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If you're in the Bay Area, I'd like to encourage you to visit the Santa Cruz Wharf (also the Pacifica Pier, to lesser degree) in August through October (like, right now).
The anchovies are ridiculously present right now: millions of them, visible from the surface, swimming in a vast school that parts when sea lions swim by.
They're tasty when fried fresh. They're not salty like a canned anchovy filet, and less fishy than you expect. Delicious! I guess I'm a "rough person" as the article states.
Did you catch them yourself?
Yes! Well, my kids caught most of them. It's some of the easiest fishing imaginable - anchovies will bite bare hooks.
Sounds like a wonderful day out! Thanks for sharing
Peruvian anchovy, the anchoveta, had and still has aprofound impact on peruvian economy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_anchoveta
By the way of Wikipedia:
"The anchoveta has been characterized as "the most heavily exploited fish in world history"
I remember the first time I tried a pizza with anchovies. I thought this was the stupidest pizza topping I'd ever heard of, but I gave it a try - OMG, what a metanoia!
One of the most important family of fishes in the planet by its huge commercial impact.
I've heard a few environmentalists comment that anchovies are rare in the sense they are one of the few fish that can be industrially fished and it be sustainable. Given the apocalypse we're imposing on the ocean that was nice to hear but I can't supply a source on this information so take it with a bit of salt but does sound plausible because they really aren't tuna or cod.
I love them! just by reading the title I've imagined them in a jar in olive oil and I felt I want them like Dr.Zoidberg from Futurama :)
When you say the word anchovy, which syllable do you stress?
I live in the UK, where the stress is placed on the first syllable: ANch'vy.
However, I'm originally from Australia, where the UK pronunciation seems to be an 'old money' thing, and most Australians put the stress on the second syllable: anCHOvy.
Second syllable also on Spanish
The first syllable is stressed in the US
Not exclusively. I am in the US and I believe I consistently put primary stress on the second syllable. Merriam-Webster (an American English oriented dictionary) gives both pronunciations, but lists the first-syllable-stress version first:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anchovy
Yes, and I'll also note that the secondary stress seems to be on the second syllable. That is, the second syllable is not reduced like in the UK. So it's pronounced most commonly in the US more like "Anne Chovy" than "Anchvy"
This reminds me of an interesting video I saw of someone making garum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICZww0DtQKk
His description of the flavour is so intriguing.
I wonder how different garum is from southeast Asian fish sauce.
A lot of people refuse to believe it won't make your food taste fishy. Sigh.
Well, within reason of course. In smaller quantities it is an excellent source of umami and a killer "special ingredient" for dishes that can benefit.
Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish. This could just be me and my absolute aversion to "fishy" tastes though?
The secret here is in preparation. I had a local place, never asked them how but their anchovies were dry and almost crunchy, and it made the pizza delicious.
If you just take a canned in oil one and throw it on top a pizza before cooking, it permeates everything and can get fishy. I tend to at minimum press them in paper towels to get the oil out, then cut them into smaller bits. It's decent, but still can't match the pizza places's secret.
Elaboration, type of oil used and time to curation counts. I assume that cheap Pizzas use cheaper lower quality versions of this product that can be disappointing. There are fake products or products that use third grade anchovies (with fishes smaller or crushed that are much more cheap).
When you buy the correct size fishes, in the right season, with the correct firm of the meat, and then curate it at a barrel at home for many months, the difference is spectacular.
All true. Even in the low tier/tin can grade, you have to be careful with brand.
King Oscar for example is by far the worst I've ever tried. Cento is miles better. This isn't just flavor, but texture, size, and firmness. King Oscar smudges into paste just picking them up, in my experience.
Fun anecdote: I only ever use a few anchovies on a pizza as not to overwhelm it, and would give some scraps to the bloodhound. He loved them. He refused to eat King Oscar anchovies. He'd get excited, run up, sniff them, then back away.
As someone who very much likes whole anchovies on pizza or cesar salad; some ppl. can deal with anchovies better in the sauce used in a traditional Sicilian sfincione pizza:
https://www.seriouseats.com/sfincione-sicilian-new-years-piz...
> Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish
For use as a fish rather than an umami ingredient if you're put off by the intense taste maybe try tinned Cantabrian anchovies, they have a much more subtle buttery fish flavor rather than the intense salt fish flavor of
Yeah. But if you chop one up and dissolve it in olive oil before cooking anything else, then it's just umami
Bagna Cauda! I went down the rabbit hole a few winters back trying to perfect that dip and it was awesome. Never "perfected" of course, but I got close enough to really enjoy the recipe. Paired well with the simple dish of olive oil packed tuna, spaghetti, heavy butter and some added capers. So good and very easy to whip up.
I make spaghetti with anchovies, garlic, olive oil and toasted breadcrumbs - it is remarkable how tasty it is!
Causes gout.
> Some types of seafood — such as anchovies, shellfish, sardines and tuna — are higher in purines than are other types. But the overall health benefits of eating fish may outweigh the risks for people with gout. Moderate portions of fish can be part of a gout diet.
Literally first thing when googling. You would have to eat humongous amounts of this very salty tiny fish to see any long term effect. The salt itself would probably kill you earlier.
The problem is that anchovies are so delicious that's easy to eat tons of them in one sitting. Pair that with a lot of beer and that could pave the way to gout town.
Still the problem lies elsewhere, and will manifest itself much earlier than gout you are seemingly so concerned about
They're mostly cured with salt, but I expect the fish themselves aren't particularly salty (at least the (delcious!) Spanish marinated ones aren't salty)
The fish fried is delicious, oily, full of protein and a little salty. Salt is added routinely to the dish.
Anchovies in Spanish mean normally only the canned, very salty, thing. If you want to buy the fresh fish, there is a different word for it. The third option to consume it is marinated on vinegar, that also uses the fish name (plus "on vinegar").
Boquerones en vinagre. Delicious cold on some bread.
I've had fresh ones grilled in Greece couple of times and they were very salty (not typical can-level but still a ton). It could be possible they add salt that much just for this fish and every other fish they prepare with normal amount of salt, but I find it unlikely.
In the realm of what you can eat if you're eating anchovies you're likely eating healthier than 90% of the populace anyway.
No ones getting gout from anchovies without having some other extremely decadent diet choices paired with it.