Anchovies

[grisell]

I found some frozen anchovies, which are a very rare occurence here. At SEK 40/£3.50/US$ 6 a kilo, I think it's a bargain. I bought four kilo. I was lucky since my last batch from 2007 is almost finished.



Layer with salt. I used up 1.3 kilo salt for 4 kilo fish.



Coincidentally, it fit perfectly into the old 5 kilo Dijon mustard bucket. The fish will now mature for a few months on the balcony and then I will use them a lot on pizza, tuna salad and in Puttanesca sauce. Commercial anchovy fillets in oil are 10-15 times more expensive here in Sweden ( ) and don't taste very much.

[tristar]

Wish I could find them here André, I love those salty little beauties.

What is strange to me is that if you go to a pizza restaurant in Norway and there are many, and ask for a pizza with anchovies, the staff look at you as if you are crazy!

[grisell]

Try and look in foreign (Arabic, Turkish) supermarkets. That's where I found these. The shop owner told me that they are in season now. But I agree with you, one sees them very seldom on our latitudes.

Funny about the anchovy pizza, but not surprising. In Sweden, every pizzeria has one pizza with anchovies, olives and capers, 'Napolitana'. I have worked as a pizza baker and we sold one of those every six weeks or so! Then we used up a whole 55 g can of anchovies on one pizza since we couldn't save the rest. That was okay. People who order anchovy and olive pizza usually like it salty.

[grisell]

Here is the link to the producer (taken from the label). Maybe that can be of some help for you?

http://www.polifish.com/en/

[Robson]

been reading the site for a while had to join to ask grisell some questions abot fish curing i'm interested in that.

Grisell whats your method for doing this I mean like do you leave the anchovies in the juice it makes or do you drain it off. or what the recipe for this cheers

[grisell]

The recipe is as you can see above: Anchovies and coarse, non-iodine salt (Kosher or sea salt). Nothing else. Salt is 300 grams/kg fish. No gutting is necessary, just layer with salt. Keep refrigerated. Gut when using. Don't drain. They will lie in the brine. They are ready for use within a week or so, but will improve with aging for about a year. They will keep for several years if kept cool. They will become very salty and may need soaking before use.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

[grisell]

The brine itself can be used as an excellent flavouring in e.g. Asian dishes (Fish Sauce, Nam Pla, Nouc Nam).

[Robson]

Ta mate.

[Darius]

All I see on the 'Net available in the US is frozen for pet food.

[grisell]

All I see on the 'Net available in the US is frozen for pet food.

Should be okay as long as it's real anchovies. Why not?

I will try to gut some of these later and transfer to olive oil. We'll see how that turns out. I'm quite sure that the extreme salinity will prevent any bacterial growth.

[wheels]

Should be okay as long as it's real anchovies. Why not?

That's a bit naive: do you think they would be selling them at pet-food prices if they were fit for human consumption?

[mitchamus]

selling them at pet-food prices if they were fit for human consumption?

My god father forgot his glasses when he went shopping once.

Needless to say - Cat tuna make for a much 'boneyer' sandwich than John West.

[grisell]

Should be okay as long as it's real anchovies. Why not?

That's a bit naive: do you think they would be selling them at pet-food prices if they were fit for human consumption?

Yes, I do think that regulations are the same, if not even stricter for pet food. Domesticated cats and dogs have sensitive stomachs. If pets would get sick from commercial pet food, there would be a revolt amongst pet-holders. You know, if a couple of thousand people die in the Third World from bad food every week, that's a totally different matter than if their little darlings would get sick...

Anyway, a fish is a fish, and if it was fresh when frozen, I don't see a problem. And the price I paid for my anchovies is cheaper than most pet food! It's probably marketed as pet food since that's the only way to sell them. They are small and full of bones. It's a fate they share with sprats and most Baltic herrings here in Sweden: Cat or mink food.

BTW, they are very easy to gut and bone after salting.

[grisell]

[---]
It's probably marketed as pet food since that's the only way to sell them.
[---]

The industry hasn't understood that if they salt and bottle it and label it "Acciughe Tradizionale", they can market it as a delicacy and charge twenty times more.

[wheels]

Yep, naive.