Sardines in Olive Oil (Slow Cooker)

Sardines in Olive Oil (Slow Cooker)

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sardines are any type of small oily fish like sardines, mackerel, herring, or even milkfish, that have been preserved in oil or packed in sauce. I like sardines, I love sardines in olive oil, but I could only find one store that carried them in olive oil (Thai made as well) and was pricey to say the least. So I set out on an internet search and found this recipe, I have made it twice with excellent results.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Passive Time 3 hours
Total Time 6 hours 20 minutes
Course Lunch
Cuisine American
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • brine, ¼ cup salt in each 2 cups of water
  • 3-4 mackeral, cleaned with heads and tail removed
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¾ cup water
  • ¾ cup pickle juice
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Instructions
 

  • Clean your fish, for both times I made these I used 4 mackerel, remove the head, tail, insides, and clean well on the inside along the backbone. Leave skin on and bones in.
  • I took each fish and cut into 3 pieces, place all in a bowl with a lid.
  • Prepare your brine with ¼ cup salt for 2 cups of water. I do this separate so I don't make more brine than what is needed. Make a batch and pour over the fish pieces, make more as needed to cover the fish.
  • Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, I normally refrigerate overnight.
  • Remove the fish from the brine and rinse, place fish pieces in a slow cooker, add the olive oil, water, pickle juice, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
  • Put the slow cooker on Low setting for 3-6 hours, depending on size of fish, 3 hours for small fish, like milkfish, and 6 hours for mackerel. Check the fish about an hour before the time, you are looking for soft fish and soft bones, if the bones are not soft, go another hour and check again, repeat until the bones are soft.
  • When done and the fish and bones are soft, allow to cool and store in the fridge in olive oil.
  • Serve as is with or on a lettuce salad with tomatoes and garlic, or as a sandwich with bread spread with mustard.

Notes

Mackerel will run about 25 baht per fish, if using as a light meal, well under $1 per person. If I use in a sandwich, I use 3 fish pieces, split each in half, lunch for under $1. If I use in a tomato salad, I use 3 pieces and just kind of chop them up, salad for under $1.
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