How to cook with ... anchovies

Several fresh anchovies. Photograph: Foodcollection.com/Alamy

Anchovy and beef
Garum is a sauce made of sun-dried anchovies or mackerel innards and brine. It's thought to be a Greek invention, but the Romans were mad for garum, using it with meat and fish in the same way fish and oyster sauces are used in Asian cooking. A few salted anchovy fillets in a beef stew, or pushed into slits in a roasting joint, will perform a similar function. The fishiness disappears in favour of an intense savouriness that makes the beef meatier and somehow?juicier.

The Flavour Thesaurusby Niki Segnit

Anchovy and cauliflower
If you like the idea of Joel Robuchon's pairing of cauliflower and caviar but your conscience, or wallet, baulks at Beluga, make do with the extremely delicious pairing of cauliflower and anchovy. It's a popular combination in Italy, where cooked cauliflower is tossed with fried breadcrumbs, anchovy, garlic, chilli flakes and parsley for a pasta sauce. They also make a salad of blanched, cooled florets in a dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, onion, anchovy, lemon and capers.

Anchovy and lemon
Pound a couple of anchovies into a paste with a little lemon juice, add olive oil and season to taste. Makes an excellent dressing for a salad of bitter leaves, such as rocket or?chicory.

Anchovy and olive
Like a couple of shady characters knocking around the port in Nice. Loud and salty, they take a sweet, simple pizza margherita and rough it up a bit. They're used to make pissaladiere, a simple Nicois snack sold from kiosks in the old town, where its rich, oniony fug hangs around the narrow streets on?summer nights.

Anchovy and watercress
An elegant variation on salt and pepper. Spread anchovy butter thinner?than a seven-denier stocking on two slices of white bread. Load up with watercress and press down till the?stalks snap. Enjoy by the river under a?broad-brimmed straw hat.

This is an edited book extract from The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. To order a copy for ￡12.99 with free UK p&p (saving ￡6), go to guardianbookshop.co.uk

View the original article here