(no subject)

[coraa]

Conclusion on sardines: very very tasty, very flavorful (I 'cured' them in rice wine vinegar, mirin and soy sauce, and then drained them and lightly battered them with flour and Asahi, and pan-fried), but absolutely full of bones. It made eating the fish a very... strategic process, although a lot easier once I gave up the pretense of tact and used my fingers. (Does anyone know of a good way to work around a fish full of bones, besides filleting it? Filleting a fish this small is kind of a pain in the neck.)

Served over soba noodles and sauteed mustard greens. Like I said, pretty tasty, even with ninety million tiny little bones.

Comments

[bellwethr.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm.... I've only dealt with sardines with bones so small & soft that you can eat them whole.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the kind I'm most familiar with, too -- the little guys in cans, around 3 inches long, with really soft little bones and also cooked to death so the bones are doubly soft.

These were -- Wikipedia tells me that since they were bigger than 4 inches (I think they were 6-7 inches long) they're technically pilchards, and the bones were more like the bones you'd find in a salmon.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

I'd be tempted to say that bones are Nature's way for you to eat the sardines as they should be eaten, to wit, slowly, and with sufficient work in the eating to enhance the enjoyment of the eating. Some foods you must get into with effort and gusto, to savor to their fullest, knowing that you wouldn't enjoy them nearly as much as you would have had you not worked at it. I mean, really! Where would we be if all food were like strawberries, just pick them off the vine and pop them into the mouth, eh?


(...as I firmly squelch a persistent voice in the back of my head that says "a lot better off, probably"...)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Ha!

Yeah, I don't object to difficult food in theory -- I love whole steamed artichokes. I just draw the line at 'choking hazard.' ;)

[clairebaxter.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you can take comfort in knowing that it is polite to remove fish bones with your fingers. (Fish bones are the only exception to the "remove that way it went in" rule.)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

That's true! I've always liked the weird little exceptions to the rules -- it charms me that it's perfectly polite to eat asparagus spears with your fingers, for instance.