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A Little History of the Anchovy
- pvaldes 2y agoOne of the most important family of fishes in the planet by its huge commercial impact.
- AlbertCory 2y agoA lot of people refuse to believe it won't make your food taste fishy. Sigh.
- jprd 2y agoWell, within reason of course. In smaller quantities it is an excellent source of umami and a killer "special ingredient" for dishes that can benefit. Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish. This could just be me and my absolute aversion to "fishy" tastes though?
- AlbertCory 2y agoYeah. But if you chop one up and dissolve it in olive oil before cooking anything else, then it's just umami
- sweetbacon 2y agoBagna Cauda! I went down the rabbit hole a few winters back trying to perfect that dip and it was awesome. Never "perfected" of course, but I got close enough to really enjoy the recipe. Paired well with the simple dish of olive oil packed tuna, spaghetti, heavy butter and some added capers. So good and very easy to whip up.
- arethuza 2y agoI make spaghetti with anchovies, garlic, olive oil and toasted breadcrumbs - it is remarkable how tasty it is!
- linksnapzz 2y agoAs someone who very much likes whole anchovies on pizza or cesar salad; some ppl. can deal with anchovies better in the sauce used in a traditional Sicilian sfincione pizza: https://www.seriouseats.com/sfincione-sicilian-new-years-pizza-with-bread https://www.seriouseats.com/sfincione-sicilian-new-years-piz...
- silisili 2y agoThe secret here is in preparation. I had a local place, never asked them how but their anchovies were dry and almost crunchy, and it made the pizza delicious. If you just take a canned in oil one and throw it on top a pizza before cooking, it permeates everything and can get fishy. I tend to at minimum press them in paper towels to get the oil out, then cut them into smaller bits. It's decent, but still can't match the pizza places's secret.
- pvaldes 2y agoElaboration, type of oil used and time to curation counts. I assume that cheap Pizzas use cheaper lower quality versions of this product that can be disappointing. There are fake products or products that use third grade anchovies (with fishes smaller or crushed that are much more cheap). When you buy the correct size fishes, in the right season, with the correct firm of the meat, and then curate it at a barrel at home for many months, the difference is spectacular.
- silisili 2y agoAll true. Even in the low tier/tin can grade, you have to be careful with brand. King Oscar for example is by far the worst I've ever tried. Cento is miles better. This isn't just flavor, but texture, size, and firmness. King Oscar smudges into paste just picking them up, in my experience. Fun anecdote: I only ever use a few anchovies on a pizza as not to overwhelm it, and would give some scraps to the bloodhound. He loved them. He refused to eat King Oscar anchovies. He'd get excited, run up, sniff them, then back away.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- whywhywhywhy 2y ago> Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish For use as a fish rather than an umami ingredient if you're put off by the intense taste maybe try tinned Cantabrian anchovies, they have a much more subtle buttery fish flavor rather than the intense salt fish flavor of
- robarr 2y agoPeruvian anchovy, the anchoveta, had and still has aprofound impact on peruvian economy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_anchoveta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_anchoveta By the way of Wikipedia: "The anchoveta has been characterized as "the most heavily exploited fish in world history" https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/183775/102904317 https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/183775/102904317
- samcheng 2y agoIf you're in the Bay Area, I'd like to encourage you to visit the Santa Cruz Wharf (also the Pacifica Pier, to lesser degree) in August through October (like, right now). The anchovies are ridiculously present right now: millions of them, visible from the surface, swimming in a vast school that parts when sea lions swim by. They're tasty when fried fresh. They're not salty like a canned anchovy filet, and less fishy than you expect. Delicious! I guess I'm a "rough person" as the article states.
- samuelec 2y agoI love them! just by reading the title I've imagined them in a jar in olive oil and I felt I want them like Dr.Zoidberg from Futurama :)
- cjs_ac 2y agoWhen you say the word anchovy, which syllable do you stress? I live in the UK, where the stress is placed on the first syllable: ANch'vy. However, I'm originally from Australia, where the UK pronunciation seems to be an 'old money' thing, and most Australians put the stress on the second syllable: anCHOvy.
- pvaldes 2y agoSecond syllable also on Spanish
- freefal 2y agoThe first syllable is stressed in the US
- richardfontana 2y agoNot exclusively. I am in the US and I believe I consistently put primary stress on the second syllable. Merriam-Webster (an American English oriented dictionary) gives both pronunciations, but lists the first-syllable-stress version first: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anchovy https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anchovy
- xvedejas 2y agoYes, and I'll also note that the secondary stress seems to be on the second syllable. That is, the second syllable is not reduced like in the UK. So it's pronounced most commonly in the US more like "Anne Chovy" than "Anchvy"
- s_dev 2y agoI've heard a few environmentalists comment that anchovies are rare in the sense they are one of the few fish that can be industrially fished and it be sustainable. Given the apocalypse we're imposing on the ocean that was nice to hear but I can't supply a source on this information so take it with a bit of salt but does sound plausible because they really aren't tuna or cod.
- meindnoch 2y agoCauses gout.
- jajko 2y ago> Some types of seafood — such as anchovies, shellfish, sardines and tuna — are higher in purines than are other types. But the overall health benefits of eating fish may outweigh the risks for people with gout. Moderate portions of fish can be part of a gout diet. Literally first thing when googling. You would have to eat humongous amounts of this very salty tiny fish to see any long term effect. The salt itself would probably kill you earlier.
- circlefavshape 2y agoThey're mostly cured with salt, but I expect the fish themselves aren't particularly salty (at least the (delcious!) Spanish marinated ones aren't salty)
- jajko 2y agoI've had fresh ones grilled in Greece couple of times and they were very salty (not typical can-level but still a ton). It could be possible they add salt that much just for this fish and every other fish they prepare with normal amount of salt, but I find it unlikely.
- pvaldes 2y agoThe fish fried is delicious, oily, full of protein and a little salty. Salt is added routinely to the dish. Anchovies in Spanish mean normally only the canned, very salty, thing. If you want to buy the fresh fish, there is a different word for it. The third option to consume it is marinated on vinegar, that also uses the fish name (plus "on vinegar").
- mejutoco 2y agoBoquerones en vinagre. Delicious cold on some bread.
- kiliantics 2y agoThis reminds me of an interesting video I saw of someone making garum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICZww0DtQKk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICZww0DtQKk His description of the flavour is so intriguing.
- koliber 2y agoI wonder how different garum is from southeast Asian fish sauce.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- bwanab 2y agoI remember the first time I tried a pizza with anchovies. I thought this was the stupidest pizza topping I'd ever heard of, but I gave it a try - OMG, what a metanoia!