Fresh Anchovies

Anchois frais (fresh anchovies) teach the first law of small-fish cookery: the surface must be dry before it meets fierce heat. Get that right and the skin turns crisp while the flesh stays rich and tender. Leave the fish damp and even excellent anchovies emerge pale and soft.

The old entry assumed a Mediterranean fish market, hands at the fish station to clean the catch, and either a grill or a frying bath already hot. Its scaffolding was manpower and always-ready equipment. At home, the fishmonger cleans thirty-two fish, a deep skillet replaces the frying bath, and a grill basket keeps delicate bodies intact over the fire. The measured flour and oil make the book's brief instruction usable for four people; no stock, built sauce, or saucier belongs here because any of them would bury the catch. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Frying gives a fine golden shell; grilling leaves the skin bronzed and the flesh more plainly itself. Both honor the entry, and neither forgives delay once cooked. Before you touch the heat, dry every anchovy inside and out. That is the step that decides the dish.