"To understand anchovies, you need to understand umami.
For most of history, just four tastes were recognized: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. They were probably singled out around the fifth century B.C.E. by the Greek philosopher Democritus. The mantra of four tastes was repeated — with a few notable exceptions — until a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda posited in the early 1900s that there might be an unidentified fifth.
Mr. Ikeda had noticed that seemingly unrelated foods such as asparagus, tomatoes, cheese, cooked meats and dashi, a traditional broth in Japanese cuisine made from kombu seaweed and dried fish flakes, had something in common that did not align with any of the four recognized tastes. He set about analyzing kombu to tease out the chemical foundation of this unique flavor. After months of painstaking chemical reductions, the seaweed yielded the source — a tiny amount of glutamate, which exploded with flavor when combined with sodium and sprinkled on food. He named the taste umami, after the Japanese word “umai,” which translates — very roughly — as savory taste.
Preserved anchovies — whether salted, packed in oil or transformed into fish sauce — have extraordinarily high levels of umami. Adding even half an anchovy or a small splash of fish sauce to an otherwise simple dish can turbocharge it to a new realm of flavor. Despite this ability, in some Western cultures anchovies are notoriously polarizing. (No such divide seems to exist in many parts of Asia, however, where they are regularly consumed fresh, dried or in fish sauce.)
But it’s time for the leery to give anchovies another chance. These are times in which we’re rethinking how we eat. We know that red meat and animal fats are hard on our bodies and the planet. We know we need to be eating more whole foods, more plants, more good fats, more grains and pulses. The beauty of the anchovy is that it’s a small, fast-growing fish that can be sustainably caught, is good for us and is very good at making other things that are good for us taste great. We know that because it’s been doing so for millenniums: It enlivened lamb and black-eyed peas in ancient Rome, spiked the sauces of French haute cuisine and had a starring role in hors d’oeuvres at fancy New York restaurants.
Mr. Beckman notes that anchovies are having a moment, with chefs and foodies alike declaring their love and calling the fish the “bacon of the sea” and an “affordable luxury”:
That’s a good thing. As many of us move toward plant-based eating, anchovies can and should be called upon to do more of the culinary heavy lifting. They are nutrient-dense and full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. They are loaded with protein and packed with vitamins and minerals. And unlike larger, slower-growing and longer-living fish that reside higher up the food chain and become repositories for mercury, anchovies are fast-growing, at the bottom of the food chain and lower in mercury.
And, as history shows, the opportunities to add an anchovy are almost endless:
Perk up a French vinaigrette by adding half an anchovy.
Improve almost any vegetable with a little anchovy, garlic and chili flakes.
Add a few fresh herbs and a couple of anchovies to baked fish.
Follow the lead of Gaspare Delle Piane, a monk and the author of a meat-free cookbook in 19th-century Italy, and toss one or two (or three!) into a pot of lentils.
Or make like the 18th-century chef Vincent La Chapelle and drape whole fillets across the top of a roast fowl just before serving.
From the Roman Empire to the present, this tiny fish has always punched above its weight in flavor. So the next time you want to add a little magic to your meal, add an anchovy. I don’t think you’ll regret it." [1]
1. Which Food Is the Most Underrated? : Student Opinion. Engle, Jeremy. New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Sep 27, 2024.
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