Sardine fillet fritters

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Fabulous fritters

It is hard to quantify how many sardines to prepare per person, it is, more than anything else, a question of decency and discretion: it is so very hard to stop eating them, so having a limited number would be advisable if you care for your guests health and waistline; they are fritters after all.

Ingredients for four

Preparation

Ingredients for four

1 kilo of sardine, cleaned and ‘butterflied’ (this leaves you with 650 grams of fillets)

2 cups of flour

2 cups of wine vinegar

salt

vegetal oil to fry in

Preparation

Cover the fillets with vinegar and let them sit for an hour; do not wash them with tap water nor before, nor after. Drain and dab them dry with kitchen paper. Pass them in slightly salted flour and fry away. The longer you let them sizzle away, the crispier they get and, proportionally, the further the fishiness recedes. Serve and eat warm

Instead of vinegar use salted water (seawater if you can).

After having them passed in flour, they can be then passed in beaten egg and coated of with breadcrumbs. It tends to draw the attention away from the ‘sardineness’ and excellent for those who do not love fish.

Variation on the fritter theme

Some sustain that sardines should not be eviscerated, not even beheaded. These puritans of the kitchen claim that much of the taste is contained in these parts and by taking them away, well, taste is thrown away.

They would lightly flour the fish before frying them in 180 degree hot oil. Olive oil. I guess you could leave the heads for the cats, because even without these the fish is recognizable.

Serve the fish piping hot; part of the ritual is actually avoiding to get badly burned. Unpretentious local white wine goes wonderfully well together.