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Anchovies, Essence of

A concentrated anchovy sauce made by simmering anchovies with spices and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,415 recipes. The science ↓

Anchovies, Essence of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the anchovies

  1. Pound the anchovies in a mortar until smooth and pass through a fine sieve.

Make the essence

  1. Put the remaining solids into a saucepan, add any liquid from the anchovy bottles, mace, cayenne, and water.

  2. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, then strain and mix with the anchovy puree.

  3. Return the mixture to the saucepan, bring to a boil, add the vinegar, and simmer gently for 10 more minutes.

Bottle and store

  1. Once cool, pour into small bottles, cork securely, cover corks with melted wax, and store in a cool, dry place.

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Anchovies
Provide the main savoury, salty flavour that defines the essence.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps preserve the essence.
Cayenne
Adds gentle heat that rounds out the anchovy flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar. Vinegar is added only after the mixture has been boiled and then simmered briefly. Its sharp acidity can dull if cooked too long, and it should be fully blended in before bottling so the essence tastes even.

“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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