Grilling canned sardines is the perfect way to bring them to life, add some flavour, and give them a little more dignity if the whole 'canned' thing turns you off. Yes, they're already cooked so you just reheat them and give them a little charred edge.
You can eat them right out of the can, top them with onions or peppers, or add condiments such as mustard, mayo, or hot sauce. Usually, the heads have been removed, but you'll be eating the skin and bones.
Canned sardines
At the cannery, the fish are washed, their heads are removed, and the fish are then smoked or cooked, either by deep-frying or by steam-cooking, after which they are dried. They are then packed in either olive, sunflower, or soybean oil, water, or in a tomato, chili, or mustard sauce.
You can tell they are cooked when their flesh is firm, opaque and easily flakes away from the bone. When the weather is nice, whole sardines are perfect fish for the barbecue. They cook very quickly on a hot grill (3 - 4 minutes on each side) so make a beautifully quick and simple al fresco starter.
Sardines are small, oily fish that contain important nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and protein. Both fresh and canned sardines have health benefits and can help support the health of your heart, bones, and immune system.
There are fewer vitamins and minerals in canned sardines.
The canning process requires sardines to be cooked at high temperatures – twice! As a result, canned sardines have much lower vitamin and mineral content compared to their fresh counterparts.
And as with all things culinary, the French really do them right. Whether they be grilled then bathed in extra-virgin olive oil before being tinned, or combined with a bit of gentle pepper, or layered with sliced lemon, or just simply put in the tin, they're delicious.
Canned or packaged sardines can be rinsed under water to remove excess sodium but can be offered with skin and bones still intact, as both are made soft and edible by the canning process.
Fish such as sardines, pilchards and herring are delicious to eat whole, but not everyone likes all the small bones – although they are edible.
And, it's perfectly safe to heat canned tuna before eating it, or to eat it straight out of the can. These are just a few of the reasons why canned tuna is so popular.
One of the major advantages of canned fish is the relatively long shelf-life when stored at ambient temperatures. At the same time, canned fish is notably different from fresh and frozen fish. Canning requires subjecting fish to high temperatures to produce commercial sterility. The resulting product is fully cooked.
Fully cooked and ready to eat, these iconic little fish are delicious on salads, sandwiches, pastas, or straight out of the can.
Entrepreneur and VC Craig Cooper swears by eating 5 cans of sardines a day. (And loves a 22-minute power nap.) Being an entrepreneur means doing things differently: Creating new products and services. Finding new ways to solve old problems.
You can buy tinned sardines that are skinless and boneless, but the skin and bones are completely edible, supply a good amount of sardines' calcium content, and are soft enough that most people don't even mind (or notice) them.
Drain the oil out of the can.
However, keep in mind that the oil from the can will taste fishier than fresh oil.
So it's really a matter of whether you want more sardine flavor or not. But yes, it's fine to eat, and many people do.
The white particles are only fish oil that have crystalized in the form of white particles, depending on the storage temperature. It usually happens when the cans spend some time in an air-conditioned room.
Bigoli with sardines is a dish common in the Veneto region. Onions are cooked down with salted sardines until they make a delicious, cohesive sauce. Since the onions are so sweet, the more savory flavor of the sardines provides a beautiful contrast. This dish is also sometimes made with anchovies.
“Sardines are rich in three critical bone-building nutrients, including calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D,” Kleiner says. “Calcium is essential for building and maintaining healthy bones, and vitamin D helps our bodies absorb and utilize calcium.” Like calcium, phosphorus is a mineral that's important for bone health.
While canned sardines are a low-mercury fish choice, Manaker notes, "eating them frequently—as in more than four times a week—may be a concern, since you could potentially be exposed to too much [mercury]."
Sardines do not have a lot of mercury in them, so they're healthier in that regard. They mostly survive on plankton. They offer high values in vitamins B2, B12, and D. These fish also contain a fair amount of omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, and phosphorous.
Fish canning is a classical and widely accepted approach for long-term preservation [4]. The extensive heat treatment through the steps of cooking and sterilization should inactivate enzymes, microorganisms and their spores, creating a different product and extending fish shelf life.