Sardinhas Assadas

Sardinhas assadas are whole fresh sardines grilled hard and fast over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars. They are Portugal's simplest, most seasonal dish, built around a fish that's genuinely good for only a few months of the year, fattiest and most flavourful in the height of summer.

What it really is

Whole sardines, ungutted and unscaled, go straight onto a hot charcoal grill with nothing more than coarse salt, cooking fast enough that the skin chars and blisters before the delicate flesh inside overcooks. No marinade, no batter and barely any seasoning goes near the fish — sardines this fresh don't need it, and anything more would just cover up what the season is supposed to deliver.

Freshness is the entire recipe. A sardine grilled a day past its best turns dry and loses the rich, almost creamy fat that makes the dish worth eating at all; sardinhas assadas lives or dies entirely on how fresh the fish was that morning.

How it is served

• Whole, straight off the charcoal grill, often on a slice of bread to catch the oil.
• With boiled potatoes and a simple salad on the side.
• Outdoors, at festivals and street stalls, as much as in a restaurant.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the fish plainly.
• Say if the sardines are in season, since the dish depends entirely on freshness and fat content that isn't there year-round.
• Note that they're served whole, bones and all, since some guests unfamiliar with the dish expect a filleted fish.