Anchovies, Potted, or Anchovy Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the anchovies
Wash the anchovies thoroughly, then bone and dry them.
Pound the anchovies in a mortar to a paste.
Make and store the paste
Gradually mix the butter with the anchovy paste and rub the mixture through a sieve.
Store in small pots, ensuring to exclude air with a bladder to prevent spoilage.
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
- Provide the main savoury, salty flavour that defines the potted paste.
- Fresh butter
- Binds the pounded anchovies into a smooth, spreadable texture and adds richness.
The step that matters
Excluding air when potting. Air carries oxygen and microbes that cause fats to oxidise and spoil, so the surface must be sealed with no air left between the paste and the covering.
“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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