Home › A Cup of Fish › Anchovy Fingers
Anchovy Fingers
Because the salt anchovy taste is so much stronger than that of other small preserved fish, it's wisest to make finger sandwiches of them, one to a finger of buttered brown bread, spiked with capers, lemon juice, or a few drops of tarragon vinegar.
A one-sentence assembly rather than a recipe, but the proportions matter: one anchovy fillet to one narrow strip of bread is the whole idea, and doubling up makes the sandwich inedibly salty.
- Which anchovySalt-packed anchovies need rinsing under cold water and, if the bones are still in, splitting with a thumbnail and lifting the spine out. Oil-packed fillets can go straight on, blotted dry so the bread does not turn greasy.
- Soak if very saltySalt-packed fish benefits from a spell in cold water or milk, ten minutes to half an hour depending on how heavily cured it is, then patting dry. Taste one before you commit the whole plate.
- Brown bread'Brown bread' here means a wholemeal loaf rather than a soft white sandwich slice. Cut it thin and use a firm day-old loaf so the fingers hold their shape.
- FingersTrim crusts and cut each slice lengthwise into strips about an inch wide, so one anchovy fillet lies along the whole length. How many strips you get depends on the size of the loaf.
- Butter generouslyThe butter is structural here, not decoration: it seals the bread against the oil and blunts the salt. Have it properly soft and spread to the edges.
- The seasonings are alternativesCapers, lemon juice or tarragon vinegar each cut the salt in a different direction. Use one, not all three, and rinse capers of their brine first.
- Yield and timingSince the rule is one fillet per finger, the number of fingers is set by the number of fillets in your tin or jar. Assemble within an hour of serving and keep them covered with a damp cloth, since thin bread dries at the edges quickly outdoors.
Anchovies reached British and American tables mainly as a preserved pantry staple -- salted in barrels, or worked into essence, paste and bottled sauces -- long before fresh ones were widely available inland. Their sharp salt was often treated as a seasoning rather than a fish course, and they were commonly served on buttered bread as a savoury or a picnic bite. The finger sandwich belongs to the tea and outdoor-eating tradition: bread cut small enough to be eaten in one or two bites without a plate. The pairing with capers, lemon and tarragon vinegar follows the familiar idea that acid offsets salt, the same reasoning behind anchovy in a salad dressing.