Why Do People Dislike Sardines?

[Mai72]

It must be the smell. When I crack open a can of sardines I get the ewwwww... statement from people around me. Yea, they do stink. But they are so delicious.

Especially the olive oil kind.

 

[JEDIYoda]

It`s quite obvious that you do not have a well tempered palate for the finer things in life!!

 

[Oyeve]

I use em as bait to catch real fish.

 

[Mai72]

It`s quite obvious that you do not have a well yr,pered palate for the finer things in life!!

Sardines get a bad rap. Health benefits are quite good though.

 

[whm1974]

I don't like the looks of whole sardines and if I eat them I'll buy fillets instead.

 

[whm1974]

I don't like the looks of whole sardines and if I eat them I'll buy fillets instead.

Do they remove the guts before putting them in the can? I have always thought that the guts were left in the fish. Yes I well aware that the bones are soften during cooking.

 

[pmv]

They are OK. Easy source of protein to carry around when, um, camping or hiking or something. A lot more appetising than that that fermented tinned fish the Scandanavians go in for.

This stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming

The fermentation happens through autolysis and starts from a lactic acid enzyme in the spine of the fish. Together with bacteria, pungent smelling acids are formed, such as propionic acid, butyric acid and acetic acid. Hydrogen sulfide is also produced. The salt raises the osmotic pressure of the brine above the zone where bacteria responsible for rotting can thrive and prevents decomposition of proteins into oligopeptides and amino acids. Instead, the osmotic conditions enable Haloanaerobium bacteria to thrive and decompose the fish glycogen into organic acids, making it sour (acidic).

Because of the strong smell, surströmming is ordinarily eaten outdoors. The pressurized can is usually opened some distance away from the dining table, and is often initially punctured while immersed in a bucket of water, or after tapping and angling it upwards at 45 degrees, to prevent the escaping gas from spraying any brine. This prevents brine from getting onto clothes and gets rid of most of the initial foul smell.

Sounds delicious, right?

 

[Denly]

Nothing against sardines I just don't like tiny fish because of tiny bones, I know they're mostly edible but it is a mental thing.

I actual don't mind fermented scandanavians fish because they're don't have tiny bones.

 

[digiram]

They are OK. Easy source of protein to carry around when, um, camping or hiking or something. A lot more appetising than that that fermented tinned fish the Scandanavians go in for.

This stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming





Sounds delicious, right?

This sounds like pickled fish my mom makes(SE Asian). It's pretty good. I some times use it when cooking scrambled eggs to flavor it. lil bit of oil, lil bit of garlic, lil bit of pickled fish.. sautee, then crack some eggs over it.. yum!!

What's even better is pickled fish eggs.

 

[whm1974]

Nothing against sardines I just don't like tiny fish because of tiny bones, I know they're mostly edible but it is a mental thing.

I actual don't mind fermented scandanavians fish because they're don't have tiny bones.

You do know that you can get sardines without the bones, didn't you?

 

[pmv]

This sounds like pickled fish my mom makes(SE Asian). It's pretty good. I some times use it when cooking scrambled eggs to flavor it. lil bit of oil, lil bit of garlic, lil bit of pickled fish.. sautee, then crack some eggs over it.. yum!!

What's even better is pickled fish eggs.

Interesting, in that pickled fish (herring, usually, not sure if any other fish get pickled?) is common in many continental European countries, at least the northern ones. I presume pickling was invented independently all over the world?

But I think that's different (and sounds way more palatable to me!) to _fermented_ fish. I mean, that's basically rotten fish. The cans start to bulge with the gases produced - which is apparenty a sign that it's "good".

Hmmm...reading about it, it seems then that fermenting could be seen as a sort of 'self-pickling'. Where the bacteria that grows in the foodstuff itself produces the acid, thus inhibiting futher bacterial growth - instead of the acids being added separately at the start so as to stop any bacterial growth. I suppose the idea is the bacteria that runs amok is 'good bacteria', and it prevents the growth of the harmful kind.

 

[Fritzo]

The ones in oil get gaggy after 2-3. I like the ones in mustard a lot better.

 

[Denly]

You do know that you can get sardines without the bones, didn't you?

They also cost a lot more, I don't feel like paying 2x. I know the benefit of sardines but I do have choices if I want to eat fish.

 

[Captante]

For me its the bones ... I can handle actual tiny sardines where you can't really see them but the larger ones gross me out a little.

 

[nOOky]

Love the ones in mustard sauce, oil or hot sauce not so much. The little backbone peels out and crunches when you eat it.