The Mystery of American Sardine Toasts

A recipe from The Daily News Cookbook called American Sardine Toasts caught my eye recently.  Without wanting to labour the point too much, we Melbourrnians recently spent our 200th (non-consecutive) day in lockdown which means I have now been working from home for around 18 months.  I have also recently been working all the hours so my need for quick and easy meals, be they work from home lunches or speedy suppers when I am too tired to cook has become paramount.

And this could well be the recipe that gets me through! Oh, and Uber Eats, but you’re not here to hear me talk about my local Thai!

In case you are wondering what an American Sardine Toast is?  It’s kind of a  tuna melt but with sardines.

As soon as I read the recipe, I constructed a narrative in my head which went a little like this.  Someone in what was then Ceylon had travelled to America and had a tuna melt.  They had then brought the concept back home – except maybe 1960’s Ceylon did not have access to canned tuna so they used what they had – sardines!  And no doubt the local newspaper, The Daily News, was keen to publish a recipe from the country that epitomised all things new and bright and shiny and voila the recipe for American Sardine Toasts  or as they call it, Sardine Toasts, American came into being

Except….DJ….cue the  X Files Spooky Music.

The Mystery

According to writer Warren Bobrow, the tuna melt was invented in 1965 in Charleston, South Carolina.  But the recipe for American Sardine Toasts appears in my mum’s 1964 edition of the Daily News Cookery Book!  There’s definitely something fishy about that!

So if not based on the tuna melt, what is this recipe based on?   What makes it an American Sardine Toast instead of just a regular sardine toast?

I even wondered if I was reading the name incorrectly. Instead of the Sardine Toasts being American was it that the sardines came from America? So not American  (Sardine Toasts) but (American Sardine) Toasts?  The actual name Sardine Toasts, American would indicate the former but who knows with this book!  Sadly the American provenance of these toasts has been lost to history.

Luckily for us, the actual recipe has not and these hit the spot of being quick, easy and delicious and so will go on heavy

The Recipes

Yes, recipes!  I took the OG recipe and modernised it to make it easier for WFH lunches.  It also works well as a light supper too.

Here’s the original:

And here’s my version:

American Sardine Toasts

Print Recipe

A quick and easy alternative to a tuna melt!

• Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

2 slices of toast

Butter

1 can of sardines in tomato sauce

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

80g grated cheddar cheese

I tbsp finely chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Lightly butter the pieces of toast

Place 2 sardines on each piece of toast, making sure you get some of the tomato sauce from the can as well.

Sprinkle some chopped onion on top of the sardines.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Place under a grill (180C) for 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the top.

Cut each piece of toast in two.

Eat immediately!

Have a great week!