A Savory Indulgence Not Universally Adored

In the 4th day of a nasty cold/virus, I am feeling pretty uninterested in eating, cooking, or writing about either. Oddly, I'm still interested in reading about these things, so here I sit, clutching toddy, wrapped in a ratty afghan, reading other people's blogs. I found this bit I wrote the other day, and thought I'd post it. Right now, anything not containing tea, lemon or honey is of no interest, but when normal(or my version thereof), I'm pretty fond of this odd snack.

I think of little savory snacks of this kind as sort of English-along the lines of potted meats and shrimps, anchovy toasts and that sort of thing. I nonetheless discovered this particular treat first in Simca's Cuisine, the work of the entirely French Simone Beck, who serves it on thin toasts as a starter or cocktail party nibble.

I can see where it would be very good in this role, too. It is one of those pantry goodies you can make without going shopping, if you keep a tin or two of good sardines on hand. As I always keep some butter in one of those "butterbells" for spreading, I do not even need to wait for the butter to come to room temperature. It is best, though to give the whole thing a bit of fridge time to set up, and for the flavors to blend. However, if you are desperate, you can sneak a little to spread first.

I like it very much on toast with hot tea, especially after coming in from awful weather. I must also confess, though some might find it disgusting, that I quite like it on a toasted muffin, topped with sliced hardboiled egg, and accompanied by very hot coffee, for breakfast. But then, I have always liked peculiar things, like smoked fishes, for breakfast. I do realize that it may not be everyone's idea of a good time.

My version of Sardine Butter is made from:

a drained can of good sardines, mashed with a fork
half a stick (4 oz) of unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp gray poupon yellow mustard
freshly ground black pepper
tiny drop tabasco

Mash this all up quite thoroughly, and pack it in a 1 cup sized little crock or dish. Refrigerate until firm. Keeps several days in the fridge, well wrapped. This actually looks pretty fancy spread carefully on thin little toasts, topped with a strand each of fresh chive. Ms. Beck suggested using a wet spreader to keep the toasts looking neat. The silvery bits in the sardines are sort of sparkly, and pretty.

If you don't like tinned sardines, however, you will not like this, as it tastes quite satisfyingly and definitely of its ingredients. These component parts are in no way transformed, but only heightened by the combination.

Comments

[zp]

love sardines, love toast. love breakfast fish and butter kept at room temperature.

hope you feel better soon.

[Clare]

Sounds lovely.

Here's another ridiculously simple but tasty fishy spread (tastes suitably posh enough to serve as a starter at at dinner party!)

Mackerel Pate
Mash smoked mackerel together with a spoon or two horseradish sauce. Add ground black pepper if you like. Sometimes a little lemon juice is good too.

I use a mini-blender instead of mashing.

(Stumbled across The Hungry Tiger a few years ago - have no idea how - and have now been reading you avidly since you started blogging. Fab blog)

[lindy]

zp and Clare: Glad you stopped by, and thank you. Glad to know I'm not alone in the world of mashed fish.

[anapestic]

I have not tried sardines since I was a child, when I enjoyed sardines on saltines on rare occasions. Nowadays, they always make me think of Faulkner because of some scenes in a couple of his novels, where the characters call them "sourdines." I did, however, score a copy of Simca's Cuisine on a recent trip to the used book annex at the local library, so perhaps this is the universe's way of telling me that I should give them a try.

I hope that you're feeling much better very soon.