Canned Sardines Get a Bad Rap

A couple of years ago when I first went on my “clean up your act to stay off meds” diet, one of the foods I identified as being particularly good for heart health was sardines. They made it into the positive foods column, alongside things like avocados, walnuts, whole grains, garlic, and a host of other foods that have been seen to lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol.

Sure, that’s a gross oversimplification of the literature, but the bottom line was the diet worked.

One of my big regrets from that experiment was that I never found a way to incorporated canned sardines into my diet.

When I was living out west, we had a good supply of fresh sardines, and I enjoyed those simply prepared over a hot wood grill several times in nicer restaurants. But the idea of canned sardines was never appealing. Maybe it has something to do with not growing up in a household that ate the food. Maybe it was about the reputation this food has for being stinky.

Regardless, I was determined to give these little buggers a shot, and yesterday I finally did.

There are wonderful upsides to canned sardines. They are super convenient, packed with nutrients, low on the food chain, sustainably caught, and relatively inexpensive. But none of that matters if you can’t bring yourself to eat them.

Maybe it was the brand that I bought, but my first forray into canned sardines found the fish to be no more pungent than canned tuna. But perhaps that’s also because of how I ate them.

This being my first can of sardines, I was neither expecting them to be so large. Nor was I expecting them to contain full skeletons. Yes, I’ve been told you can eat the soft bones, so I was unconcerned with removing every last little piece, but it was quick work to slice each fish in half and lift out the vertebrae in one or two large strips.

Following one of the suggestions from chowhound, I layered fillets of sardines on top of avocado toast. And they were great. The creaminess of the avocado went well with the richness of the fish. After a few bites, I did feel like adding a spicier element to the experience. Sriracha and Tabasco were both lovely for their own reasons, but in the end I preferred the zip from Tabasco the best.

I have to say, those were pretty good. I’m not going to rave about just how delicious they were, because they weren’t. It was fine.

This felt like a healthy, wholesome, and nutritious lunch. Now my hunch is that there are even more delicious ways to prepare sardines. Alex Fergus has a longer list of preparations than the Chowhound post. And I’ve got another can of sardines in the pantry.

My goal is to try out a few different brands and see if I can find my way to a favorite. Next in line is Goya. It too has all kinds of good words on the label, so we’ll see how it compares to this first experience with the form.

But I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve found another tasty way to eat myself to heart health. Which is good, because my plan tonight is to gorge on pizza and beer. There may even be a cannoli involved.

I’ve been told it’s all about balance. Clearly, I’m nailing it.