Last summer on a trip to Spain, I had a culinary epiphany. It happened late at night at a nondescript seafood shack along the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla. My wife, N, and I were completely spent from the day. I had dragged the poor unsuspecting girl through the warren of streets in the old quarter to find a particular convent famous for its sweets and Seville orange marmalade. A reasonable plan, until you learn that it was the hottest part of the day on what we would later learn was the hottest day of the year. After 5 minutes in the blazing sun, our cooked brains stopped thinking, but my stomach insisted on soldiering on. (I tell this as a precautionary tale to those who think it would be fun to marry a chef or foodie. Be warned: we are not reasonable people). When we finally located the convent half an hour later, we discovered that the nuns, no fools, had closed for the afternoon. By nightfall, the city’s power supply failed and plunged Sevilla into darkness.
It was in this context that we arrived at Los Chorritos, the most convivial looking of the temporary outdoor seafood shacks, or chiringuitos, in the Triana district. We placed our order at the counter and melted onto two stools at a tiny table with a view of the makeshift kitchen. A refreshing clara, icy beer mixed with lemon soda, in hand, I watched the cook dust the griddle with crunchy sea salt, top it with several big, fat sardines, and douse it all with fruity olive oil. After about five minutes, our sardinas a la plancha were delivered with crispy skin, bursting with salty juices. It tasted like the sea, with more flavor than any other fish I’ve tasted before or since. With the memory of those sardines as my guide, I now know the kind of food I want to cook and eat: rustic, seasonal foods with a sense of terroir, rooted in the place that they came from.
I am naming my blog In Praise of Sardines not just to write about these tiny, delectable fish, but really to discuss all the foods I crave and the people who grow and harvest them, the cooks that prepare them, the restaurants that serve them and the writers and their cookbooks that describe them. I hope to serve up a smorgasblog that will feature my impressions of books and articles that intrigue me, products that excite me, and small restaurants that satisfy my appetites. With a decade’s experience cooking professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area and many more years eating my way around the world, I also want to share my humble insider’s perspective and maybe a few tricks of the trade in the form of recipes with whomever stumbles along this website. All in all, I'm excited and looking forward to having a bit of fun writing about my passions for all things gastronomic. Cheers!
Hi Brett!
I followed your link from the Brain Masala comment you left on chowhound. I like your supercool site. I'll hop back again soon.
Chubby
Posted by: Chubby | Tuesday, August 23, 2005 at 09:22 PM
I never knew sardines could be described so romantically!
Posted by: tara | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 12:39 PM
Brett - wow, you desribed almost exactly a supper I had in a tiny alleyway of Barcelona with my own wife. After a lifetime of oily, canned sardines, sardinas a la plancha were like a divine revelation. Salud!
Posted by: alan | Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 11:01 AM
I'm so glad I stumbled into this blog. I love your sardine story. I too had my first proper sardine last year (in Portugal) and was overwhelmed with the experience after years of the canned ones. I wrote about them on my very first post.
Posted by: Barbara | Sunday, October 09, 2005 at 12:23 AM
Well, I have never read a blog before... believe it or not. I was looking for an explanation of bo-lay tea, when I came across your site. I grew up in Hong Kong and loved your description of Yum-Cha (Dim Sum).
It is difficult to appreciate food here in the States, at least while living in a small city in the Midwest. People around here generally stick to whatever is white and creamy (that's the current theory). Orange and yellow foods like carrots, cheese and mustard are acceptable too. It gets pretty boring. I have a friend that actually thinks that I'm adventurous for adding pepper to fried eggs. I thought it was necessary.
Don’t I sound stuck up? Anyway, thanks for waking up my senses with your wonderful descriptions of food.
Tamara
Posted by: Tamara Plath | Friday, March 10, 2006 at 09:06 PM
I am a novice foodie in the wine buisness in the detroit area, and i love sardines fo all types. I am intrigued and interested by your site and am looking for all things sardine. jj the wine guy
Posted by: john jonna | Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 12:56 AM
I am a sardine lover. One of my memorable meals was at a small restaurant in Gerona, Spain, El Cul de Leona where the menu was handwritten on a blackboard. I ordered steamed sardines with potatoes in a lemony broth. Scrumptious!
Posted by: Maria | Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 06:41 AM
Smorgasblog! A permanent addition to my vocabulary. Thank you very much.
Posted by: Charles Kruger | Wednesday, May 03, 2006 at 01:50 PM
Sardines at Spain, the best.
Really are you vegetarian? hehe
After proving the sardines...
Posted by: manolo | Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 03:56 PM
With so many bloggers raving about the sardinas a la plancha, are you willing to share detailed instructions on how to prepare? I live in the Midwest and the chances of my physically experiencing "your" lovely Spain are nil. However, I would love to try my inexperienced hand at sardinas a la plancha. Thank you so much!!
Posted by: Rbbrmaiden | Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 08:13 AM
i actually think i love you.
Posted by: sardineface., | Tuesday, March 06, 2007 at 01:24 AM
definitely love grilled sardines.
love my spanish wife (asturias) more.
where can i buy her fresh sardines in the bay area??? she raves about the grilled sardines on the beach in Gijon...
Posted by: pablo | Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 05:43 PM
From one who is addicted to even the gnarliest tinned sardines of dubious provenance, bathed in hot chili oil, mustard, tomato sauce, or (gasp) water, I am intrigued to hear they can be even better. Write on!
Posted by: Twerpsichore | Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 10:49 AM
I love sardines too, I lived in N. Africa for r 4 years, and ejoyed fresh sardines, which I fried and then made a sauce of oil, vinegar, hot peppers and onions...Oh\' so good". But I am from the caribbean so fry fish (snapper) was my favourites of any fish until I had freshly caught sardines....keep up the good work...Oh how I wish we could get such wonderful food here.
You have to be on guard always about fish bought in the supermarkets..always I never venture near the fish counter in any markets...always refrozen etc.
Posted by: cecille | Friday, March 21, 2008 at 05:41 PM
Hi Brett
Recently returned from a week in Catalonia my taste buds are still savouring a lunch of salty grilled sardines. Reading Taras Grescoe's excellent book "Bottomfeeder" has further convinced me of the other good reasons for eating this tasty fish. Enjoyed stumbling onto your blog and following the restaurant-opening story. I look forward to checking in. Good luck with your venture. rob_toronto
Posted by: rob hurst | Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 01:53 PM
Hey Brett, next time you come to Europe remember to spend a few days in Portugal... if you loved sardines the way you described, wait until you try the Portuguese ones ;-) Here we call them "sardinhas assadas" and we have a saying that goes something like "Let me put the hot coal next to my sardine"; which is used in cases when we try to make a stand or defend something we believe in... just like I'm doing now! :o)))
Posted by: Sara L. | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 03:46 PM
I certainly DO like sardines - they're lovely! I especially like the fresh ones, but the canned ones are great too! Im a bit of a fish-head and love all different types of fish, but must admit that sardines are definitely one of my favourites :o) xx
Posted by: anonymous | Friday, January 15, 2010 at 09:57 AM