Sardinhas assadas: grilled sardines
Lisbon and coastal Portugal
Grilled sardines are the food of Portuguese summer — specifically of the Festa de Santo António in Lisbon in June, when the entire city smells of sardine smoke. The technique is minimal: fresh sardines, unsalted, grilled over charcoal on a grelha (wire grill) until the skin blisters and the flesh inside steams in its own fat. The only accompaniment is coarse sea salt applied after grilling, bread, and, traditionally, the cooking drips caught in a slice of bread placed beneath the grill.
The technique requires the freshest sardines obtainable — a sardine more than 24 hours from the sea produces a different experience.