I think the title says it all, but let me explain. Anchovies are an incredible food. They’ve been used for hundreds of years to subtly increase the flavor profile of your favorite dishes. Most of us have been eating anchovies our entire lives without even knowing it.
Wait, seriously? Why are anchovies so good?
You should cook with anchovies the same way you cook with lemon, sugar, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, or any other flavor enhancer. It’s not a core part of your meal like the chicken thigh, brioche bun, and asparagus. Rather, it brings the variety, flavor and nutrients that we love so much.
Anchovies are super high in umami flavor (also known as “savoriness”). This is because they naturally have high glutamate content, and also because they often undergo microbial fermentation, which increases their umami and adds just a little bit of funk.
When you feel like your recipe is just “missing something,” it’s usually missing something acidic or some sort of umami. You’d be shocked at what happens when you try mincing an anchovy and mixing it in with your tomato sauce.
So why do anchovies get a bad wrap?
There are a handful of reasons people stay away from anchovies in their cooking, even though they’ve been having them at restaurants and store-bought packaged foods for their entire lives. The main reasons are the following:
- They’re fish, and I decided I don’t like fish. Weird. That’s kind of like saying you decided you don’t like fruit, so it doesn’t matter what someone says, you will not be sampling their oranges.
- They have an intense flavor. That’s true. And it’s also totally the point. We love lemons because of their intense flavor. And garlic. And onions. Have you noticed that we never really eat those things on their own? Just like our other favorite ingredients, anchovies are meant to be mixed in with food, not eaten on their own.
- Scooby Doo told me I shouldn’t like anchovies. In my cynical opinion, this is probably the most common reason people don’t like anchovies. Every time I talk to someone about the incredible fish, they pull a yuck face and act like I’m out of my mind. Then they admit ten seconds later that they’ve never even tried it. They just know they’re gross because every time anchovies pop up in movies and TV shows, they’re on a pizza, and everyone hates them. Well guess what: if people were putting fat slices of cheap lemon on their pizza, Shaggy would have hated that too.
Okay, I’ll try some anchovies. What’s the best way to do it?
I’ll rapid fire you with ideas before sharing one of my favorite recipes:
- Mince anchovies into a fine paste and mix it together with mayo, lemon, worcestershire sauce, parmigiano reggiano, and black pepper. You just made an amazing caesar dressing.
- Mince anchovies into your pureed tomatoes for an incredible, deep, and complex pasta sauce.
- Finely chop anchovies and mix them with softened butter as a flavorful spread for toast or steak.
- Add minced anchovy to your next stir fry.
- Mix anchovies with cream cheese, sour cream and herbs for a flavorful and addictive dip.
- If you’re brave, just drop some on top of your pizza or into your sandwich. I personally love anchovies on a tomato-heavy pizza, but due to their strong flavor, not everyone will find this as good as I do.
The possibilities are endless. They’re tasty either cooked or straight out of a can, so you can use them in both hot and cold dishes without much trouble.
My only suggestion is to incorporate them gradually. Just like salt or vinegar, it can ruin everything when you add too much.
My mouth is watering. How about a recipe?
This is one of my two major tomato sauce recipes. While one sauce is meant for garden-fresh tomatoes during harvest season, this sauce is perfect year round.I tend to prefer this sauce chunky, but it's perfectly easy to blend into a smoother sauce or even for use as a tomato soup.This recipe includes optional cloves and cinnamon sticks. I like to add these to the sauce when I'm making Indian or Middle Eastern food. All other times, I stick to the standard sauce.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 finely diced yellow onion
1 bulbgarlic
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh ground cloves (optional)
1 (20-ounce) can San Marzano whole canned tomatoes
2-3 water-packed anchovy fillets
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoondried parsley
1 teaspoondried red peppers
2 cinnamon sticks (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
salt to taste
Directions:
1. Place a large pan over medium heat on the stove. Once the pan is warm, add the olive oil.
2. Throw in the diced onion and season it with salt. Gently sweat it until translucent.
3. Mince your garlic. Add it and your black pepper (and optional cloves) to the pan and stir it.
4. Once the pan is fragrant, add your can of San Marzano tomatoes. Take a wooden spoon and crush the tomatoes with it. It's easiest to split them in half by stabbing them into the bottom of the pan, then to grind them into small pieces by squashing them against the side of the pan. If the tomatoes aren't too hot, you can reach in and crush them to pieces with your hands. You cook at home, not in a restaurant, so you can do awesome stuff like that.
5. Once your tomatoes are ground as finely as you want, finely mince your anchovy fillets into a paste and stir them in with the tomatoes.
6. Add your bay leaf, dried parsley, and dried red pepper (and optional cinnamon sticks).
7. Gently stew your tomatoes until they have reduced to your desired consistency. Make sure not to let the sauce boil.
8. As the tomatoes reduce, the tomato flavor will intensify. Dry bits of tomato paste will also stick to the sides of the pan. Make sure to scrape the paste off the sides and stir it back into the tomato juice.
9. Gradually squeeze in your lemon juice. Taste it as you go to make sure you don't add too much.
10. Add salt to taste.
Ideally, let the sauce sit overnight for the flavors to marinate. Use it for your next pasta, pizza, or chicken parmigiana. Blend it and add some cream or olive oil to make an awesome soup with crunchy grilled cheese on the side.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Matthew Christensen
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2023
Email the author! matthew@dvo.com
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