The Secret Ingredient: Anchovies

Detail from a Roman mosaic from Pompeii, 
now at the Naples National Archaeological Museum

In my previous post, my recipe for cold summer spaghetti, there was some discussion of anchovies, as my recipe includes some anchovy fillets. I think that anchovies are one of the most versatile ingredients in cooking, and that any well-stocked kitchen should have some on hand.

The wonderful thing about anchovies is that you can keep them on hand. In fact, the true value of anchovies comes only after they are preserved. I think that fresh anchovies, while perfectly good to eat, are nothing really special. It is the natural alchemy of fermentation, a process controlled by preservation of the fish, that transforms these tiny, multitudinous fish into gustatory glories.

Kikunae Ikeda

This transformation happens due to the "freeing" of ions of glutamic acid, an amino acid that is found in all living cells. These free glutamate ions, specifically the L-glutamate enantiomer, stimulate receptors on our tongues and give us one of our five basic tastes, called umami. Umami (savory, meaty) is a Japanese word coined by the chemist, Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered the glutamic source of the savory taste of some foods (perhaps El Pollo Raylan may need to correct my cursory description of the chemistry).

Aside from the nice salty, slightly fishy taste of the anchovies themselves, they also carry their cargo of glutamates to enhance the flavor of anything they're added to. When used in small quantities in recipes, they quietly exert their influence without ever being noticed as themselves. The addition of just an anchovy fillet or two will improve the flavor of many dishes and because the fillets just "dissolve" when cooked no one, not even anchovy haters, will know why the meal tastes so good.

For these reasons, anchovies have been used for millennia to augment the flavor of foods. The ancient Romans made a sauce called garum from fermented fish (and parts of fish) including anchovies, that was one of the pillars of their civilization. The concept of using fermented fish to enhance the flavor of foods appeared in many different cultures, from Asian fish sauces to recipes such as those found in 18th century English cookbook writer Hannah Glasse's "The Art of Cookery". Here are a couple of recipes I scanned from my (now sold) 1778 copy of the book:

Page 243 of the 1778 London edition of Hannah Glasse's
The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy

I once made the "Catchup to keep twenty Years", though it didn't last more than a year because it was so delicious and everyone wanted a bottle. The ancestor of these sorts of recipes lives on in Worcestershire sauce, which includes many of the same ingredients such as, of course, anchovies.

Most anchovies that you can buy are good, though I think that the salted ones taste the best. Salted anchovies keep very well in the refrigerator as long as you keep them covered in their salt. They're a little more work, because you have to soak them before use and you may need to fillet them yourself as the salted ones are often whole. These Italian salted anchovies are very good. If you like your anchovies to be less work, these bottled, oil-preserved anchovies made by Ortiz are also great. If you're in the New York City area, Fairway sells these French oil-preserved anchovies that are absolutely delicious.

So next time you're cooking beef stew, or meatloaf, or fish, or even hamburgers, slip an anchovy fillet into the mix. Everyone will rave, and no one will suspect that part of the reason is a secret little fish.