Food - Drink
The Best Type Of Canned Anchovies To Add To Your Pasta Sauce
By ALEX SCHAUER
As controversial as anchovies may be, they have a super-savory, meaty, and complex flavor that even haters can appreciate when the fish are dissolved into a dressing or pasta sauce. However, incorporating anchovies into your sauce without adding distracting flavors or extra work for yourself starts with buying the right fish.
Salt-packed anchovies are easy to find, but have a very strong taste, plus you have to soak and de-bone them before use; meanwhile, anchovy paste is easier to use, but lacks a punch of flavor. Ultimately, anchovies packed in oil are the way to go for pasta sauces, whether the fish are in a starring role or used as background players.
Tender and moist oil-packed anchovy filets strike a balance between versatility, ease of use, and great flavor. Martha Stewart heartily recommends them for her anchovy-tomato pasta sauce recipe, while chef Odette Williams says that these fish make her pasta sauce taste like it "had been simmering for hours, not just 20 minutes."