Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Anchovies along with all the Anchovies containing recipes presented on this site, with 55 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Anchovies recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Anchovies as a major wild food ingredient.

Anchovies are members of a small but common schooling saltwater fish (belonging to the family: Engraulidae) that tend to be found in temperate waters of the world's oceans. Anchovies are abundant in the Mediterranean, and are regularly caught on the coasts of Sicily, Italy, France and Spain. Anchovies vary in size and can be bought either fresh or cured. Fresh anchovies look and taste similar to sardines. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

Seventeen genera in the family Eugraulidae are typically classed as anchovies, these being Amazonsprattus, Anchovia, Cetengraulis, Encrasicholina, Jurengraulis, Lycothrissa, Pseudosetipinna, Setipinna, Thryssa, Anchoa, Anchoviella, Coilia, Engraulis, Lycengraulis, Papuengraulis, Pterengraulis and Stolephorus. Engraulis is the type genus for anchovies and it includes all the commercially significant members, including the European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus

In terms of physical characteristics, anchovies are small, green fish with blue reflections due to a silver longitudinal stripe that runs from the base of the caudal fin. They range from 2cm to 40cm in adult length, and the body shape is variable with more slender fish in northern populations. The snout is blunt with tiny, sharp teeth in both jaws. The snout contains a unique rostral organ, believed to be sensory in nature, although its exact function is unknown. The mouth is larger than that of herrings and silversides, two fish anchovies closely resemble in other respects. The anchovy eats plankton and fry (recently-hatched fish).

Cured anchovies were originally left whole and packed in salt, but now they tend to be boned, cleaned and preserved in salt or oil and sold in tins or jars. The type packed in oil need to be drained before use. You may want to soak the salted variety in milk for a while to get rid of any excess saltiness. Supermarkets have a limited range but delis tend to sell a wider range. It is the maturation period for anchovies that are brined that gives them their characteristic strong flavour and saltiness. Fresh anchovies taste like any other small fish. In Roman times, anchovies were the base for the fermented fish sauce garum. Garum had a sufficiently long shelf life for long-distance commerce, and was produced in industrial quantities. Anchovies were also eaten raw as an aphrodisiac.

Cured anchovies are very salty and should effectively be used as a spice in that they add both saltiness and umami to a meal.

Anchovies are also pounded with vinegar, spices and oil to make the condiment, anchovy essence.