[HN Gopher] A Little History of the Anchovy
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A Little History of the Anchovy
Author : samclemens
Score : 70 points
Date : 2024-09-20 03:02 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (engelsbergideas.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (engelsbergideas.com)
| pvaldes wrote:
| One of the most important family of fishes in the planet by its
| huge commercial impact.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| A lot of people refuse to believe it won't make your food taste
| fishy. Sigh.
| jprd wrote:
| Well, within reason of course. In smaller quantities it is an
| excellent source of umami and a killer "special ingredient" for
| dishes that can benefit.
|
| Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish. This could just
| be me and my absolute aversion to "fishy" tastes though?
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Yeah. But if you chop one up and dissolve it in olive oil
| before cooking anything else, then it's just _umami_
| sweetbacon wrote:
| Bagna Cauda! I went down the rabbit hole a few winters back
| trying to perfect that dip and it was awesome. Never
| "perfected" of course, but I got close enough to really
| enjoy the recipe. Paired well with the simple dish of olive
| oil packed tuna, spaghetti, heavy butter and some added
| capers. So good and very easy to whip up.
| arethuza wrote:
| I make spaghetti with anchovies, garlic, olive oil and
| toasted breadcrumbs - it is remarkable how tasty it is!
| linksnapzz wrote:
| As someone who very much likes whole anchovies on pizza or
| cesar salad; some ppl. can deal with anchovies better in the
| sauce used in a traditional Sicilian _sfincione_ pizza:
|
| https://www.seriouseats.com/sfincione-sicilian-new-years-
| piz...
| silisili wrote:
| The secret here is in preparation. I had a local place, never
| asked them how but their anchovies were dry and almost
| crunchy, and it made the pizza delicious.
|
| If you just take a canned in oil one and throw it on top a
| pizza before cooking, it permeates everything and can get
| fishy. I tend to at minimum press them in paper towels to get
| the oil out, then cut them into smaller bits. It's decent,
| but still can't match the pizza places's secret.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Elaboration, type of oil used and time to curation counts.
| I assume that cheap Pizzas use cheaper lower quality
| versions of this product that can be disappointing. There
| are fake products or products that use third grade
| anchovies (with fishes smaller or crushed that are much
| more cheap).
|
| When you buy the correct size fishes, in the right season,
| with the correct firm of the meat, and then curate it at a
| barrel at home for many months, the difference is
| spectacular.
| silisili wrote:
| All true. Even in the low tier/tin can grade, you have to
| be careful with brand.
|
| King Oscar for example is by far the worst I've ever
| tried. Cento is miles better. This isn't just flavor, but
| texture, size, and firmness. King Oscar smudges into
| paste just picking them up, in my experience.
|
| Fun anecdote: I only ever use a few anchovies on a pizza
| as not to overwhelm it, and would give some scraps to the
| bloodhound. He loved them. He refused to eat King Oscar
| anchovies. He'd get excited, run up, sniff them, then
| back away.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| > Throw it on a pizza, and all I taste is fish
|
| For use as a fish rather than an umami ingredient if you're
| put off by the intense taste maybe try tinned Cantabrian
| anchovies, they have a much more subtle buttery fish flavor
| rather than the intense salt fish flavor of
| robarr wrote:
| Peruvian anchovy, the anchoveta, had and still has aprofound
| impact on peruvian economy.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_anchoveta
|
| By the way of Wikipedia:
|
| "The anchoveta has been characterized as "the most heavily
| exploited fish in world history"
|
| https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/183775/102904317
| samcheng wrote:
| If you're in the Bay Area, I'd like to encourage you to visit the
| Santa Cruz Wharf (also the Pacifica Pier, to lesser degree) in
| August through October (like, right now).
|
| The anchovies are ridiculously present right now: millions of
| them, visible from the surface, swimming in a vast school that
| parts when sea lions swim by.
|
| They're tasty when fried fresh. They're not salty like a canned
| anchovy filet, and less fishy than you expect. Delicious! I guess
| I'm a "rough person" as the article states.
| djtango wrote:
| Did you catch them yourself?
| samcheng wrote:
| Yes! Well, my kids caught most of them. It's some of the
| easiest fishing imaginable - anchovies will bite bare hooks.
| djtango wrote:
| Sounds like a wonderful day out! Thanks for sharing
| samuelec wrote:
| I love them! just by reading the title I've imagined them in a
| jar in olive oil and I felt I want them like Dr.Zoidberg from
| Futurama :)
| cjs_ac wrote:
| When you say the word _anchovy_ , which syllable do you stress?
|
| I live in the UK, where the stress is placed on the first
| syllable: ANch'vy.
|
| However, I'm originally from Australia, where the UK
| pronunciation seems to be an 'old money' thing, and most
| Australians put the stress on the second syllable: anCHOvy.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Second syllable also on Spanish
| freefal wrote:
| The first syllable is stressed in the US
| richardfontana wrote:
| Not exclusively. I am in the US and I believe I consistently
| put primary stress on the second syllable. Merriam-Webster
| (an American English oriented dictionary) gives both
| pronunciations, but lists the first-syllable-stress version
| first: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anchovy
| xvedejas wrote:
| Yes, and I'll also note that the secondary stress seems to be
| on the second syllable. That is, the second syllable is not
| reduced like in the UK. So it's pronounced most commonly in
| the US more like "Anne Chovy" than "Anchvy"
| s_dev wrote:
| I've heard a few environmentalists comment that anchovies are
| rare in the sense they are one of the few fish that can be
| industrially fished and it be sustainable. Given the apocalypse
| we're imposing on the ocean that was nice to hear but I can't
| supply a source on this information so take it with a bit of salt
| but does sound plausible because they really aren't tuna or cod.
| meindnoch wrote:
| Causes gout.
| jajko wrote:
| > Some types of seafood -- such as anchovies, shellfish,
| sardines and tuna -- are higher in purines than are other
| types. But the overall health benefits of eating fish may
| outweigh the risks for people with gout. Moderate portions of
| fish can be part of a gout diet.
|
| Literally first thing when googling. You would have to eat
| humongous amounts of this very salty tiny fish to see any long
| term effect. The salt itself would probably kill you earlier.
| circlefavshape wrote:
| They're mostly cured with salt, but I expect the fish
| themselves aren't particularly salty (at least the
| (delcious!) Spanish marinated ones aren't salty)
| jajko wrote:
| I've had fresh ones grilled in Greece couple of times and
| they were very salty (not typical can-level but still a
| ton). It could be possible they add salt that much just for
| this fish and every other fish they prepare with normal
| amount of salt, but I find it unlikely.
| pvaldes wrote:
| The fish fried is delicious, oily, full of protein and a
| little salty. Salt is added routinely to the dish.
|
| Anchovies in Spanish mean normally only the canned, very
| salty, thing. If you want to buy the fresh fish, there is a
| different word for it. The third option to consume it is
| marinated on vinegar, that also uses the fish name (plus
| "on vinegar").
| mejutoco wrote:
| Boquerones en vinagre. Delicious cold on some bread.
| terio wrote:
| The problem is that anchovies are so delicious that's easy to
| eat tons of them in one sitting. Pair that with a lot of beer
| and that could pave the way to gout town.
| jajko wrote:
| Still the problem lies elsewhere, and will manifest itself
| much earlier than gout you are seemingly so concerned about
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| In the realm of what you can eat if you're eating anchovies
| you're likely eating healthier than 90% of the populace anyway.
|
| No ones getting gout from anchovies without having some other
| extremely decadent diet choices paired with it.
| kiliantics wrote:
| This reminds me of an interesting video I saw of someone making
| garum:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICZww0DtQKk
|
| His description of the flavour is so intriguing.
| koliber wrote:
| I wonder how different garum is from southeast Asian fish
| sauce.
| bwanab wrote:
| I remember the first time I tried a pizza with anchovies. I
| thought this was the stupidest pizza topping I'd ever heard of,
| but I gave it a try - OMG, what a metanoia!
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(page generated 2024-09-25 23:02 UTC)