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Anchovies


snowangel

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I'm obsessed with anchovies this summer, not sure why....

Susan in Fl, you know the red sauce with anchovies that you describe in the Dinner thread? Add a little splash of fresh orange juice, it brightens the flavors a bit, and is a lovely little accent.

What about lamb shanks and anchovies?? Braised lamb shanks with anchovies are a winter treat. (Basic treatment: saute with some chopped celery, carrots, onion and anchovies until the anchovies dissolve, add garlic, chopped tomatoes, stock and simmer for a few hours).

Its really good if you can find the anchovies in a jar, then you can just throw in as many as you want, whenever you want. This also makes you very popular with the kitties in your house! :laugh:

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Ahhhh... the joys of roasted red pepper with anchovies. I make my own roasted red peppers and then add anchovy filets in with the peppers along with capers and chopped garlic. Let it sit in some good olive oil for a few days and allow to meld. I can just spread this on bread and call it dinner.

Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods? I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

Best recent anchovy story: I belong to a small cooking club that meets every few months or so. One of the coupel has tewo charming young sons, aged 9 and 11, who join us for dinner. Last gathering was at my place and we did grilled veggies along with a build-your-own Salade Nicoise. The older boy came running in from the deck where he and his brother were eating and grabbed a couple anchovies from the bowl. Surprised, I asked him if he liked anchovies. "No... they just taste like leaves and salt to me. - they're disgusting." A moment later I hear him saying to his little brother "Come on... you've got to try these - these things are great!"

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Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods? I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

If you can find a place that seems to do a brisk business in salted anchovy by the pound I think it is worth trying. You will find that the salted versions tend to produce much larger, meatier fillets. Clean up a whole batch at once and store them in good olive oil in the refrigerator. They last 1-2 weeks that way.

As with everything it's a tradeoff. I think you get much better flavor with salt-stored anchovy because you have control over the type of oil they are swimming in and you have substantially higher meat to salt/oil ratio. That said, for convenience you can't beat the jar. I usually steer clear of the cans simply because the times I have used them it seems to be very small chunks rather than fillets.

I'm finding it harder and harder to find salted anchovies. It used to be that most Italian groceries that had a deli counter carried them but it seems that prepared white anchovies in oil are taking over.

Stephen Bunge

St Paul, MN

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Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods? I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

These are definitely saltier than those canned or jarred in oil, so they need to be soaked, in water or milk and then rinsed. They do have a great flavor, but there are very high quality brands packed in oil that are more widly available now and much less effort. The issue I have is that all the cans of salt packed anchovies I have seen are rather large. I am an anchovy fanatic, but given the prep work of boning and soaking them, it is some times daunting to work through the entire can. I just find the oil packed ones much more convieniant to open and start eating with abandon.

The one major advantage of buying the whole salt packed anchovies are the left over skeletons DO NOT THROUGH THESE AWAY! I got a great idea from Colman Andrews book, Catalan Cuisine (a great book by a great writer, Andrews is also the Editor in Chief of Saveur magazine). This is what you do:

1/2 cup milk

2-3 dozen anchovy spines

Olive oil

3/4 cup flour

Put milk in a small bowl, add anchovy spines, and soak for 30 minutes. Pour olive oil into a cast-iron skillet to a depth of 3/4'' and heat over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Put flour on a plate and dredge spines, shaking off excess flour. Fry spines until deep golden-brown, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.

The ultimate snack. I have read about the Japanese frying eel bones as well.

As others have mentioned, I love anchovies straight from the jar or can or with roasted peppers. I also love them simply placed on top of melba toast. I often make a salad of raw cauliflower florets broken up and tossed with slightly mashed anchovies, oil cured black olives that I have pitted and crushed slightly, good quality red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, cracked black pepper and a small bit of sea salt. Then I just toss it all together and let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes. Delicious.

I saw this recipe in Cuisine magazine from New Zealand, I have not made it yet, but it sounds fantastic, it is called Janssen’s Temptation and apparently is a classic Sweedish dish:

Peel and coarsely grate 6 medium potatoes. Layer them in a greased baking dish with 12-16 anchovy fillets, two finely sliced onions, freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste (depending on the saltiness of the anchovies). Mix together 300mls of cream and 200mls of milk and pour over the potato. (You can use chicken or vegetable stock if preferred). Bake in a 180ºC oven for 1 hour until golden and bubbly.

Here is a nice article from Delia Smith about her trip to Basque country to observe anchovy production.

Anchovies in Basque country

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Anchovies rock.

I as well roast my own red peppers but I just cannot even wait until they are cool before I lay a couple anchovies on 'em. A topping for sliced baguette starts many a picnic for me. One of my favorite pairings of all time. :wub:

Someone is brining them locally(Portland ME), I think. They are sold in plastic deli 1/2-heights and are white. Milder than canned varieties. Must be what you guys are picking up at your local deli too, no?

From the Basque Country Anchovy adventure:

We eat anchovy tapas prepared by Amparo Yurrita: fillets curled round artichoke hearts; small crisp squares of toasted bread with chopped tomato, egg and anchovy; little boats made from crisp chicory leaves filled with a Roquefort and cream mixture and garnished with snipped anchovies; a purée of avocado combined with a thick, luscious anchovy paste. An anchovy fillet wrapped around a pickled chilli was a sensation.

WHOA!!! :rolleyes:

Edited by johnnyd (log)

"I took the habit of asking Pierre to bring me whatever looks good today and he would bring out the most wonderful things," - bleudauvergne

foodblogs: Dining Downeast I - Dining Downeast II

Portland Food Map.com

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Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods?  I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

Don't think twice about buying the canned salted anchoives! They are so much better then the ones packed in oil (except the white ones that come marinated, a whole different story). The cleaning process is very simple. Just run the anchovie under some warm water to remove the salt, the take a paring knife and open the body a little at the the stomach. You can then just use you fingers to open the fish like a book and pull out the bones and rinse. The anchoivies will last up to a year or more in your refrig. under the salt. One of my favorite ways to eat anchovies is to butter (unslted) a bagette place the anchovies on top with some sweet onion :wub:. In NJ you can purchase these anchovies at Jerry's in Englewood for $9.99 for a one lb can. It seems like alot, but they go faster then you think. I think that Jerry's has a website.

I've also seen them at teitel bros in the belmont section of the Bronx

Edited by Double 0 (log)

I'm a NYC expat. Since coming to the darkside, as many of my freinds have said, I've found that most good things in NYC are made in NJ.

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Ahhhh... the joys of roasted red pepper with anchovies. I make my own roasted red peppers and then add anchovy filets in with the peppers along with capers and chopped garlic. Let it sit in some good olive oil for a few days and allow to meld. I can just spread this on bread and call it dinner.

Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods? I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

Best recent anchovy story: I belong to a small cooking club that meets every few months or so. One of the coupel has tewo charming young sons, aged 9 and 11, who join us for dinner. Last gathering was at my place and we did grilled veggies along with a build-your-own Salade Nicoise. The older boy came running in from the deck where he and his brother were eating and grabbed a couple anchovies from the bowl. Surprised, I asked him if he liked anchovies. "No... they just taste like leaves and salt to me. - they're disgusting." A moment later I hear him saying to his little brother "Come on... you've got to try these - these things are great!"

I recently roasted a batch of red peppers (they're now sitting in olive oil). I love anchovies too (fresh or tinned). I like your suggestion and will have to try it out! Sounds great- sweet roasted peppers with salty anchovies.

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Broccoli and Anchovy Sauce with orecchiette or fusilli pasta. This sauce works well with whole wheat pasta also. I love this as a quick, healthy meal.

Marcella Hazan has the basic recipe in her "Essentials of Italian Cooking". Steam or boil broccoli and chop florets and stalks into small pieces. Start sauce by sauteeing anchovie in olive oil. Break up to dissolve in sauce and be careful not to burn. Add in some red and black pepper. Add in chopped broccoli and some pasta water if needed to thin. Add in pasta to meld a little. Serve with grated cheese.

Cured anchovies; a thin strip, draped over stuffed eggs.

And this time of year--- a great salade Nicoise or a pan bagna sandwich for picnics... :smile:

edited after seeing trillium's post: I had written "anchovies over hard boiled eggs--meant, "over stuffed eggs"... oops :wub: )

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Don't know if this is too obvious, but anchovy butter is a great thing. I try to keep some in the freezer to have on hand to melt on steaks, place under the skin of chicken, add to a pan sauce etc etc etc.

"Tis no man. Tis a remorseless eating machine."

-Captain McAllister of The Frying Dutchmen, on Homer Simpson

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I use them in Mario's Pork Perugina, from his 1st cookbook - pork chops with a sauce of prosciutto, capers, white wine, garlic, mushed up anchovies. Delicious.

Also mush them up in lemon juice and put over roasted green beans.

Mario's Tuscan green beans from the Babbo cookbook uses anchovy paste, which I always thought was considered an inferior product - but if it's good enough for Mario it's good enough for me.

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

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Also mush them up in lemon juice and put over roasted green beans.

Hmmm... that sounds good.

Something similar...I've mushed up anchovies in olive oil over low heat, add lemon juice and tosswith roasted turnips (younger ones) also...

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Anchovy Paste out of a tube is a godsend. Nothing wrong with it. Keeps well, easy to add as an ingredient as opposed to mashing up the little bastards for sauce and dressings, and very portable for picnics. Amore makes it, and tomato paste in a tube too. Forget the garlic paste, it's a travesty of a mockery of a sham...

edited to add web source

Edited by johnnyd (log)

"I took the habit of asking Pierre to bring me whatever looks good today and he would bring out the most wonderful things," - bleudauvergne

foodblogs: Dining Downeast I - Dining Downeast II

Portland Food Map.com

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Ahhhh... the joys of roasted red pepper with anchovies. I make my own roasted red peppers and then add anchovy filets in with the peppers along with capers and chopped garlic. Let it sit in some good olive oil for a few days and allow to meld. I can just spread this on bread and call it dinner.

Now my curiosity is aroused. Is it worth trying the salt packed (and much pricier) anchovies for any of these methods? I know they cost more and are more work (deboning anfd also rinsing to remove salt) but if the taste is significantly different I'm inclined to try it.

Best recent anchovy story: I belong to a small cooking club that meets every few months or so. One of the coupel has tewo charming young sons, aged 9 and 11, who join us for dinner. Last gathering was at my place and we did grilled veggies along with a build-your-own Salade Nicoise. The older boy came running in from the deck where he and his brother were eating and grabbed a couple anchovies from the bowl. Surprised, I asked him if he liked anchovies. "No... they just taste like leaves and salt to me. - they're disgusting." A moment later I hear him saying to his little brother "Come on... you've got to try these - these things are great!"

Yes, it is worth the extra trouble and expense. IMHO, of course. But remember, it's a condiment, not an entire meal, so the extra trouble and expense is negligible.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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Anchovy Paste out of a tube is a godsend. Nothing wrong with it. Keeps well, easy to add as an ingredient as opposed to mashing up the little bastards for sauce and dressings, and very portable for picnics. Amore makes it, and tomato paste in a tube too. Forget the garlic paste, it's a travesty of a mockery of a sham...

edited to add web source

Rizzoli anchovy paste, if you can find it, is worlds (or maybe universes) better then Amore. Nuttier and no bitter fish gut taste.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some fresh anchovies this year and they are super easy to clean after you've gutted and packed them in salt, and the fillet is so much meatier then the oil packed ones. I've bought cans in the past and the quality really seems to vary, sometimes you get nice firm whole fishies in salt and sometimes you get this weird slurry of salt and fish parts. The less firm the fish is, the harder it is to clean.

Something I haven't seen mentioned here are anchovies in lemon eggs. You hard cook some eggs and pretend you're making deviled eggs, but instead you put olive oil, a little lemon zest, some juice, some well mashed anchovies (or anchovy paste!) and fresh ground pepper in the yolk, mix it well and put it back in the egg white halves. If you're feeling fancy you can sprinkle them with parsley or put a caper or two on the top. This go very well with aperitif type drinks.

And a smear of tomato, then anchovies, fresh mozz and garlic with a sprinkling of dried origano on a thin crusted pizza? Close to heaven.

regards,

trillium

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Mmmh! Anchovies. Garnishing salads, mashed with oil for garnishing bread, grilled, fried whole like smelt, seasoning puttanesca...all good.

However, my favorite way to eat anchovies is as a sushi topping. I eat them this way two to three times a week. They can be lightly (emphasize lightly) marinated in seasoned rice vinegar first or they can be served without marination. Naked or topped with a little finely sliced green onion and placed on top of Kansai-style (more heavily vinegared) sushi rice, they are just about perfect. Since I live in Tokyo, I normally have them on Tokyo-style (more lightly seasoned) sushi rice. Even that way, they are damned close to perfect. As a matter fact, I had some just an hour ago.

We're very lucky to get phenomenal fresh sardines here.

Jim

Jim Jones

London, England

Never teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and frustrates the pig.

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Thanks for the reminder about bagna cauda, as well as all the ideas. I forgot about that when I was thinking about my favorite ways to eat anchovies. We eat it year-round, using whatever the prettiest fresh seasonal vegetables are. In addition to steamed potatoes... always have to have the potatoes... :wub: Sometimes we steam shrimp, too, and dip them also, making a big bagna cauda meal.

This weekend I roasted red peppers. They turned out to be an especially good batch, and wow, did we enjoy the anchovies on them. Another suggestion I was happy to get and didn't know why I never thought of it was on top of bread and butter and raw onion. I love raw onion with bread and butter... the addition of anchovies was heavenly!

Hathor, next time I make a red sauce with anchovies, a splash of fresh FL OJ is going in there!

Do any of you have a definite preference for a brand (either jarred or canned, in salt, or in oil)? Part of our trouble when buying the 2 ounce tins is that we often forget which brand it was when they were extra good ones.

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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However, my favorite way to eat anchovies is as a sushi topping.

[...]

We're very lucky to get phenomenal fresh sardines here.

Jim

Sorry, complete brain fart here, as I write about sardines on an anchovy thread. I am, of course, talking about iwashi.

Doh!

Jim

Jim Jones

London, England

Never teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and frustrates the pig.

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I learned a trick at the Central Market in FLorence, where I live.

I soak the salt packed anchovies ( from Spain, they are fatter) in red wine vinegar!

Gives them a fabulous flavor!

then I bone then and pack in olive oil.. waiting for a craving!

I adore them just with butter on bread.. or sauteed with Broccoli or cauliflower as a pasta sauce.

have had then in Rome, Da Checchino's, in a sauce with garlic on lamb...

I stuff tiny peppers with the anchovy's and a caper and pack in oil!

Do any of you get Fresh Anchovies?

Love to just split them open, and lay then in a saucepan.. a drizzle of oil..and a splash of lemon or vinegar.. cover and steam!

so delicate!

Edited by divina (log)
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Anchovies can be added to just about any braise, where they contribute a subtle flavor that is not identifiably fish-based.

Anchovy butter is also awesome stuff. Useful in a million ways. Try a dab of anchovy butter over grilled asparagus, or a nice chunk of anchovy butter on a strip steak.

--

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, I was in a panic for a moment. I was looking for the anchovy lovers thread, to report back about our current anchovy kick, and couldn't find it. It has been merged. Glad I found it, and now back to the ways to eat the little treasures...

Hathor, thanks a bunch for that suggestion of a splash of fresh OJ when making the pasta sauces. I did that and it made for some added enjoyment.

We ordered an assortment of anchovies to try, including some really good whole salt-packed ones. You guys were right... they really are worth the extra money and the time to debone (easy to do) and rinse. Some we even soaked for a bit. By the way, the best we got from the online ordering madness were from Marky's in Miami. We do quite a bit of ordering from them, and everything is real good, including their cheese. This was the first time to get anchovies there, and now they will be our primary source. Their salt-packed anchovies were so good, and nice and firm. Some we ordered from other sources were a bit mushy, making it more difficult to take the bone out.

Soon after I started the thread, we tried some of the suggestions posted and tried some new recipes. I think my overall favorite -- well one of my favorite, or maybe my current favorite -- ways to eat them is with roasted red peppers. Then that got me on a kick of roasting red peppers and I've done four or five batches since. The peppers and anchovies on good bread... yum. One night when an anchovy order had just arrived, we had an appetizer dinner of three different kinds, along with bread, toasts, roasted peppers, prosciutto, parm-reg, sliced tomatoes, basil, olives, EVOO, etc. That was a delicious feast.

My least favorite has been those packed in vinegar. Too sour for me.

One of the new recipes was Mediterranean Steaks Mirabeaux with Anchovies, Olives, and Couscous. A very intense dish, wonderful!

i11921.jpg

Keep us posted on your excellent anchovy adventures.

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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Suzanne! That steak looks fabulous!!! Glad you like the OJ finish.

We were doing a 'clean out the refrigerator' meal the other day and came up with a charred eggplant, anchovy, chili pepper casserole that was really good. Melted the anchovies in some olive oil, and slow roasted the eggplants with the chili's. YUM.

Now I'm hungry for the roasted red peppers....

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Isn't the real question . . . what AREN'T anchovies good in?

As part of a sorbet? :biggrin:

Well, I suppose this isn't all that far removed from Heston Blumenthal's sardines-on-toast ice cream, which is very good. Gentlemen, start your Pacojets... :smile:

I love those cans of green Spanish olives stuffed with anchovies.

Anchovies are also pretty good mixed with olives, capers, garlic and oil, blitzed into tapenade, and served with thick curly pasta (I'm sure this is totally inauthentic but I used to love it as a student).

Marinated, butterflied and deep fried anchovies at a Spanish cerveceria are also great.

I love the white anchovies fillets marinaded in oil and garlic. I could eat them by the dozen (and in weaker moments have done). But like some of the other posters I've never really understood the point of salted anchovies. I soak them, debone and then find that for most of the things I use them for I may as well have opened a tin.

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Inspired by this thread, I made myself a stacked sandwich which contained the following: layers of mozzarella, summer tomatoes, basil, and anchovies. Two layers of each on very crusty wheat bread.

It was delish.

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Isn't the real question . . . what AREN'T anchovies good in?

As part of a sorbet? :biggrin:

Soba

smarty pants... :raz:

Well, now that I've thought about it, how's about a tomato-basil sorbet, barely sweetened, with lemon rind and a hit of lemon or lime juice and a bit of "pasted" anchovy worked in? :rolleyes: Might be interesting!

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

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