Sardines in Saor
This is a Venetian dish, which I tasted first in Piedmont. There are a lot of Venetian women in the
area who came from the Veneto region to work as mondine in the rice fields, up to their knees
in water every day harvesting rice. It was a hard job, but the girls were given basic lodgings in
a dorm all together and given food and some money and were also paid in rice. This work was
seasonal and the young girls were able to go back home with some savings and quite a bit of
rice. Some of them even worked with babies on their backs in slings and many of them stayed,
married local boys and set up home. So it’s not unusual to eat Venetian dishes in Piedmont.
This recipe was given to me by Bianella and Pier Piscina (parents of my friend Jacopo). They
are quite a typical Piedmontese family, in that Pier was born and bred in Paris of Piedmontese
parents. There is a massive French/Swiss influence in Piedmont and much coming and going
between. Turin was the capital of the Savoy region and most Piedmontese speak French. My
father was the only child in the family not born in France; my grandmother would sometimes
speak to me in French and I would always reply in Italian. Pier is married to Bianella, who is
Venetian. The thing I love most about this recipe is Bianella’s attention to detail and clear respect
for the dish. Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 kg fresh sardines
1 kg white onions (Musona)
sunflower oil for frying
500 ml red wine vinegar
flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the fish with a paring knife and scrape them from the tails to the heads. Wash the sardines
carefully and then remove their heads. Gut the fish, taking care to empty the innards. Flatten
them on a chopping board and cut the tail fin off but leave the tail whole. Wash the fish again
carefully, place on kitchen paper and leave them for at least 30 minutes to completely dry.
Meanwhile, prepare the saor. Finely slice the onions into rings and place in a flameproof
dish with oil to just cover the bottom. Cook them on a low heat, making sure they don’t brown.
As soon as they are soft, pour in 400 ml vinegar and season. Continue to heat on a low flame
until the vinegar has been absorbed into the onions. Remove from the heat, cover and put aside.
Coat each sardine in flour. Heat some sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry the fish a few at a
time. Remove with a spatula, put them to drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a little salt.
When both the fish and the saor are cold, place them in a terrine in layers with a thin layer of
onion in between the fish. One third of the saor onions should be used on top to cover the fish
completely. Finally, douse the whole with another 100 ml of vinegar. Cover with cling film and
place the terrine in a cool place, but not in the fridge, for 2–3 days.
To present: Saor should be served cold in the same container, with hot white polenta (or
yellow if unavailable). In Venice, it is said that you should savour the Saor, eating them over a
number of days. Many say that the flavour improves with time.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster
