Sardines for dummies

Eating a grilled sardine might be one of the best experiences you’ll have in Lisbon. Or one of the worst. To help you avoid one of the most frequent tourist traps, we traced down the specialist of specialists to give you a crash course in picking the right fish.

EVERY DAY, ROSA CUNHA wakes up as the rest of the world is going to sleep. She arrives at the dock at around 1am and by 4am she is already at Mercado da Ribeira, setting up her stall for the day. Of the many varieties of fish she offers, sardines are expectedly the most popular during Santos Populares. She often sells 500 kilograms a week, which makes her Rosanamar stall one of the biggest suppliers of Lisbon’s arraiais and Rosa Grilo one of the finest specialists in the world at assessing the quality of the creature.

1

Freshness comes with heat. Sardines are on point when the warm weather settles in. The fishing calendar predicts that to be somewhere around the beginning of June, but when the previous months are warmer than average, it isn’t uncommon to find restaurants advertising the year’s first sardines a little earlier. Otherwise, stay clear of them – they’ll be frozen and most likely of poor quality.

2

Fat is beautiful. “Fat and small” is what Rosa Grilo insists sardines should look like. Why? Because the animal’s fat is what will allow the skin to unpeel from the meat when grilled. If you are ever served sardines that are big and long, almost certainly crumbly and with damaged skin, that isn’t a good sign.

3

No tie. When buying sardines, keep two things in mind: the skin, which should be bright and glistening, and the gravata (tie), a popular term that refers to the red band that shows up around the sardine’s neckline, the presence of which indicates that the fish is not fresh. “Sardines don’t last more than a day on the stall. If it doesn’t get sold, I have to throw it away.”

4

Look them in the eyes. It is said that eyes are the mirror of the soul, right? Well, that’s true for sardines too. Dull and foggy eyes mean you are in the presence of a long-dead creature. And notice the smell, it should be sea-scented, not fishy.