Ideas for Using Canned Sardines

Sardines are canned by one of two methods; Mediterranean or Norwegian. In the Norwegian method the sardines are held alive until their guts are empty. They are then smoked before the head is removed. In the Mediterranean method they are gutted and the head is removed. In both methods they are brined, packed in the can, steamed and drained. The cans are filled with water, oil or sauce and sealed, then heated in a pressurized retort. The cans are finally cleaned, packaged and placed in storage for flavor to develop.

Sardines in sauce, most often mustard sauce or tomato sauce with or without chilis, or in oil with chili are eaten mainly as snacks, but can be used on sandwiches, particularly Scandinavian open face sandwiches. Those packed in plain oil are used in salads and spreads, particularly in Scandinavia.

Varieties: Soya Oil, Olive Oil, Spring Water, Tomato Sauce, Mustard Sauce, Lemon Sauce, Hot Peppers, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Chili

Kippered sardines, often called "Kipper Snacks."

A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split into a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering woodchips (typically oak). Kippering has come to mean the preservation of any fish, poultry, beef or other meat in like manner. The process is usually enhanced by cleaning, filleting, butterflying or slicing the food to expose maximum surface area to the drying and preservative agents

Eating Sardines by Themselves:

• Try giving them a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice if you're eating them out of the can.
• Seasoned with lemon juice and black pepper with maybe some cayenne pepper on top

On Bread, Crackers, or Toast - Mustard, Hot Sauce, Vinegar, etc.:

• Mustard, or Hot Sauce, on crispy saltines.
• Buttered rye bread with spicy brown mustard and a very thin scattering of sweet onion. Thin slices of tomato are good also.
• Place one sardine on a piece of toast or a cracker. Sprinkle with a little cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. Then top with Dijon mustard.
• With Cocktail Sauce: Saltines, horseradish, ketchup (or cocktail sauce), lemon juice and sardines
• With Mustard and Pickled Red Onion: Spread a teaspoon of mustard on a crispbread, stop with sardines and gently smash into an even layer with the back of a fork. Place a thin layer of pickled red onions over the sardines. Pickled red onions: Thinly slice and halve some red onion. Bring the 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 tsp. sugar, and 1/4 tsp. salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and add onion. Let sit for 15 minutes before using. Enough for a small can of sardines.
• Sardine sandwich with dill pickle on a whole grain & seed roll
• Top a slice of whole-wheat toast with sardines marinated in extra-virgin olive oil, herbes de Provence, minced red bell pepper, and black olives. Let the oil soak into the toast for a few minutes, then top with thin-sliced English cucumbers. Drizzle with a little additional oil and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh-cracked pepper. 
• Sour Sardines: Sautee 1 sm-med onion sliced thinly in olive oil until tender. Add about 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar and simmer until reduced. Drain sardines in spring water and add fish to onions. At this point you can add capers or sliced green olives if you like. Heat until fish are warmed and then add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve with your favourite bread...the crustier the better.

On Bread, Crackers, or Toast - Cream Cheese or Avocado:

• Top a bagel with cream cheese and sardines. Add a little onion and tomato.
• Cream cheese or sour cream, top with a chunk of sardine, fresh dill and chives or finely diced red onion.
• Dump a whole tin, with oil, into a bowl with some soft cream cheese and thin sliced onion and mash it all up. Eat with crackers and hot sauce. Cold beer is recommended.
• Alton Brown's famous toast/avocado open-face sandwich (sardines in olive oil, parsley, sherry vinegar, lemon zest, black pepper; toasted sourdough bread topped with mashed avocado and sardines, remaining sardine oil dressing on top, sea salt, and a squeeze of lemon)

With Eggs:

• Hard boil two eggs and then mash them with a can of sardines packed in olive oil. Eat it on crackers or bread.
• Sardine & Hard-cooked Egg Sandwich: Rye bread, mayo, sardines, sliced hard-cooked eggs, thinly sliced onion, thin slices of tomato, salt and pepper.
• Sardine & Fried Egg Open-face Sandwich: Danish rye, buttered; egg fried sunny side up, mess up the yolk a little and flip, but take out while still a wee bit "sloppy;" thin slices of English cucumber and a couple of sardines to top it. Sprinkle with a little fresh dill and eat with fork and knife.
• Fisherman’s Eggs: Heat the oven to 500°F and preheat an ovenproof serving dish for five minutes. Place a can of sardines, a small sliced shallot, a few sprigs of chopped parsley, and two cloves of finely chopped garlic in the warm dish. Add some black pepper and put the dish back in the oven for six minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, break four eggs into a bowl, and pour them gently on top of the sardine mixture. Season with salt and pepper and put the dish back in the oven for seven minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but still jiggly. Remove the dish and let it sit for five minutes (the eggs keep on cooking even out of the oven). Set out with toast and hot sauce. Makes 4 servings.

Pasta:

• Fry them in cast iron pan in a little oil and then near the end toss in a bunch of breadcrumbs or panko. I put this atop a bed of pasta tossed with olive oil, italian parsley, greek olives, red bell peppers, and whatever else seems appealing that's around the pantry. Finish with Parmesan, black pepper and a squeeze of lemon
• Sautee a little garlic in olive oil, add some red pepper flakes, parsley, capers and sardines packed in tomato sauce. Add a little tapenade or black olives if you have them. Or use plain sardines and add lemon juice and zest. Serve with pasta or warm, crusty bread.
• Linguini with sardines. I sautee onions in the olive oil from the can and "disolve" an anchovy or two at the same time. I add a lot of chopped garlic, chopped flat leaf parsley, a handful of capers, dried chilies, lemon zest & a squirt of the juice, a dash of pasta water, and then gently fold in the canned sardines.
• Mark Bittman's Pasta with Sardines, Breadcrumbs and Capers
• Sardine Linguine with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives (seriouseats.com)