Salt cured anchovies
Ingredients
Ingredients for the curing
- 1 1/4 lb sea salt (1/4 lb to make brine for rinsing)
- 2 lb fresh or freshly frozen anchovies (1 lb after de-heading and gutting)
- 1 quart (liter) water
Instructions
Instructions to fill the salting pot
- Handle the fish as soon as possible after the catch and keep cold at all times. Place the fish in (dilute) brine until they can be gutted and cleaned. Use 3.5 ounces (100 g) salt per liter water
- Clean each fish: keep the fish just under the head with thumb and index finger and with these fingers of the other hand turn the head and pull the entrails with it.
- In the one quart sized pot, place a layer of coarse sea salt (or coarse rock salt as you like) on the bottom
- Please a first layer of anchovies on the salt layer
- Cover the layer of fish with a thin layer of salt
- Then place cross layers of cleaned anchovies, every time covering each layer with salt
- Finalize with a thicker layer of salt
During the curing
- Place a flat, wooden or plastic round cover on the salt layered fish, so that a weight can be placed on top. Leave some space to have an open connection with the air. We use around 0.5 psi or 0.04 kg/cm2 pressure on the salted fish. This is the weight of 8 pounds on a surface area of 16 inch2. Weighting the salted fish is essential to keep air pockets out
- The next day, a clear layer of brown-yellowish brine is visible on top of the layered fish: the salt is extracting the water from the cells
- On subsequent days more brine is visible. Ensure there is always solid salt and brine present on top. Should you prefer to refresh some of the brine, always cover the fish with saturated brine and with solid salt present. The brownish brine becomes extremely tasty over time, rich with umami tasting amino acids: use it as fish sauce in recipes
- After some 3 months, take the weight off and clean each fish by cutting the bottom open from the tail end. Usually only some remaining intestines and the back bone need to be removed
- Place the fillets covered with salt and saturated brine in glass jars in the refrigerator. The fillets can be stored for over a year in this brine
- To use, place some fillets of anchovies in water or milk for around 5-20 min. Check one for taste and saltiness level during this process. If needed refresh the water or milk and do it again. But be careful not to desalt too much as the fillets may become soft and mushy. Thereafter dry the fillets on a kitchen paper towel for a few minutes and use. The partially desalted fillets may be stored for several months under olive oil or used for a snack or starter.
Notes
Method: no heat; salt curing
Food allergy & intolerance information: fish
Food allergy & intolerance information: fish