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Poisonous Anchovy Sauce

A sauce made from anchovies, water, and cayenne pepper, simmered and sieved.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Poisonous Anchovy Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the anchovies in a mortar until they form a pulp.

  2. Transfer the anchovy pulp to a clean iron or well-tinned copper saucepan.

  3. Add the cold spring water to the mortar and shake it, then pour the water over the anchovies.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the saucepan over a gentle fire, stirring frequently until the anchovies melt.

  2. Add the cayenne pepper and let the sauce warm for a few more minutes.

  3. While warm, rub the mixture through a fine sieve using the back of a wooden spoon.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Anchovies
Melt down to form the savoury, salty base of the sauce.
Cold spring water
Loosens the pounded anchovies so they can be heated and strained smoothly.

The step that matters

Heating over a gentle fire while stirring. Anchovies scorch easily over high heat, which can make the sauce bitter. Gentle heat and frequent stirring let them melt evenly into a smooth sauce.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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