How to make
Freeze the fish for 48 hours and then defrost them.
Clean the sardines and divide each one into two separate pieces, cleaned from their bone as much as possible.
Sardines have many small bones in addition to the central one. They are very fine like hair and depending on what heat treatment these bones sometimes undergo, they cannot even be felt.
Our smoked sardines will not undergo heat treatment - so clean them as best as you can. For this purpose, the most effective helper would be simple tweezers. Pull the visible bones out with it.
At the bottom of a convenient container put a layer of coarse salt and arrange a layer of sardine fillets on it in a row. Spread the coarse salt evenly over them again, arrange sardines again on top and so on until you run out of products. At the end, finish off with salt.
Refrigerate them for 1 day.
Take out the finished fillets and clean them from the salt. Put them in a large fireproof dish.
Light the sprigs of rosemary or thyme - whichever flavor you prefer. Place the twigs in the sardine dish and wrap them very quickly with aluminum foil. Leave them for 2-3 hours to smoke and absorb the aroma.
Arrange the fragrant smoked fish in a container, which can be sealed. Drizzle them with olive oil and leave them for a few more hours before eating them. It is not a problem to consume them immediately.
They are an ideal company for toasted slices of bread in combination with tomatoes or for skewers in the company of pickled onions.
They can be a great appetizer for any table and they are also great as an addition to various salads. They turn out very tender and delicious. An authentic delicacy!
