When I was a wee little lad my mother used to make this god-awful fish dish. This dish was the idol of horrific gut wrenching food (sorry mom). I would sometimes wish I was eating my puppy’s Alpo instead or contracting necrotizing fasciitis from a Costa Rican banana farmer. It was akin to the smellier seafood version of Vienna sausages. I would ask my mother what we were eating and she would always respond “Sardines” (turns out it was really week old chicken). She was lying, but still perpetuating a crusade against the sardine, and I have been emotionally scarred ever since. The only reason I became a chef was so that no one would ever have to taste what I once thought was a real sardine. Alas, no more giving Sardines a black eye.

Why aren’t sardines popular? Is it because Heathcliff used to scour back alley garbage cans for these little guys? Is it because we are under the impression that they manifest themselves within the four walls of a peel back can? It’s a mystery to me because I am ready to make these incredibly delicious and nutritious fish the Zack Morris of the Seafood World. It’s pretty cool to be a Sardinsta. (more…)