Thinking Outside the Can

As far as most Americans can tell, sardines spend their entire lives in those familiar rectangular tins. Congregating in their proper taxonomic groups--Sardina oliveoila, S. mustarda, S. tomatosaucum--they glide through pelagic waters in giant, sun-glinting schools, fearing only saw-toothed sharks and Japanese fishing boats with giant magnets. It must have been natural selection that finally eliminated those inefficient metal “keys.”

Not to denigrate the canned sardine. This highly perishable fish has been “laid up” since the Middle Ages and was, in fact, the first fish to be canned, as early as 1834 in Europe and 1876 on the East Coast of the U.S. Oscar Wilde’s son, Vyvyan Holland, even created his own sardine cellar, buying only the finest French labels, packaged in years that corresponded to the best vintages of sauterne.

But if you’ve eaten fresh sardines, you know that the culinary delights of this creature don’t have to be prefaced by the illustrated image of a stern Norwegian sea captain or a giant fish wearing a crown.

There is some confusion as to what actually constitutes a sardine. The term is used for a variety of small fish in the bustling Clupeidae family, which includes herrings, sprats and pilchards. The primary Mediterranean sardine is a young pilchard. (Their abundance around the island of Sardinia spawned the name.) On our own Atlantic shores, they are usually young herrings.

Here on the West Coast, our lightweight champion is Sardinops sagax, the Pacific or California true sardine. This morsel proved so popular to the packers of Cannery Row in Monterey that it was nearly harvested to extinction. The Pacific sardine, fished at rates as high as 4 million tons in 1934, all but disappeared by the 1950s. But the fish resurfaced in 1979 and has slowly recovered.

When it comes to preparation, it really doesn’t matter whether you have true Pacific sardines or adolescent pilchards from Europe. The main thing is to buy them ultra-fresh and use them promptly. The traditional season for the European sardine is late spring through summer, but, if you look in specialty seafood markets, you can usually find the migrating Pacifics at any time of the year.

There are many ways to cook a sardine. (Or not cook a sardine--some prefer them raw in a terrine or pate.) One of the most time-honored applications is the escabeche method, wherein the fish are quickly browned in olive oil, then marinated for up to two days in a mixture that includes vinegar, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Sardines are tasty fried as well, though they’re fatty enough as it is.

For simplicity in both preparation and flavor, nothing beats grilling the little devils whole, as they do near the docks in Portugal and Spain. Gut the fish but leave the heads intact, unless you just can’t stand the stare-down. After grilling you can devour with knife and fork, or employ the time-honored “corn on the cob” method.

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Grilled Sardines

Serves 6

2 pounds fresh sardines (12 to 24 fish), gutted and scaled but with heads intact

Olive oil or melted butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup fresh parsley, minced

2 lemons, cut into wedges

Place fish side-by-side on aluminum foil (or inside fish-grilling attachment for barbecue). Brush inside and out, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set on grill, about 4 inches above coals. Grill, turning once, until browned on each side (about 6 minutes total). Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot with lemon wedges.