With some fried onion and curry spices, tinned pilchards in brine or tomato sauce can be used to make a delicious fish curry.
Blend some pilchards with the juice of one lemon, some fromage frais, pepper and a teaspoon of tarragon to make a pate. Serve with crusty bread.
Fry some chopped garlic and chopped chilli in some oil before adding a tin of pilchards, some black olives, capers and some chilli powder to make a hearty pasta sauce.
Make a savoury filling for pancakes with a stir-fried small onion, a red pepper and sweetcorn mixed with pilchards.
Use them to make tasty fishcakes, by draining and mashing the pilchards and mixing with some mashed potato, chopped spring onion, egg and seasoning. Then stir the mixture until combined and divide up into patties, dusting with flour, before frying in a little oil.
And perhaps the simplest way to eat them is on hot, buttered toast.