Anchovies

[BJL]

I have half of a tin of anchovies that I put in tupperware - How long are they good for?

Any ideas what I do with them?

[Comfort Me]

I have half of a tin of anchovies that I put in tupperware - How long are they good for?

Any ideas what I do with them?

bagna calda!

now i'm drooling!

[jackal10]

Mash with equal quantity of butter. Spread on toast. Eat.

Pizza toppings

Pasta, or as part of alla Puttanesca

Add to a meat dish. The anchovies melt into the sauce

[ludja]

Vinagrette for salads or vegetables.

[BJL]

How long will they keep in the fridge?

[mongo_jones]

the two fat ladies used to recommend using anchovies with everything.

i usually buy large jars of anchovies packed in oil and they last a long time in the fridge. an opened tin would be good for at least a week i'd guess--depending on how cold your fridge is. but, there's always the rinse and eat out of the can option. i always eat as many straight out of the jar as i put in a dish.

[russ parsons]

salted anchovies will last just about forever. which is a good thing because they come in very large tins and are only used 3 or 4 at a time.

[Alex]

I don't know what the official line is, but I've kept anchovies in olive oil in a glass jar in the fridge for a couple of months with no ill effects. I wonder if your Tupperware will become permanently infused with essence of anchovy; I recommend a transfer to glass or similar.

Cook's Illustrated has a recipe for a simple anchovy sauce for broccoli that I've used on kale and other greens. It's basically a warm vinaigrette: warm the anchovies in olive oil, mash them up, combine with vinegar and Dijon mustard. Black pepper and a little more salt if desired.

I concur with using them in slow-cooked meat dishes, especially lamb.

edited to add stuff

Edited February 5, 2004 by Alex (log)

[MegaloMatt]

I found this link:

Anchovy Shelf Life Study

I think it's the definition of overkill but right on topic.

I agree about salt packed anchovies - they last forever.

[dano1]

A few months, oil will go rancid first-if not getting there already. Look for the salt packed-they will last you until theyor you are gone.

hth, danny

[rancho_gordo]

I have a beautiful round tin of the salt-packed I bought probably 7 or 8 years ago. I've always been afraid to open it until I go on an anchovy kick. This is stupid because I love them and eat them ofte, buying smaller jars of oil-packed to avoid digging into my saltpacked. My mind is a wonder!

So is my tin still good?

[reesek]

saute greens (curly endive, or kale) with a couple of mashed anchovies, chili flakes, kalamata olives, toasted pine nuts, golden raisins, garlic and salt. add a little white wine and cook until just wilted. serve in a bowl with bread to soak the broth, or toss with orcchiette and top with bread crumbs. divine.

[ned]

I recently ordered anchovies from a site called www.latienda.com. Full of Spanish goodies but especially the excellent anchovies from Escala.

[Alex]

I found this link:

Anchovy Shelf Life Study

I think it's the definition of overkill but right on topic.

I agree about salt packed anchovies - they last forever.

Thanks for the info, MM. However, the study was done on anchovy patties -- essentially raw fish cakes made with ground anchovies. It's not surprising, therefore, that the quality started declining quickly and that the maximum shelf life was six days. Anchovies packed in oil (and refrigerated) should keep much longer. As I mentioned, I noticed no rancidity after a couple of months, but I imagine ymmv. Salt-packed ones do last a very, very, very long time.

[Suzanne F]

What to do with them? Add them to ANYTHING you are cooking that needs salt. Soups, stews, braises, sautes -- they will add the necessary salt AND give an undefinable frisson of flavor. Kind the way fish sauce does, but with more subtlety.

Or you could mash them with butter, spread them on white toast, cover with a slice of American cheese and a slice of tomato, and broil until the tomato is hot and the cheese around it is bubbly and browned. I grew up on that, and still love it, even if it is disgusting.

[jawbone]

I find it interesting that most salt-pack anchovy tins tell you to keep refrigerated at all times (i.e. even unopened). Yet some stores don't. Whether Rancho Gordo's (unopened) tin has been refrigerated these past years could make a big difference to their condition.

[NVNVGirl]

I would mash them up into a cube of butter, roll it into a log and then wrap in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze it. Use it on steaks, or whatever you feel like having anchovies on. It'll last forever, unless you grill as much as we do

Oops, just slice pats off as you need them; obviously you don't need to use the entire log of butter in one sitting.

Edited February 6, 2004 by NVNVGirl (log)

[zora]

I have kept oil-packed anchovies in the fridge for a couple of months, sometimes even in their original little tin with the lid just pulled back. Eventually the salt exudes and forms a scary-looking crust, but the fish are fine. Probably not such a great effect on other items in the fridge, but whatever...

But I have also been known to scrape mold off of tomato paste and use it...so now you know where I stand....

[MHesse]

When I was a kid, there always was a tube of Vita anchovy paste in the fridge. We would have anchovy paste and cream cheese sandwiches.

So get a fork and start mushing.

[bleudauvergne]

I simply love to add anchovies, onions, and capers to a simple tomato sauce for pasta.

Once I went to eat at a Spanish friend's house and she served anchovies and chunks of bread to go with sweet wine before the meal.

I always crush one or two anchovies into my vinaigrette.

Another all time favorite is to cut anchovies lengthwise into very thin strips, and to lay them onto little rectangles of pate feuillitee. Twist a couple of times and bake for 10 mins. Little salty fish flutes!

-Lucy

[Susan in FL]

All those, and our favorite, eat them right away using your fingers and washing down with beer.

[stephenc]

Eat'em with scrambled eggs.

[slkinsey]

Three cheers for Amanda Hesser who wrote an article for the NY Times on one of my favorite treats from the sea: the anchovy. Her opening echoes much of my own thought on this oft mistreated and misunderstood little fish:

It's hard to blame anyone for not liking anchovies. Their salient qualities are concealed by fillets that are bony and withered, more like fragments of prehistoric fish. They are packed row by row in flimsy tins. They come from a factory, somewhere in a Dickens novel.

But it's harder to imagine living without them. There would be no Caesar salad, no pan bagnat, no pissaladière, no Provençal lamb stew, and no pasta puttanesca.

I, for one love anchovies. Especially salt-cured anchovies and especially fresh anchovies. Interestingly, Ms. Hesser states that she prefers oil-cured, finding specimens preserved in salt "sometimes slimy, sometimes dry." Not my own experience, but to each his (or her) own.

I love anchovy dressing on bitter greens (punterelle, of course), raw anchovies lightly cured in lemon juice and olive oil then sprinkled with parsley and crushed pepper, evoo and anchovy sauce on pasta with either preserved or fresh anchovies, marinated white anchovies in a sandwich with slices of hard-cooked egg, good anchovies on an Italian-style pizza, and an anchovy or two always enlivens any low/slow braised meat dish or stew. Now, having read Ms. Hesser's article, I am eager to make some anchovy butter for melting over steaks and chops. What a great idea!

What are some of the ways you love to eat anchovies?

[AlexP]

I am from Cantabria in Spain, so I have eaten plenty of good anchovies. When I was a kid, I used to spend time at my sister's house. My brother in law and I would always go to Santoña, the main town in Cantabria for anchovies pack in olive oil, and would get jars (probably a pound worth of anchovies per jar) full of long and delicious anchovies packed by the actual fishermen and purchased at their own house. One time he came home after work and found me (I was probably 10 years old) eating them out of the jar, no bread, nothing, just like eating olives or chips! He just kept laughing, teasing me about the size of my possible ulcer. They were so tasty. What a wonderful memory, since Fernando, my brother in law, died just a few weeks ago... There are always a couple jars at their house.

Now living in Minneapolis, it is difficult to find good anchovies unless I buy them online. I like to eat them by themselves with a piece of good bread and a glass of wine, while cooking. I also incorporate them into sauces and dressings.

Alex

Edited February 18, 2004 by AlexP (log)

[ludja]

I also adore anchovies.

All the ways you mentioned above. A real favorite are the lightly cured raw anchovies (had at Zuni Cafe first). Thanks for your great idea re: sandwich with hard-boiled egg and anchovies---we always put a slice of anchovy over stuffed eggs. The sandwich idea is a quick way to enjoy this combination.

Besides pizza, also pissaladiere---and tapanade.

Another great use is to 'melt' some anchovies in butter and olive oil; then coat potatoes with this and roast. I've also seen this suggested for turnips but haven't tried it with turnips yet.

Also, Austrian/Viennese cooking uses anchovies very often in sauces to go with meats.

For example in meat 'rouladen' (browned and then 'pot roasted' rolls of pounded round steak); inside the meatroll are anchovies, onions, capers and parsley. A sauce is made from the drippings.

Wiener Schnitzel a la Holstein with a fried egg and strips of anchovies on top.

Or a "Naturschnitzel" ('breaded' only with flour, not bread crumbs) with which you make a sauce from the drippings, stock, anchovies and sour cream.... yum.

I wonder how the incredible e-gullet roasted cauliflower would taste as a pasta dish wth anchovies also?

This is making me hungry. Maybe a hard-boiled egg and anchovy sandwich is in order!

Edited February 18, 2004 by ludja (log)