HERE'S LOW-COST COOKING WITH THE LOWLY SARDINE

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FRIED SARDINES

Drain the oil from two 3-3 / 4-ounce cans of sardines into a skillet. Then break an egg into a bowl and whip it until the yolk and white are well mixed. At that point add 3 / 4 cup of water and two tablespoons of soy sauce to the egg and mix everything together. As you continue this mixing, blend in (a little at a time) one-half cup of whole wheat Hour to form a smooth batter.

OK. Now dredge (very carefully, so they don't fall apart) your fish in some additional flour (so, later on, the batter will stick to them). Then put one-half cup of oil (I prefer light sesame) into the frying pan, add the rest of the oil from the sardine can, and heat all the shortening to a moderate temperature. When the oil is hot, dip the sardines in the batter and fry them until they're brown (about three minutes per side). If you wish, you can spoon extra batter over each fish before you turn it.

Remove the fried sardines from the skillet, drain, and serve 'em with butter and lemon juice. Or sprinkle a little soy sauce over 'em. With corn on the cob and a spicy salad, they're hard to beat!

SARDINE TOAST

Drain two 3-3 / 4-ounce cans of sardines into a shallow saucepan. Then roll the fish in one-quarter cup of cracker or bread crumbs, spread them out on a baking sheet, and put them in a 400F oven until they're brown. (This will take about ten minutes and can be done while you're fixing the sauce described below.)

All right. Put two tablespoons of butter in the shallow saucepan that contains the oil from the sardine cans and melt the butter over low heat. Then add three teaspoons of unbleached Hour, mix it thoroughly with the butter and oil, and turn up the heat and cook the mixture for two to three minutes. At the same time, beat one-half cup of yogurt briskly with a fork until it's smooth ... then pour the yogurt and one-half cup of milk into the pan of butter, oil, and Hour.

Cook until the mixture starts to thicken (about five minutes). Then add one heaping tablespoon of grated cheese (Parmesan is best but any strong, hard cheese will do) and one tablespoon of chives, green onions, or just plain onion (in order of preference). Finally, place the browned sardines on four thin slices of toast, and spoon the sauce over them. Mercy, mercy! This is just the dish for lunch on a brisk autumn day

THAN'S CURRIED SARDINES

I was introduced to this recipe by Than Lwin, a Burmese friend, and it has become a once-a-week standard at my house.

Drain the juice from one 3-3 / 4-ounce tin of sardines into a skillet, add 1-1/2 tablespoons of either sesame or peanut oil, and heat until the liquid sizzles. Then add one clove of finely minced garlic and cook until it begins to turn brown (about 15 seconds). Quickly dump in one teaspoon (or more, if you can stand it) of curry powder and mix it well with the hot oil. Then add half a medium onion (cut into thin slices), half a bell pepper (cut into thin slices), and one diced tomato. Stir-fry the mixture for two minutes.

When the frying is completed, pour one-quarter cup of water into the skillet, cover the pan,- and simmer its contents over medium heat for about five minutes. Then break the sardines into chunks, toss them into the pan too, and simmer everything for another two or three minutes (until the sauce in the bottom of the skillet is fairly thick).

That's the time to remove the pan from the heat, stir in the juice of half a lemon or lime, and ladle your savory concoction over a mound of hot cooked rice. Yummy! Than tops his curry with finely minced onion that has soaked in Tabasco for a week ... then cools himself down afterwards with a mixture of cold, vinegared vegetables.

So there you have a bit of Japanese (Fried Sardines), French (Sardine Toast), and Southeast Asian (Than's Curried Sardines) influence on a little saltwater fish that I first discovered on the bank of Georgia's Yellow Jacket Creek.

Try all these "exotic" ideas and see if they can lead you to invent few of your own. Then, just for reverse change of pace, remember my grandpa's secret "recipe" too: Take a few sardines "straight out of the can", roll 'em into a thick slice of freshly buttered homemade bread, grab up the pole and bait, and head out for the nearest river, pond, or "crick". The sardines may not help your fishing luck. . . but you won't be sorry you took 'em along either.

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