

Dislike Anchovies? Here's Why You Should Give Them a Second Chance

Great anchovies require enormous patience, and their current popularity has been a long time coming.

Don Penny

Great anchovies require enormous patience, and their current popularity has been a long time coming. For millennia, the little fish have been gleefully devoured around the world. The ancient Greeks prized them so highly they came up with dozens of words to describe where anchovies were caught, how they were cured, and whether the fish were salted with or without scales. The Romans turned the sleek little fish into garum, using the sauce so liberally in their cooking that it became a kind of currency, as prized, and expensive, as perfume.

The appetite for anchovy sauce is so universal that a different version is used in almost every Asian country. The oldest Chinese version was called kchiap, and when the British discovered it they went wild. They took it home, where it began to evolve; mushrooms, walnuts, and shallots were added. Tomatoes didn’t find their way into ketchup, as it came to be known, until the 19th century, and when Americans got hold of the recipe, the anchovies had vanished.

anchovies meals

additional information review1018 √ê 101112 √ê leonard ortiz, the orange county registermedianews group via getty images √ê review of trattoria brunos, a new restaurant in brea, opened last month, started up by the owner of cha chas, photo by leonard ortizdigital first mediaorange county register via getty images
In American cuisine, many only consume anchovies in meals like caesar salads and atop pizza.
Getty Images

The relationship between Americans and anchovies has never been congenial. We might consent to put one or two into our Caesar salad, or occasionally deign to drape a few across a piece of pizza, but the affair ends there. Ask most Americans what they think of anchovies and they’ll wrinkle their noses.

The explanation? Until recently, few of us had experienced the finest version of the fish. We’ve been subjected to the bottom of the barrel: cheap, salty, scratchy little things that any epicure would despise. It’s as if you tried to experience sushi by opening a can of tuna. Truly great anchovies are something else. Soft, creamy, almost sweet, they are the most seductive food I know. Eat one and you find yourself reaching for another. They’re the very expression of umami, that indescribably savory flavor that triggers hunger.

Cantabrian Anchovy Fillets
My favorites are caught in Spain’s Bay of Biscay between April and June, when they’re at their peak. They’re immediately salted and then pressed for at least eight months in temperature-controlled rooms, where their flavor ripens. When they’re ready, the fish are swiftly filleted by hand and laid in extra virgin olive oil. These anchovies are too delicious— and expensive—to use for cooking. The happiest way to eat them is on grilled bread, curled around a swirl of sweet butter. But the truth is that on any given day you will find me standing by the refrigerator with my hand in the anchovy jar, simply slurping them up. They’re just that good.


Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Food