Recipies for anchovies

[nacho]

"Pescaito frito" style.
This recipe is great for anchovies, and/or any small fish.

Ingredients:
* Pinch of salt
* Very fresh anchovies
* Canola oil or similar
* A plate with flour

1.- Clean the anchovies. Just cut the head and remove the guts with your fingers under the water. Do not waste time descaling or removing spine, bones, tail, etc.
2.- Dry them a little
3.- Put them evenly on the plate with flour. Add salt
4.- Get your fingers dirt by being sure they have flour on both sides. Remove the extra flour from them.
5.- Pour a lot of oil in your frying pan or anything similar. Be sure it is very hot!
6.- Fry the anchovies from point 4 until they are crispy and golden.
7.- Eat them all! Tail and bones are small and crispy, the best part for some people.

 

[Brock Norris]

Cant wait to try that i love anchovies thanks

 

[Reel Newbie]

Ooh, I do something similar with large fresh ones, just some salt with flour, egg wash and some panko breadcrumbs. Always thought you had to scale them, that they had something bad in the scales.

 

[SunnyvaleMatthew]

I hauled in a few on Capitola Wharf yesterday. I'm going to try Boquerones, which I learned about from Kirk Lombard's book. Has anyone else tried these?

Do everything in a nonreactive vessel: glass or plastic. I really like small lexans like you would see in a restaurant kitchen.

1. Gut and clean the anchovies, and massage out their spines (the video helps on technique).
2. In a nonreactive vessel, put down a layer of salt, a layer of anchovies, a layer of salt, a layer of, etc. The anchovies lay on their sides like normal (only their skin touches the salt), not splayed open.
3. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
4. Thoroughly rinse the salt off the fish.
5. Put in a nonreactive and cover completely with vinegar. I'll be using up a gallon of apple cider vinegar we bought, but Kirk recommends champagne vinegar.
6. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
7. Rinse again.
8. Put in a nonreactive vessel, cover with olive oil, and put on an airtight lid.

After all this, they will keep ten days(!) at room temperature.

This video makes the technique pretty clear.

 

[nacho]

Ooh, I do something similar with large fresh ones, just some salt with flour, egg wash and some panko breadcrumbs. Always thought you had to scale them, that they had something bad in the scales.

So far I'm not aware of anything wrong with the scale in anchovies... except you might not like finding them.
It might actually be healthy to eat them:
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-okay-to-eat-fish-scales-on-fish
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312091405.htm

Regards
N.

 

[nacho]

I hauled in a few on Capitola Wharf yesterday. I'm going to try Boquerones, which I learned about from Kirk Lombard's book. Has anyone else tried these?

I have tried 'Boquerones en vinagre' so many times. It is a very good 'tapa', on top of a small, slightly roasted piece of bread.

Preparing them is easy... and complicated at the same time. The type of vinegar, the concentration of it, and the time you left the anchovies on it is crucial. Too little... and they are raw. Too much, and they 'dissolve' in it.
Your recipe sounds good, except most preparations I have seen contain also garlic and parsley.
Also, I would be careful when eating raw fish in general, even if prepared in vinegar. Anisakis is a prevalent nematode in sardines, salmon, anchovies and similar fish. In countries with a long tradition of eating raw fish, or in Spain where people consume 'boquerones en vinagre' like crazy, there have been many cases of 'anisakisis', which is a nasty thing to have. The traditional way to get rid of it is to freeze the fish (in this case the anchovies) for some days previous to the preparation of it. Some people claim it destroys the texture of it, but keeping the right texture is not worth the risk. Most restaurants in Spain (where this recipe is from) have sign indicating that the boquerones where frozen previously to preparation, as required by law. This shows the seriousness of this.

There are many links on how to prepare them, just look for 'boquerones en vinagre recipe' in Google:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/anchovies-marinated-in-vinegar-recipe-3083480

And some link on anisakis in Sardines (very similar to anchovies)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21506810

Conclusion: Garlic and parsley for authenticity, freezing for health.

Regards
N.

 

[SunnyvaleMatthew]

I will roll the dice on this batch (I only did 9 anchovies)—which went in the vinegar at about 8AM today—but note taken on the freezing. I have read about these larval nematodes and it doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

I am also a bit concerned about the fact that these were taken during a brief red tide that rolled into Capitola on Friday afternoon, since I know anchovies can concentrate domoic acid. Here again the meal size is so small that I think I will roll the dice. I already ate a jack mackerel caught at the same time, and they also eat phytoplankton. https://www.int-res.com/articles/feature/b009p001.pdf

 

[nacho]

I will roll the dice on this batch (I only did 9 anchovies)—which went in the vinegar at about 8AM today—but note taken on the freezing. I have read about these larval nematodes and it doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

I am also a bit concerned about the fact that these were taken during a brief red tide that rolled into Capitola on Friday afternoon, since I know anchovies can concentrate domoic acid. Here again the meal size is so small that I think I will roll the dice. I already ate a jack mackerel caught at the same time, and they also eat phytoplankton. https://www.int-res.com/articles/feature/b009p001.pdf

Thanks for the interesting information and article. I always remove the viscera (mainly because they are bitter!).
One question. How do you know that there was a red tide on Capitola wharf? Just because of the color of the water? I'm not sure that all DA-producing dinoflagelates turn water red.
Thanks and regards
N.

 

[SunnyvaleMatthew]

One question. How do you know that there was a red tide on Capitola wharf? Just because of the color of the water?

Correct. The water suddenly turned cloudy/dark with a kind of brown/red tinge, and the locals including the staff at CB&B referred to it the event as an "algae bloom" or "red tide" (or "yech!") depending on the person.

I'm not sure that all DA-producing dinoflagelates turn water red.

Probably not. And also, probably not all clouds of red algae produce high DA levels.