Canned anchovies

Often, professional culinary experts poetically call anchovies "silver" of the Mediterranean culinary tradition. A diametrically opposite situation has developed in modern Russian cuisine, where anchovies are much less fortunate. The thing is that such a fish as anchovy is simultaneously ranked as overseas delicacies and as a useless or "garbage" fish.

Quite often anchovies are compared to sprats or tulips, although these are completely different fish that differ in both taste and consumer characteristics. Anchovies or Engraulis are a whole genus of pelagic fish that separate into a separate family of the same name. The main feature of anchovies can be considered exclusively the marine habitat of fish.

Currently, science knows about 8 main subspecies of anchovies that live in moderately salty, and in addition, coastal waters of both hemispheres of planet Earth. starting from the 70s of the last century, anchovies began to be classified as the most important commercial fish. Although anchovies stand out for their miniature size, the chemical composition of fish, which contains a large amount of natural fats, plays an essential role.

In European countries, anchovies began to be used in cooking at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Although certain information has been preserved that anchovies began to be eaten by the ancient Romans, who used fish to make the famous garum sauce. By the way, Roman fish sauce garum has become the progenitor of many other modern basic sauces, for example, English Worcester or Asian oyster sauces.

For the first time, anchovies began to be harvested in France. Historians have been able to find medieval French cookbooks that describe the process of salting or preserving anchovies. Scientific and technological progress has made its own adjustments to all spheres of human life, including the food industry. Nowadays, the abundance of various food products gives hostesses an excellent choice and the opportunity to experiment.

Canned anchovies, like other similar fish products, are in high demand and popular in Europe. Until now, canned anchovies are part of a homemade Worcester sauce or a well-known French snack and paste with tapenada olives. As a rule, high-quality vegetable oil is used to prepare canned anchovies. Canned anchovies are produced at the so-called floating factories, where they leave the freshest fish immediately after the catch.

In addition to canned anchovies, salted fish are especially popular. It is noteworthy that for a sufficiently long period of time, salted anchovies remained a characteristic feature of the culinary tradition of such a famous French region of Provence. Currently, salty, as well as canned anchovies are used in the preparation of national dishes not only in France, but also in Italy, Spain, as well as in Sweden and the USA.