Participants describe sardines as a healthy and versatile food that many eat straight from the can, in sandwiches, with hot sauce, or in salads. Several note they have eaten them since childhood or recently added them for nutrition, often pairing with tuna or other seafood several times a week. Quality matters for taste, and some use them for quick weight loss fasts or as a protein source during calorie deficits. Others struggle with the smell or flavor and prefer alternatives like mackerel.
What this discussion establishesSome find sardines tasty and easy to eat regularly while others report a persistent dislike even after multiple attempts.
Still openWhich preparation methods work best for those who find the flavor challenging remains open.
Nothing here is advice.
Not long ago I learned these count as a superfood and taste quite good when choosing a high-quality option. I've collected several nice recipes yet I also enjoy consuming them directly from the tin. I'd be interested in hearing what others think and any ideas they might have.
My spouse really likes these so now I get groups of ten when shopping. Still I never touch any myself. Separately I finish off quite a lot of tuna on my own.
Tuna forms the bulk of what I consume from the sea, though sardines show up from time to time. They've always struck me as beneficial and I've had them going back to childhood, yet the real priority for me stays on keeping portions of fish along with other ocean foods steady in my meals, no fewer than three occasions weekly. Not long ago I picked up a large batch of blue crabs and went through sixteen.
My father had a strong liking for sardines that I ended up sharing too. He preferred them layered on bread alongside sliced red onion and mayonnaise. Lately I have picked up tins from the big warehouse retailer, going for the imported kind most often. Quality really matters when choosing these fish. The western ocean variety sold there tasted awful to me, though our cat goes crazy for them.
I've been mulling over sampling sardines thanks to their superfood hype. I'm a big fan of that see-food eating style. Hold up though. That's what kicked off the whole thing. Lol
I concur with that assessment regarding the canned fish. They offer solid standards and a fair cost. During discounts I stock up on multiple packs. Currently my storage holds around three hundred tins. These make up a regular part of my meals. Consuming them plain from the container works fine, or mixed with some spicy liquid. The best approach I've found for dropping weight is limiting intake to just these fish along with water and the sauce across three full days. That typically results in losing a few pounds.
How high was the interest they approved for your borrowing against house value?
Sardines appeal to me a lot. In addition they can be used in multiple ways including right from the container or prepared as a topping or tossed into a bowl of greens. I have them minimally on a weekly basis.
You look set for the fish end times. I enjoy eating them with spicy sauce mixed right in the tin as well.
I gave it my absolute best effort over and over yet those fish still fail to appeal in the slightest.
Haha I spotted this spot down in Delaware with solid rates on half a bushel of top grade males. That happened while visiting relatives near the shore at the start of the week. They carried nothing except live stock so I cooked them myself. It beat every other rate I checked because competitors wanted far more for a full load.
I figured tomato sauce wouldn't work for me with these, but it turns out it does. Mustard had always been my thing.
Back in the day I lived for quite a while up in northern Virginia. Starting from the early eighties our family kept a place by the shore for summers. Recalling those times when I would buy crabs in bulk amounts straight from the dock at reasonable costs. In that period I managed to shell one out faster than sixty seconds. Sadly that time has gone by.
Those were really the times back then. A few times each year I head out to grab some crabs myself. This visit I just couldn't fit it in. Seafood was always a regular thing in my upbringing. We spent summers at the shore in New Jersey or that inlet spot. We'd hook some flatfish and cook them right there at the camping area. Once I relocated to the hills farther from the coast it got tough.
I swapped seaside spots for highland terrain on my own. Years earlier our place included a pier right beside it for grabbing crabs independently. I handed my children poultry tied to a cord and watched the amusement get going.
These are great memories!
I have one in the kitchen and another at my job but they are not part of this.
I really enjoy canned tuna but stick strictly to the white albacore kind. Excellence matters greatly with this seafood. I came across some details once yet plenty of people who sampled the item ended up avoiding it for quite some time afterward. Several options turn out reliable. One brand in particular remains my usual pick.
For sure, nothing but sardines for 3 days definitely gets tiring. I give them up for a week or two afterwards.
Preserved fish shows up in my meals daily including sardines mackerel kippers plus salmon. I handle the canning for salmon myself and last week finished six cases of half pint sockeye. Favorites run to spicy olive oil sardines along with the smoked small kind for that category while mackerel choices cover sweet chili and plain oil versions with similar picks for kippered herring. Another area I track involves the omega three index which gets checked yearly across six years keeping results in the thirteen to fifteen percent range. Quite a lot of fish.
Pairing those little fish with plain crackers and a splash of fiery sauce makes a great treat. Mixing in some shellfish every so often gives a fresh twist. Deep down the sauce is really what draws me in though it looks like no one notices.
I'm really into those little fish with spicy sauce or peppers added. Lately I've grabbed more ocean catches overall since the energy versus muscle fuel balance works out nicer during my cut. A solid steak tastes great yet packs far too many calories while I'm keeping intake low.
It's frustrating that fish doesn't appeal to me at all. Everyone talks about how nutritious they are, yet the sole types I tolerate happen to be tuna mixed into salad and battered cod served with that creamy sauce, neither of which counts as particularly wholesome. Those who enjoy salmon or sardines have it easy in comparison.
I'm steadily eating my way through twelve tins of kippers these days.
For a few weeks my usual shop lacked the brand I normally get. It looked like nearly every kind of those canned fish had vanished from shops around here during that stretch of summer, which struck me as weird. That led me to order a pack of another one through a website, and the quality came out pretty close to what I was used to.
Really appreciate you sharing this! I nearly added that same line myself, but figured nobody else would catch the reference. I used to be totally into Ace.
I gave sardines a shot hoping my taste buds would adjust but found the whole thing pretty tough going. Sampled a can of mackerel instead and that went down way smoother. Had some straight from the container then added spicy sauce to what was left and enjoyed the kick it added. Maybe the same trick would help with sardines.
Five years ago I moved to Germany, though Greece is where I originally came from. Sardines that are fresh count as an amazing food for health. In my homeland they appear in huge quantities and cost very little. The flavor of those preserved in tins remains a mystery, while grilling the fresh catch is unbeatable. Unfortunately I can't locate any around here at the moment. My favorite preparation involves putting them on the barbecue and adding a sauce made from lemon juice mixed with olive oil and oregano. 🙂
All sardines aren't the same. Order a sampler pack of a premium brand from the site. A bit expensive, but not in the same zip code as the warehouse store ones (not that there's anything wrong with those). Even the olive oil used in the premium ones seems a little exotic.
Sardines show up in my meals from time to time, though not nearly often enough given how strongly they smell, even with all the benefits they bring. I ran across a comparison chart on seafood and contaminants a while back, and it looked like sardines came out ahead of mackerel on at least one of those elements.
Back then the odor put me off sardines completely. On a journey to India I discovered a dish made by seasoning fresh ones with local spices before frying them in oil. Getting fresh sardines around here turns out much tougher than finding the canned kind. When I used canned ones for that dish the result didn't match the flavor.
The issue stems from mercury buildup. Some mackerel types caught off Norway carry no real risk. By comparison the king variety and similar fish contain dangerous amounts of that same toxin. Still this issue really only affects little children and infants to be honest.
Mackerel from the Atlantic tends to stay low in the chain of predators because of its modest dimensions. For that reason, amounts of contaminants like mercury stay modest in most cases. It may not match the low levels found in sardines, yet it should contain much smaller quantities compared to tuna. The king variety seems to carry more of those substances, though I believe it isn't available canned.
Got the King from that label mixed up with king mackerel. Forget it. 😆
Sardines are my favorite fish ever. Can you share extra info on your father's sandwich? It includes red onion slices, some mayo, and the sardines themselves? Were there more components involved? Which bread type did he prefer? I think a crusty baguette might suit it really well.
Essentially that covers everything. He combined diced purple onion with sardines from a tin, mayonnaise and leafy greens. Typically he placed the mixture onto two pieces of basic white bread. Adding minced capers along with tomato inside a wrap made from tortilla is my preference. Plenty of other options exist, for example swapping in spring onions in place of the red variety.
If you have tried it, this topic is still open. Sign in to reply — it takes a minute.