Anchovies
Michaelangelo loves anchovies on pizza. It was a culinarily enlightened cartoon, and I’ll hear no arguments to the contrary involving live action adaptations. To be clear, I’m talking about the Ninja Turtle, though I’m confident the Italian Renaissance artist also loved anchovies.
Anchovies get a bad rap. For some unfathomable reason, citizens of the post-industrial west get weird about cured fish products. Like anything powerful, they require proper containment. We don’t take shots of soy sauce either. Anchovies are the reason you love caesar salad.
A burst of salty umami. Think of anchovies like bouillon cubes, or nitrous oxide for a race car. Use them whenever you need a boost. Mash a few anchovies and melt them into olive oil to dress your next pasta. Blend them with sherry vinegar and olive oil for your next vinaigrette.
Our favorite vehicle is some good crusty sourdough with plenty of butter. Just like Marmite (another umami fermented product), a little goes a long way.
The history of fermented anchovies goes back to the ancient Mediterranean, notably as the main ingredient in garum, a fish sauce the Romans developed to season almost everything. Fresh anchovies have a rather mild flavor. The strong, salty punch we associate with them, like most umami-rich foods, is a result of the preservation process.
Salted anchovies. These are the shelf stable tins and jars at the store. The fish are gutted, salted in brine to cure, and then repacked in salt or, now more commonly, olive oil. They have the strongest, most concentrated flavor. Cantabrian anchovies are our favorite and worth seeking out.
Boquerones. Anchovies pickled in vinegar, a Spanish delicacy. They’re milder, sweeter, and lighter in color. They are, however, less permanently preserved. Gotta refrigerate.
Anchovies harmonize best, like most umami-rich foods, with other bold flavors. Pair with kale, radicchio, tomatoes, and lamb. Mac still thinks about a lamb burger topped with anchovies that blew his mind at a place called Harts in Brooklyn. It’s worth noting that anchovies are also the main ingredient in fish sauce, which we love, but that’s a conversation for another time.
We’re glad you’re cooking with us.
Cheers,
Sten and Mac
Chef Snacks
Cooking Tip
Reuse frying oil. It takes a lot of oil to fry fritters and schnitzel. You can reuse it. Let it cool, strain out the solids, and freeze it (if not using within a few weeks). Save the empty oil bottle and reuse it for this purpose (pro tip: don’t try this without a funnel). It’s a good idea to reuse oils for frying similar foods (that is to say, probably don’t use your pork katsu oil to fry donuts. Or do, if you want meat-flavored donuts). Discard the oil when it gets dark or smells burned.
