‘Intense, salty, foul’: the best (and worst) supermarket anchovies, tasted and rated | Food
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To taste these anchovies, I invited a friend, the food journalist and author Sudi Pigott, to join me. Arriving with a packet of Pujadó Solano anchovies and her new book, Consider the Anchovy, in hand, she and I tasted 10 brands of anchovies straight from the tin or jar with sparkling water and cucumber to cleanse the palate. According to Pigott, the best anchovies are “juicy, plump and velvety, with a sweet, nutty taste of jamón!”
The anchovy supply chain has been heavily affected by El Niño, which caused abnormal weather events in Peru, where the most economical anchovies in our test were fished. But premium anchovies sourced from the Bay of Biscay (the Cantabrian Sea) have also faced external pressures. A lack of supply, among other factors, has increased prices and left some supermarket shelves bare.
We scored anchovies on appearance, texture (including pin bones), flavour and value. I was shocked at the variation in quality in this category from minnow-sized, stubbly and tough brown fillets that were unbelievably salty to the most remarkably flavoured, tender, rose-coloured fillets that reminded us of serrano ham.
The best supermarket anchovies
★★★★☆
Small, dusky-pink fillets. Seductively sweet, smooth and salty but well balanced in flavour. Creamy and soft in texture, with a few hairy bones. Caught in the north-east Atlantic. MSC certified.
Best bargain:
Tesco Finest Cantabrian anchovy fillets in oil
★★★☆☆
Medium-large, broad and even-coloured rosy-pink fillets. Smooth and rich, with a complex umami flavour, though still a little salty and some bones left in. Cured for a minimum of 12 months. MSC certified and caught in the Cantabrian Sea.
And the rest …
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Cantabrian anchovy fillets
★★★★☆
A wide, flat tin of beautifully presented, large, broad, rosy-pink fillets. Very salty, but with a creamy, melt-in-the-mouth texture and a well-rounded flavour, plus a lovely nutty, cured note of jamón serrano. Caught in the north-east Atlantic, packed in Spain. MSC certified.
Ortiz anchovies in olive oil
★★★★☆
Medium-size fillets with a sweet, perfumed aroma. A milder salt content than most, which leads to a more balanced flavour: still sharp but complex, hammy, nutty and sweet. Ortiz was established in 1891 and is often seen as the benchmark for high-quality artisanal anchovies. Fished in the Cantabrian Sea, packed in Spain.
★★★☆☆
Narrow, slightly bony fillets, with a varied brown-pink colour. An inviting floral, perfumed aroma. Sweet and nutty, with an intense flavour. Matured for six months. Fished in the Cantabrian Sea, packed in Morocco.
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★☆☆☆☆
Small, hairy fillets, with a sweet but very salty and intense flavour. Packed in Spain. Fishing location not stated.
★☆☆☆☆
A tin of small, ragged fillets with a dark brown centre and pale edge (indicating a lack of freshness or heat damage). A fishy cat-food aroma, a very firm bite, and an intense, salty, sharp flavour. Caught in the south-east Pacific and packed in Peru.
★☆☆☆☆
Small, bristly, almost hairy fillets packed in a jar of extra-virgin olive oil. A sharp, intense and very salty flavour. OK for cooking, but rather one-dimensional. Fished in the north-east Atlantic, Bay of Biscay. Packed in Spain. MSC certified.
Morrisons anchovy fillets in olive oil
☆☆☆☆☆
A tin of small, varied and thin fillets, with a dark, broad blood line and strong fishy aroma. Super-intense, deep but harsh flavour and unyielding, tough fillets. Caught in the south-east Pacific.
John West anchovy fillets in olive oil
☆☆☆☆☆
Small fillets packed in sunflower oil with just 4.7% extra-virgin olive oil! Surprising, considering it is named on the label. Very intense, salty, foul and loose texture. Overpriced, full of pin bones, and made with preservative sodium benzoate. Caught in the south-east Pacific, produced in Peru.
For more, read the best (and worst) supermarket sushi and the best supermarket vine tomatoes
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