DIY: Portuguese Sardines

One of businesses that a new entrepreneur can venture into is the making of Portuguese and Spanish sardines.  It doesn't require a big capital to start with and it is fairly easy to do.  For this article, I will be presenting how to make Portuguese sardines. I chose this because I have already mastered making this kind of sardines and I don't like the taste of the sardines with tomato sauce for the Spanish variety.  By the way, let me thank my good friend, Timmie Bernaldez, my co-parent at Ateneo de Manila University for teaching me how make sardines.

For 9 bottles of sardines, make ready the following:

2 kilos of either tawilis or tamban
brine solution
1 medium size carrot
pickle slices
laurel leaves
peppercorn
siling labuyo or bird's eye pepper
olive oil
salt
pressure cooker
9 240-ml glass bottles

Procedure:

1.  Buy tawilis or tamban that are 5 1/2 inches long.  Cut the head and the tail of the fish.  If the fish is shorter than 5 1/2 inches, the finished product will not look good as there will be a space at the top.  Your customer may think you have shortchanged him.  Hehehe.

2.  Sterilize the bottles for twenty minutes.  Wipe the bottles dry.

3.  Gut the fish and wash it very well making sure that no part of the internal organs and entrails is left.  Put the fish in the brine solution for thirty minutes.  With a colander, separate the fish from the brine solution.  Put the fish in a basin big enough to accomodate the fish.

4.  Put two thin slices of carrot shaped like a flower, two pickle slices, two laurel leaves,  and two pieces of bird's eye peppers inside the bottle.  Arrange them around the bottle.  Put seven to nine pieces of the fish arranging them alternately.  

5.  Pour olive oil up to the neck of the bottle.  Add five pieces of peppercorn and a dash of salt.  Cover the bottle tightly and invert to make sure the salt and peppercorns are absorbed up to the bottom of the bottle.

6.  Put the bottles with the fish inside a pressure cooker.  Add water to the pressure cooker up to the level of the neck of the bottle.  Cook for one and a half hours after it starts to "whistles" or rocks.  Cooking time starts when the pressure cooker rocks.

7.  Turn off the fire after reaching desired time.  Let cool for at least fifteen minutes before opening the pressure cooker.  Remove the bottles from the pressure cooker.

Note:  The sardines will be ready for sale after two weeks from the date of cooking.  By that time the sardines have already absorbed all the flavors of the spices.  Store on shelves at room temperature.

Try this recipe on your family first before venturing into business.  It is in trying that you would be able to learn from the initial mistakes that will be committed.  When you have gained enough confidence with the good reviews from your family (they are the worst critics),  by all means start your dream business.  With this article I hope I have been instrumental in your plunge to business. Good luck.