Broiled Sardelles on Toast

A two-minute savoury from the era when salted fish came out of a barrel rather than a tin. The whole success of it rests on how salty your fish is before it ever touches the heat.

• What a sardelle isSardelle is the German word for anchovy, and here it most likely means whole salt-packed or brine-pickled anchovies rather than fillets. Look for them sold loose or in jars packed in coarse salt at Italian and Middle Eastern grocers; oil-packed anchovy fillets in flat tins are far too small and too soft to broil.
• Soak before you wipeRinse the fish, then soak 20 to 30 minutes in cold water or milk, changing it once, and taste a scrap before proceeding. Skipping this is the one thing that will ruin the dish.
• Double broilerNot a double boiler. This is a hinged wire grill that clamps the fish between two grids so they can be turned as a unit without breaking up. A fish basket, or two cake racks bound with wire, does the same job over a grill or under a broiler element.
• "A brisk fire"Direct, high heat close to the coals, roughly equivalent to a hot broiler element with the pan two or three inches beneath it. The point is to blister the skin before the flesh dries out.
• Cut the timeThree minutes a side suits only the larger fish. Smaller ones are done in 60 to 90 seconds a side; keep going and you get salty threads of jerky. Pull them when the skin browns and the flesh at the backbone has just turned opaque.
• BonesThe fish are broiled whole. Either lift the backbone out after cooking with the point of a knife, or leave it in and eat around it.
• YieldAs written this serves two as a first course or savoury: three large or six small fish per person on a slice of hot toast, crusts off, with the melted butter poured over at the last second. A squeeze of lemon and a grind of pepper are period-appropriate and welcome.