A wave of casticismo caresses the one who crosses the door of Vinegar Brothers, the proposal of bar, marinades, pickles and preserves that Carlos and Enrique Valenti proposed twice in Madrid (Narváez 58 and Gravina 17).
There is no lack of homemade preserves such as cockles, mussels, sardines, razor clams. They are not missing either pickles that touch sticks of land and sea, such as the sardine and the mussel, which they share flat with the quail, the foie and, a tasty rarity: the cheese.
But today we bring the shot closer to the anchovies in vinegar so that it can tell us how to make them perfectly at home, in a recipe as apparently simple as tasty, which can be taken to a higher step.
Logically, there are few ingredients: anchovies (or anchovies, depending on where you live), vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, salt and then, off-plane, oil.
However, the order of the factors alters the product and it is in the little details where the secret of some anchovies sneaks in that get customers to pilgrimage to this brave tavern that opened before the pandemic and is still resisting, and that’s not to mention that it was a place born to enjoy at the bar, whose ‘boqueneros’ secrets it tells us Carlos Valenti.
The four times of anchovies in vinegar
Four, like the points of a square, are the vertices on which the Valentí brothers’ anchovy in vinegar sits: “cleaned, bled, marinated and frozen”. A quaternary that demands a meticulous order in the factors and in the treatment of the fish from the time it arrives -and even before- and until it is served.
“The key to any dish is the quality of the product, even more so when we have few ingredients,” he says, thus justifying the type of anchovy he orders for his bar. “In our case they are between 35 and 40 pieces per kilo [en peso bruto] and we also prefer it to be an anchovy from the north”.
“They have somewhat harder meat to come from colder waters, while the anchovy from the south is better for fried foods. With an anchovy of 35 to 40 per kilo it is fine. Sometimes we have had anchovies of 30 and it’s almost like a knife and fork,” he says.
In turn, he leaves another clue: “our anchovies come in a box with ice and water because in the dry box [la típica de pescadería], the one below suffers more and is crushed“. In addition, he avoids very large boxes: “they bring it to us in boxes of four kilos or four and a half kilos.”
Although not only the size or quality of the anchovy is important, but also the treatment we give it. “You have to bleed the fish well to clean it. After removing the head, the spine and the guts we put it in cold water with ice and we put it in the fridge for more than thirty minutes.
“There is no stipulated time. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but it must be very clean and they have enough water, not that they are crushed together again“, he adds. “Throughout the process there always has to be enough liquid,” he adds.
The key point: the marinade
“An anchovy in vinegar has to taste of anchovy with a touch of vinegar, it doesn’t have to be something very powerful because of the vinegar or the garlic,” he considers. From there, we jump to the rest of the ingredients, which in his case are few, but of quality: white wine vinegar, bay leaf, garlic and a pinch of salt.
Salt, apart from seasoning, has another mission: “gives hardness and texture to the anchovy”. At the same time, he minces garlic and uses white vinegar, which is part of the bed where his anchovies sleep, giving us a clue. “For two and a half kilos of clean anchovies, we would add two or three liters of vinegar and a couple of cloves of garlic.”
It may sound like too much, but Carlos explains: “there comes a point where the anchovy doesn’t take on any more flavor”, plus they don’t serve it with all the vinegar on the table.
“We then put it in the fridge for 24 hours and in small quantities with little volume so that they do not get crushed, so I recommend freezing them in trays [ellos las termosellan y luego las pasan por el abatidor] after marinating them,” he explains.
“It has two functions: on the one hand the product preservation, which gives greater longevity, and on the other the health recommendations [para evitar el anisakis]. Also, it’s more practical this way because you’re going to have to freeze the anchovy at some point, and it’s better later,” he says.
If we were to freeze it whole at home, freshly washed, the crystallization in domestic freezers would take away part of the texture of the anchovy, while Once marinated, this change in smoothness is not so noticeable.
Anchovies in Vinegar with Olive Oil 800 g
“Then there is only thaw cold and serve [que no estén helados]. In our case, we finish with a splash of arbequina oil [no utilizan el aceite en la marinada]a couple of fat olives and some piparras”, he adds.
An appetizer 10 with the tricks of a chef so that, from now on, your anchovies are worthy of the best bars.
Pictures | Vinegar Brothers
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