Salted pickled anchovies

I hadn’t made pickled anchovies, or boquerones en vinagre, for a while. They’re one of my favourite nibbles and they’re dead easy to make. So with that in mind, I bought a kilo in the market the other day and set to work.

I have a standard recipe for this dish and I rarely stray from it because it works well. But this time, I thought I’d try something new. I have an excellent Greek chef to blame for this. Peter Minakis, who blogs at Kalofagas. The blog is superb, filled with mouth-watering recipes from Greece.

Peter's recipe is quite different to mine. I normally clean the fish and pickle them for no longer than an hour in a wine vinegar and salt mix, called a salmuero in Spain.

Peter, on the other hand, salts his first for 24 hours and then soaks them in vinegar for another 24. I liked the sound of this so I gave it go.

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Having thoroughly cleaned the fish, I placed them in a dish in layers, covering each with sea salt. (Whichever recipe you go for, cleaning the fish well is vital.) The next day I rinsed them off and washed the salt away. It’s important to do a good job on this too.

The fillets are then placed in a clean dish and covered in vinegar for the next 24-hour phase. Once this is done, the fillets are then cleaned again in running water. Taste one. If it’s too sharp from the vinegar or too salty, carry on rinsing.

Once you’ve done this, placed the fillets in the third and last clean dish you’ll need. Layer the fish and sprinkle liberally with raw garlic and parsley. Drench in extra virgin olive oil. Eat as a starter.

So what’s the verdict? To salt, or not to salt? Well, I liked this version, I have to say. But the taste was completely different. I liked the salty edge and the flesh was firmer, the salt having extracted any water from the fish.

Overall, I think I prefer my version, which makes for a more ceviche-style dish in which there’s no doubt that what you’re eating is raw fish. It’s quicker too.

But either way, give this a go because the humble anchovy is truly one of the world’s most underrated fish. It deserves a better reputation at the table.