how to cook small fish like sardines

I want to cook small fish like fresh sardines. Do you have to wash them first? Do you have to remove the head and insides before grilling them? Do you sprinkle them with salt? How long do you grill them in the fish griller? Finally, do you eat the whole thing, skin, head, and bones? I know, lots of questions, but thank you!

- buy very fresh sardine (this is important! eyes should be clear, the meat should be firm, etc.)
- don't wash the fish
- you can put the whole fish in the grill. You may remove the inside but it is not a must as the inside is alsy edible in case of
- you can sprinkle a pinch of salt (not too much)
- the time of grill depends on the size of the fish and the grill itself.
- if you can adjust the heat, make it low or middle. If the heat is too strong, only the skin burns while the meat remains raw.
- you can eat the skin and insides (if you like) but you cannot eat the bone or head as they are too hard.
Serve it with a lot of grated daikon (juicy raddish) is the tranditional way to eat grilled fish in Japan.

You can shallow fry in olive oil, cleaned (gutted) and salted, cut away the head. The bones are fine to eat. Perhaps not for small children.

Dove,

I'm not sure what kind of fish you're talking about. I've never seen fresh sardines the size of the type that come in sardine cans.

But for example if you're cooking wakasagi (pond smelt, which are small fish the size of sardines of canned sardines but not sardines itself) you don't have to cut off anything. Just put some flour or katakuriko (corn starch is fine) on it and deep fry it, and enjoy it with salt. You can marinate the deep fried wakasagi in dressing as well.

And for example if you're cooking fresh sardines that are usually about 20 centimeters long in Japanese fish markets, you need to remove the insides. But if you're cooking ayu (sweetfish) or sanma (Pacific saury) which are even bigger, you can eat the insides.

In Japan, most fish head meat can be eaten no matter how big they are. If they are as huge as tuna, they're usually cut off and grilled or stewed. If they're as small as trout, they're usually un-cut.

If the fish is either stewed very well or deep fried, you can eat the whole head and bones no matter what kind of fish it is.

I marinate my sardines in a sauce made of lite white wine, giinger, red chili peppers, garlic, salt and pepper to tast.
Then the choice of cooking is versital with this method.
You can try grilling in foil.
Or you can cook them stove top in a shallow pan in oil.
Either way they both come out tasting delicious.
Serve over a bed of rice and a side of vegetable.

Bon Appetite.