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Anchovy Sandwiches
Anchovy fillets may be used plain or in paste in the same ways as sardines and sprats, but the fillets must be laid on with space between them, for if they touch each other, the taste will be too strong and salty. Anchovies are always best as separate savory morsels, one to a cracker, or finger of toast.
It is cheaper and better all around to buy whole salted anchovies from the big imported tins to be had in Greek, Italian and Spanish stores at about 35¢ a pound; soak them for an hour or until most of the salt has slid off, then remove tails, rub away the skin and strip fillets from the backbone. This gives a tastier anchovy than most of the kinds that come bottled or canned in oil. You can use them whole or mashed to paste. They are always handy in camp for flavoring other fish, and stews.
This is really a method for turning whole salt-packed anchovies into fillets, plus advice on how to deploy them. The technique still works exactly as described; only the price has moved.
- The hinge: space, not quantityThe instruction to lay fillets on with gaps between them is the whole point. Anchovy is a seasoning, not a filling, and overlapping fillets push a sandwich straight into brine.
- Salt-packed anchovies todayWhole salted anchovies are still sold in tins and by weight at Italian, Greek, Spanish and Middle Eastern grocers, though a pound now costs many times 35 cents. They are packed in coarse salt, not oil, and keep for a long time in the refrigerator if the remaining fish stay buried in salt.
- Soaking timeAn hour in cold water is the long end of practice. A shorter soak of twenty to thirty minutes after rinsing off the surface salt is often enough; taste a scrap before going further, since over-soaked anchovy turns flabby and loses its savor along with the salt. Some cooks soak in milk instead of water.
- BoningAfter soaking, the skin slips off under your thumb and the two fillets pull cleanly from the backbone. The small pin bones in salted fish are soft enough to eat, so do not chase them.
- Anchovy pasteMash the drained fillets with a fork or in a mortar, with a little softened butter or olive oil to bind. Commercial tubed anchovy paste can stand in, but it is seasoned differently, so add it to taste rather than by weight.
- YieldOnce the salt, tails and backbones are gone, a pound of whole salted anchovies gives a good deal less than a pound of fillets, and still far more than a picnic needs.
- In campThe claim that they are handy for flavoring other fish and stews is sound. One or two fillets melted into hot oil or butter dissolve entirely and read as depth rather than as fish.