I got an email a little while ago. The sender wanted to know why I have so many reviews of sardines and other canned fish. There are two reasons: First of all, sardines are really very good for you. Lots of protein, lots of beneficial fish oils, lots of Omega-3 fatty acids. And secondly, I like them. I've eaten fish all my life and sardines are a convenient and delicious way to have fish for lunch. So, whenever I see a brand or type of sardine I haven't tried before, I buy at least one can to give it a chance. Especially when they're cheap, like these Ocean Prince ones were in the local Big Lots! store.As sardines go, these are pretty good - they really are skinless, and the backbone has been pulled out, and all the nasty intestinal stuff has been removed from them too. What's left is four or five medium-sized sardines and some oil.
Despite the fact that Ocean Prince labels these as "premium" they don't have the lovely smooth-yet-firm texture of the really nice, tiny, two-layered smoked sardines in olive oil that really are premium. They're packed more roughly, and the texture is more coarse. But they were also 85 cents a can, and that's a trade-off I can live with.
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I dress up cheap sardines with thinly sliced onions and vinegar and then mush it all together to use as a cracker spread. I've been eating tinned sardines since I was a small child. My mother used to serve them grilled along with tomato soup.
ReplyDeleteI love sardines also. I grew up eating the kind with tomato sauce. I still enjoy them. On toast points or in a salad.
ReplyDeleteI also buy fresh sardines from Chinatown and cook them with tofu in a stew.