipes from it and each one has come out great.
Thank you for taking the time to write such a treasure :)

[justfoodnow]

I don't know where to start on this site!! I want to read everything, write it down and cook.
Even put in my own recipe book for the children!!!
How heavenly - delicious friday night entertainment.

From Cape Town, greetings and best wishes

[Marina]

Fantastic. My boyfriend has a collection of canned sardines and oysters that I have been dying to peel open. I don't know if he had any intentions to eat them, but perhaps if I nudge him a but we can have a fine treat!

[Isabella]

ops ! use little small raisins and it should be not too many. The original name is Sardee in saor

[Isabella]

Hi Dorie!
I am Isabella and I am from Venice, this is a typical venetian food. A little suggestion, il you cook onions with a peeled small apple or, an half of an apple, it much more easier to digest and it doesn,t come up again!
Caio da Venezia
Isabella

[Justin Smathers]

What a wonderful post and so articulate. This may be an extraordinary question for this site; however, when I was very, very young, I can recall my paternal grandmother had a wooden crock which she kept in a room of the kitchen called a 'Summer Kitchen'. From that crock, on special brunch occasions, she would bring in herrings and chop them into individual serving sizes before plating them beautifully on beds of homegrown lettuce with magnificent garden tomatoes (the likes of which I haven't seen for many years). My Dad used to call the herring (I think I remember correctly) shmultz herring with onions which we ate on toasted rye bread. Have you or any of your readers ever heard of such a dish? Would anyone know how it was made? Thanks again for your wonderful and informative writings.

[Maria]

Great post! I love How to Pick a Peach. It is a great read!

[Eleanor Holt]

Thanks so much for instructions and recipes for sardines. For the first time in my long cooking life, Whole Foods in Cleveland has them often and I love them. Bittman provides good direction and some recipes, but I am always looking for new ones. Glad to have found you as well. Eleanor