Anchovies

[gariotin]

As for brands, I love the Spanish ones from Ortiz. They come in a little jar w/a fork on the side, packed in oil. Meaty yet kinda silky. Yum.

[schneich]

my marinara sauce gets its kick from 2-3 of those little suckers :)

t.

[Chris Amirault]

Consider the poor anchovy. Belittled by the pizza man and customer, crushed into pastes and tubes, pushed to the edge of salades nicoise, crowded tighter than a sardine into impenetrable cans. Who will join me in love for the little fellas?

What high-end, salt-packed brands do you get? What low-end, oil-packed brands? How do you use them? Are there secret hiding places where good sardines lurk? And does anyone actually cook with fresh anchovies?

[Fresser]

Someone on eGullet wrote in a sig line: "Eating an anchovy is like eating an eyebrow."

Bah!

Whenever I tear into a Greek salad, I wrap the anchovies around chunks of feta cheese for a tasty (albeit salty) snack. It takes a certain hardiness to eat anchovies this way, but it earns me the admiration of Greek restaurant owners.

The furry little fishies even played a role in one job's Friday Pizza Day. I was temping once near O'Hare when a co-worker informed me that they were ordering pizza for the group. They ordered the usual suspects: one veggie, one sausage-and-mushroom, one pepperoni, et cetera. But the Boss special-ordered the one pizza that no one else (except me) would touch: jalapeno peppers, garlic and...ANCHOVIES!!

Gagging co-workers accused me of sucking up to the boss by sharing his pizza, but I really did like the fish-clad pie. I never was one to shy away from bold flavors.

[adegiulio]

Holy cow, I love anchovies...I've been buying them from my Italian market in a resealable glass jar. I use them all over the place, from long cooked stews to quick pasta dishes. They add a round saltiness that is so much better than just plain salt. The brand I use is Agostina Recca. Love 'em.

I've been eating those white, marinated anchovies a lot also. They aren't salty like the kind of anchovy we are accustomed to seeing, these are mild, tangy, and fishy. I dig 'em on salads, sandwiches, and as a garnish on pasta (though I don't cook them).

Strangly, I don't care much for anchovies on pizza...

[foodobsessed]

God, I love anchovies too! I've only had them fresh once....at Mario Batali's Babbo in NYC. They were heavenly. But from my local Italian market I buy them in oil in a resealable glass jar. I rinse off the salt and oil, and pop those little beauties in my mouth. Unbelievable.

They get such a bad rap for such a tasty morsel. Why is that?

[BarbaraY]

I guess this is the place to tell of the anchovy pizza.

I love anchovy pizza and, since I had a snowy night off, I decided to buy myself some beer and an anchovy pizza from the take-n-bake place.

On arriving at my apartment I began juggling things to get my keys, went inside, and set things down. Oops! Forgot the pizza, guess I left it in the back floorbboard of the car. Wrong!

Where is my pizza? Not in the kitchen, not in the car. OK! Lets retrace steps, get out of car, walk up hill to door, set pizza on deck railing, fish out keys, go inside. Wait a minute, I set pizza on the railing and there going into the night were some of the hugest dog paw prints I've ever seen. I never saw or heard a sign of the dog or any remains of the pizza anywhere.

Don't remember what I ate that night but maybe I just had beer.

[melkor]

Canned anchovies I can live without. Boquerones on the other hand are one of the greatest bar foods of all time. Fresh cured anchovies are a beautiful thing.

[rlibkind]

Friday I went to Claudio's in Philadelphia's Ninth Street Market where I purchased half a pound of salt-cured anchovies out of the big 5 kg tin. I also picked up fresh mozzarella made just an hour or so earlier next door at Claudio's little factory. Back home, the anchovies got rinsed and filleted, then marinated for five or six hours in oil with some garlic and previously charred and skinned sweet red peppers. That was dinner later in the evening with a fat, juicy Brandywine tomato, some good dense bread grilled into brushetta (more garlic rubbed all over), and by a glass and a half of cheap but decent bag wine. Dessert: a dead-ripe Lancaster County nectarine purchased the previous weekend at the Reading Terminal Market.

[Susan in FL]

We love anchovies, too... We've not had fresh ones, unfortunately, but we have enjoyed cheap oil-packed brands and more expensive salt-packed brands. Our favorite thing to do is to eat them out of the can or jar or whatever, washed down with beer. Another one of my favorites is to butter good bread, and top with anchovies. We give them lots of uses: an ingredient in many pastas, not to mention puttanesca; with pizza, but on the side; salads; oh yeah anchovies are essential for the good life. So many brands, I can't remember without looking. None stand out immediately.

[Bux]

The commercial anchovies I've had in France put all the ones I've had here to shame, but I was still totally unprepared for the fat anchovies one can get in northern Spain on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. The best in France seem to come from just north of Spain on the Mediterranean. I'm just talking about commerical brands in jars. The white anchovies are more perishable and harder to find here, although I've found a decent source, but not good enough to compare with boquerones in Spain.

I have had fresh cured anchovies from Daniel Boulud's kitchen and Blue Hill that were heads and shoulders above the commercial variety and really luscious and large anchovies at Rafa's in Roses, Spain (hometown of Adrià's elBulli.

Anchovies and roasted peppers are a wonderful combination. A few black olives and hard cooked eggs doesn't hurt either. They're essential in a real black olive tapenade, which is really named for the provincal name for capers, not the olives or the anchovies.

[Busboy]

In our house, a standard topping for a flank steak or onglet is a compound butter made with roasted garlic and anchovies. Just whack them up in the food processor and throw it over the grilled beef. A variation, if you've got beef stock on hand, is to mash the garlic and the anchovies together and throw them in with stock, red wine and capers and cook it all down into a gooey mess -- doing the montee thing at the end. Spectacular. The salted are superior to the canned, but whatever they sell at the local bodega will work.

[racheld]

But did you like the first one? Hubby loves them, and I want to, but I just can't get past That. First. One.

[Grub]

Love 'em. In salads, but particularly on pizzas. I read somewhere, that this was "the" original pizza topping... Great little fishies.

[snowangel]

My folks, when they visit Berkeley, buy me big tins of salt packed ones (I'd have to drive 40 miles to get them, they only have to fly half way across the country). I put them in all sorts of things (sauces, salad dressings, etc.) and my family (memebers all of whom believe that they are nasty) are none the wiser, and in fact comment that "wow, this sauce (or whatever) is really good. I rinse and bone and use as is, or give them a quick EVVO spa treatment.

Peter, the 9 year-old fearless one, declared them "icky" but did taste a bit of anchovy pizza, and declared it "profound; I think I'll eat this again." He actually ate one of the anchovies draped over my last salad, and asked for more.

As a side note, when I was pregnant with Heidi, I was sick for the 8 months I was pregant. Almost everything sent me to the bathroom to worship the porcelain goddess. I learned about half way through that awful experience that 1/2 an anchovy sort of settled things to the point where I could lay down and not have the spins and need a barf bag.

[SusieQ]

I've had fresh anchovies once -- at a Spanish tapas place in Seattle called Harvest Vine. They were delicious.

One of my favorite sandwiches is made out of good hearty dark bread, anchovies, cream cheese, and alfalfa sprouts. I know it sounds weird, but it tastes really good.

SusieQ

[sanrensho]

Salt-packed anchovies are amazing and taste so much better than regular oil-packed anchovies. A little extra work rinsing and filleting, but absolutely worth the effort.

Good wholegrain bread, slice of ripe tomato, and an anchovy fillet (or two) draped across--heaven on a plate.

Sometimes I make an anchovy rosemary sauce--copious quantities of both buzzed with olive oil. Fantastic tossed with pasta or potatos, and freezes well.

[transfattyacid]

Sometimes I make an anchovy rosemary sauce--copious quantities of both buzzed with olive oil.

yah , a great combination indeed .

One of my favourite embellishments for grilled veal chop is an anchovy and rosemary butter slowly melting into the meat. i ask you , what more could you want ? ( save a wedge of lemon, a chair and a sharp knife ) .

The rightly famous Cantabrian Anchovies are simply fantastic to eat in salads.

Anchovy and Egg sauce with poached Cod is also devine, an old english preparation that entails, bechamel or a well flavoured fish veloute, chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped anchovy fillets and loads of fresh chopped parsley.

maybe not so great at the height of summer but with a double helping of mashed potatoes it gives me something to look foward to in the colder months .

But did you like the first one?

HELL YEAH ! and i`ve been an addicted ever since.

[Carlovski]

Anchovies are the strangest things - They enhance the most unlikely ingredients. Why do they go so well with green vegetables (especially broccolli)?

And why do they have some sort of alchemy with tomatoes? As soon as anchovy hits tomato a rich sweetness magically appears.

There must be some reason - Might have to hit 'On Food and Cooking'.....

[cinghiale]

Got handed a couple of pounds of fresh anchovies last night, and I need help. I'm thinking:

(1) A few tramezzini (thanks, Sam). I've got 10 freshly boiled eggs that came straight from the farm. That'll take a couple of filets.

(2) I've got two lamb steaks in the fridge, so I could try Judith's suggestion, but I'm not sure that fresh would have the same effect as cured.

(3) I'll steam some, ala Judy. Thanks for that.

(4) Bagna cauda sounds good, but do fresh work in it? Also, most recipes call for just 8 or 10 filets. I've got a couple of pounds of cooked cardi in the fridge, plus cauliflower, peppers, onions, etc., so I could whip it up w/out heading to the market.

(5) Eating lots of chard and broccoli rabe, so could cure some to use later.

(6) How about alici in polpette, using potatoes for body? But again, would fresh anchovies be lost in this?

[SobaAddict70]

I use them mostly in pasta, either salt-packed or oil-packed. If the latter, I get a large jar at Citarella that keeps for many months, refrigerated. Occasionally I'll decant into a ramekin or plastic container (like from takeout wonton soup), add the anchovies and top with enough olive oil to cover.

Spaghetti with anchovies and squid

Penne puttanesca

Spinach fettucine with shrimp and anchovies

Fusilli with caramelized onions, ramps and anchovies

Conchiglie with smoked bacon and cabbage

(anchovies appear in the breadcrumb topping)

Fettucine with turnip greens and anchovy

[cinghiale]

Braised lamb steaks with some of the fresh anchovies last night. Sauteed onions, added anchovies. They don't disintegrate like the cured variety. Added steaks, chicken stock, and white wine, braised for one hour. Decanted the braising liquid, removed the fat, and made a sauce from the stock. Quite good, with the anchovies flavor a tasty highlight without being overpowering.

Have several other filets curing in lemon juice and will make tramezzini with hard-boiled eggs later. I'm thinking of turning the remainder into polpette and will report back on results.

[SeanDirty]

Seems to me yall get all these canned and oiled anchovies... but wheres the fresh.... Who's got the fresh? Ive got the fresh Muahhahhah!!

but seriously the best are the boquerones the anchovies, marinated in vinegar then packed in olive oil. They keep so juicy, you can just eat them strait out of the tub. They are also not to salty, and are delicious!

Now these fresh ones... they are good deep fried... but then again if you are going to cure / salt them, cleaning is such a pain, not because its hard, just because its so time consuming. Cut the head, spilt the body in two by using your finger running it along the belly to the tail will spilt it. Pull the bone out, and volia you got two perfect fillets, boneless... now only 100000 more to go...

oh forgot to say.... we flew it in from Greece....

Edited December 23, 2008 by SeanDirty (log)

[Magictofu]

You can make a killer appetizer with fresh anchovy filets. You just have to marinate them in a bit of lemon juice, olive oil and your favorite herbs. Let them sit in the marinade for about an hour so that the acidity cook them partly (a bit like ceviche). Serve with bread to soak up the dressing.

You can do something similar and equally good with cooked anchovy filets, 10 minutes in the marinade is plenty.

[nakji]

I've finally managed to locate some (cheap, tinned) anchovies, so I can make my beloved "Pasta with mushrooms" sauce from Marcella Hazan. However, since they're tinned, I'll have to use the remaining fishes up fairly quickly - I've read through this topic and can see that they're versatile little fishies - any more ideas on how to use these? I don't make pizzas or salads very often, but I'm thinking of slipping a couple into a roasting chicken or similar.