Ingredients

• 5 lbs. anchovies
• 5 lbs. rock salt

How to put the Acciughe Sotto Sale:

Gut the anchovies.
Cover the bottom of a terracotta jar with rock salt, and then arrange a layer of anchovies and a salt layer again.
Repeat until you use all the anchovies.
Finish with a layer of salt.
Put a wood disk on top of the jar’s last layer; on top of the disk, place something to act as a weight.
The weight will cause the excess liquids to surface to the top.
Remove it with a clean cloth.

The anchovies will be ready after 2 to 3 weeks.

How to eat the Acciughe Sotto Sale

Clean the Anchovies from the salt, and de-bone them under running water.
Put the Anchovies fillets to dry on a clean paper towel.
Put the Anchovies fillets in a jar – you can use the same pot they came with after washing it.
Cover with good Italian olive oil.

How to serve the Acciughe Sotto Sale

Serve the Acciughe fillet on a slice of bread, with good butter, possibly Irish Butter.

Anchovies can be eaten on toasted bread, croutons, spread with butter, and in combination with a dry white wine from Liguria (Pigato, Lumassina, Cinque Terre) or the surroundings (Cortese di Gavi, Oltrepò Pavese Chardonnay). A sandwich stuffed with bagnet verd and desalted anchovies in oil is a Piedmontese specialty. Anchovies can also be eaten in salads with hard-boiled eggs. Finally, they are the main ingredient of Bagna càuda.
If used to garnish a pizza, it is unnecessary to dry the anchovies or dip them in oil.
A delicious recipe calls for stuffing with a cleaned anchovy and some capers, a slice of bell pepper just greased and then cooked in the oven.
With desalted anchovies are also prepared many types of anchovy paste, of which every region has its own variant.

Regional Recipe from Campania, Liguria, Piedmont