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Stuffed Sardines
Split large boneless sardines, spread with pimento cream cheese and put the two halves together again; garnish with narrow strips of pimento.
A three-line canapé that depends entirely on the condition of the fish: sardines that break up when opened cannot be put back together. Everything else is assembly.
- Buy the right tin"Large boneless sardines" means the bigger pilchard-type fillets packed in oil, skinless and boneless, not the small crowded brisling or sprats. Two-layer tins of small fish will shred the moment you split them.
- Chill before splittingRefrigerate the unopened tin for an hour. Cold firms the oil and the flesh, and the fillets separate cleanly along the natural seam with a thin knife rather than tearing.
- Drain properlyLay the fillets on paper towels for several minutes. Oil left on the fish will thin the cheese filling and make the finished pieces slide off whatever you serve them on.
- Pimento cream cheeseReady-made versions were sold in jars and small foil-wrapped packages. To make it, beat softened cream cheese with well-drained chopped pimentos to taste, plus a pinch of salt; keep it firm enough to hold its place between the halves.
- PimentoThe sweet red pimento pepper, sold canned or jarred in strips or whole pods. Roasted red peppers from a jar will substitute; drain and blot them hard before cutting the garnish strips.
- AssemblySpread a thin layer only. Too much filling and the halves gape; the fish should look whole with a red-flecked seam. Press gently and chill again before serving so the cheese sets.
- Serving and yieldNothing is specified; these suit crackers, toast fingers or lettuce as a cocktail bite. Yield depends on how many fillets the tin holds.
- SeasoningSardines and cream cheese are both mild and both salty-rich. A squeeze of lemon over the finished pieces, or a little lemon juice worked into the cheese, keeps the whole thing from reading as flat.
This belongs to the era when the canned-fish canapé was the backbone of light summer entertaining. Canned sardines had been a reliable American pantry staple since the late nineteenth century, and pimento cream cheese — cream cheese beaten with chopped sweet red peppers — is often said to have been among the earliest widely marketed flavored spreads, sold ready-made in jars and used indiscriminately on crackers, in sandwiches and as a stuffing for celery, dates and eggs. Putting the two together required no heat, no skill and no shopping beyond the store cupboard, which is exactly the logic of a menu designed to be cool. The pimento strips laid across the top are the period's standard decorative gesture: the same red garnish appears on aspics, on deviled eggs and on cold platters throughout the cookbooks of the era.