Sardines in Saor

[DanM]

I will be making Sardines in Saor from Mario Batali's new book Molto Gusto for dinner. The technique is quite unusual for this dish. Most of the recipes I have seen for Sardines in Saor have the sardines cooked before marinating for at least one day in the vinegar. Batali's recipe calls for a vinegar mixture to be brought to a boil and then poured raw sardine fillets and shaved fennel. Cool and serve.

Has anyone seen this technique before? Any thoughts on it??

On another note, the recipe calls for champagne vinegar and pine nuts. I have never seen kosher champagne vinegar and i am out of white wine vinegar, so I will use cider vinegar. Pine nuts are ridiculously exensive right now, so I will be using slivered almonds. I hope these substitutes will work!

Dan

[Kevin72]

I don't think the almonds would make much of a difference, but the apple cider vinegar probably would. It's got a more pronounced flavor: not stronger, just different and maybe more fruity. White wine and champagne vinegar are much more neutral and about the acidity they bring to the game.

The technique you describe seems to be one Mario likes; he's done it before in other recipes, though not on raw fillets. Sounds more Spanish-inspired.

Here I am responding two weeks after you posted. Hope it turned out all right.