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Sauce

Essence of Anchovy

A sauce made by pounding pickled anchovies and mixing with cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Essence of Anchovy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pound the pickled anchovies in a mortar until well mashed.

  2. Transfer the anchovy pulp to a saucepan.

  3. Add cold water to the mortar, shake it around, and pour it into the saucepan with the anchovies.

  4. Set the saucepan by the side of a slow fire.

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

Pickled anchovies
Mashed into a paste, they supply the salty, savoury depth that defines the dish.

The step that matters

Set the saucepan by the side of a slow fire. Gentle, indirect heat warms the mashed anchovies slowly, so the paste softens and blends without scorching or turning bitter from overheating.

“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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