Something Fishy

JMcAndrew sends this in: “I don’t ever eat them myself but is this an actual problem that people who do eat sardines encounter? Sardines have tiny bones so I don’t think people are using them for sandwiches either.”

Your editor remembers his father-in-law, of Norwegian ancestry, eating sardines on toast regularly. He lived to be 95 years old, so perhaps the calcium from all those sardine bones kept his bones strong. But I don’t recall problems with the sardines sliding out.

This also leads to a consideration of what can go well in a peanut butter sandwich. Jellies and jams for sure. Marmalade and honey are close relatives. Raisins are also a sweet touch. Peanut butter and dill pickle chips, or peanut butter and sauerkraut are good for a savory change of pace. I’ve never tried a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. Any other nominees?

14 Comments

  1. Unknown's avatar

    Sardine sandwiches are fine. They used to be a pretty common thing. Ideally with mayo, not peanut butter. Cheaper than “good” canned tuna and better than cheap canned tuna.

    As to odd peanut butter sandwiches, PB & banana – popularized by Elvis – is pretty tasty.

  2. Unknown's avatar

    I like sardines on toast, but I think they are too oily-soggy to go in a sliced-bread sandwich; the harder crusty base of toast is a better substrate from an engineering point of view. The bones aren’t a problem, at least for those sardines you get packed tight in tins; the bigger ones people fry fresh on the seafront in Mediterranean ports may provide more of a bone issue.

    What goes well with peanut butter in UK-land is (savoury yeast extract) marmite, so much so that Marmite (the company) also produces a peanut butter and marmite (the product) combo – https://www.marmite.co.uk/its-nuts.html . To me that’s misguided, putting it all into one smooth blend with a fixed ratio. With a jar of peanut butter and a jar of marmite you can create your own combination in the proportions you prefer, which might be different at different times of the day; why, you can even have part of the piece of toast with all marmite or all peanut butter or both in layers!

  3. Unknown's avatar

    Sardines may be packed in either water or oil. Probably it is the oil-packed sardines that Dagwood finds too slippery. I have not tried combining peanut butter with oil (it’s usually olive oil), but it doesn’t sound very good.

  4. Unknown's avatar

    Used to get a french loaf, hollow it out, and stuff it with sardines and eggs. Pretty good.

  5. Unknown's avatar

    I kid you not: peanut butter and bologna. Devised experimentally or as a lark out of necessity, it became a staple of my boyhood years.

  6. Unknown's avatar

    I used to really like making peanut butter sandwiches with grated Kraft parmesan cheese. I didn’t like jelly as a kid so I just started trying to put things that I did like with peanut butter.

  7. Unknown's avatar

    Sardines may be packed in either water or oil.

    I have also seen mustard and (new-ish) hot sauce.

  8. Unknown's avatar

    I never was big on mixing things with peanut butter. My mother liked dill pickles or tomato. If not plain, I usually have strawberry preserves or some other jam. I do sometimes put butter on, which was how my father ate them. In later years, I did try some bread-and-butter pickles with it, which wasn’t too bad, but not a hugely compelling combination either.

  9. Unknown's avatar

    I forgot about peanut butter on a bacon cheeseburger. It’s not too obscure of a combination – every good-sized city has some burger places with it on the menu – but a lot of people who like bacon, cheese, burgers, and peanut butter are skeptical of the combination. I recommend giving it a shot some time when you’re ravenously hungry and don’t mind getting messy (it will drip).

  10. Unknown's avatar

    A number of small fish are served with the bones in (I was unpleasantly surprised by this once when I ordered smelt), the idea is that humans can safely eat the bones.

  11. Unknown's avatar

    I grew up with PB and bacon sandwiches, also grilled cheese with PB. I also eat Oreos and similar sandwich cookies with peanut butter.

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