Ingredient: Anchovies
Category: Fish
Season: All:
The anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water fish.
The anchovy is a small green fish with blue reflections due to a silver longitudinal stripe that runs from the base of the caudal fin.
It is maximum nine inches (23 cm) in length and body shape is variable with more slender fish in northern populations. The snout is blunt with small, sharp teeth in both jaws. The mouth is larger than those of herrings and silversides, two fish which they closely resemble. It eats plankton and fish fry.
Preserved by being gutted and salted in brine, matured, then packed in oil, they are an important food fish, both popular and infamous for their strong flavour.
In Roman times, they were the base for the fermented fish sauce called garum that was a staple of cuisine and an item of long-distance commerce produced in industrial quantities.
Today they are a key ingredient in Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, and are occasionally used as a pizza topping.
Because of the strong flavour. they are also an ingredient in several sauces, including Worcestershire sauce and many fish sauces, and in some versions of Café de Paris butter.
They are most commonly marketed in small tins, either as "flat" filets, or as "rolled anchovies" where each fillet is rolled around a caper.
While both are quite salty, the flat fillets tend to be more so.
They are also marketed in jars and tubes as a paste.
Mostly for use in making sauces, such as anchovy essence.
Fishermen also use anchovies as bait for larger fish such as tuna and sea bass.
The strong taste that people associate with anchovies is due to the curing process.
Fresh anchovies, known in Italy as alici.
Fresh anchovies have a much softer and gentler flavour.
Fresh and dried anchovies are a popular part of the cuisine in Kerala and other south Indian states.
They are referred to as "Kozhuva"
They provide a cheap source of protein in the diet.
Fresh anchovies are eaten fried or as a part of a spicy curry and do not have the strong flavour. associated with the cured variety.
In English-speaking countries
Alici are sometimes called "white anchovies", and are often served in a weak vinegar marinade.
This particular preservation method is associated with the coastal town of Collioure in south east France.
The white fillets (a little like marinated herrings) are sold in heavy salt, or the more popular garlic or tomato oil and vinegar marinade packs
in South-East Asian cooking, setipinna taty or ikan bilis is the anchovy commonly used to make fish stock or sambals.
Anchovy is also used to produce budu, by fermentation process.
In Vietnam, anchovy is the main ingredient to make fish sauce- nước mắm- the unofficial national sauce of Vietnam
Health
Anchovies can concentrate domoic acid, which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans, sea mammals, and birds.
If suspected, medical attention should be sought.
Anchovy essence
This is also a great flavour-enhancer
The British equivalent of the fish sauce of the Far East.
As such, it can be used in oriental recipes when fish sauce is not available.                      Â
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