Anchovies
Use oil-packed or salted anchovies to deepen pasta sauce without making it taste overtly fishy, with South African buying and storage guidance.
Culinary anchovies are small oily fish preserved by salting and often packed as fillets in oil. Salting transforms their texture and concentrates savoury compounds.
Salty, intensely savoury and marine. Melted gently into oil, a small amount can read as depth rather than a recognisable piece of fish.
Firm but tender from a jar or tin; salt-packed fish are denser and need rinsing and filleting. They dissolve under a spoon in warm oil.
How it is made and why that matters.
Fish are layered with salt and matured, then cleaned and packed in salt or oil depending on the product.
For sauce, warm them gently with oil and aromatics. High heat hardens fragments and can scorch garlic beside them.
How pasta uses it.
They underpin puttanesca, pair with broccoli and bitter greens, and sharpen breadcrumbs, tomato or garlic sauces.
Treat them as seasoning first. Taste before adding salt, capers or hard cheese.
Find the real thing. Adapt with your eyes open.
Small tins and jars are common in larger supermarkets. Products sold as anchovy spread may contain other fish and flavourings, so read the label.
Oil-packed fillets are the easiest format for occasional home use.
What changes when you swap it.
| Alternative | Effect on the dish |
|---|---|
| Fish sauce | Adds fermented savouriness but also liquid and a different aroma. Use drops, not a one-for-one quantity. |
| Capers plus hard cheese | Adds salt and tang but cannot reproduce anchovy's marine savouriness. |
Storage
Refrigerate opened jars with fillets covered by oil and follow the producer's timing.
Transfer unused tinned anchovies to a clean container rather than storing in the open tin.
Buying well
Choose intact fillets submerged in clean-smelling oil.
Salt-packed anchovies reward extra preparation but are unnecessary for a quick family sauce.
Common confusion
Anchovy spread is not always pure anchovy.
Fresh anchovies and cured fillets behave as different ingredients.