Keeping (and storing) anchovies

Vital Information wrote:I'm wondering:

I just got a new stock of salted anchovies in greektown. Typically, rinse them, fillet them and put them in a ceramic container with olive oil. Is this best, though? Perhaps, I should keep them salted/whole until I need them.

Any thoughts

Antonius wrote:

rien wrote:

Antonius wrote:One problem for me is that often the tins available are kind of (very) big for my purposes (though I suppose I should increase the anchovy element of my diet).

Maybe I'm missing something - or maybe I'm committing an atrocious food safety sin - but don't these anchovies keep pretty much indefinitely in the refrigerator once you've opened the tin as long as you transfer them to a different receptacle - such as a glass mason jar - and make sure that they're nicely packed with with some fresh coarse sea salt?

Regardless, that's what I've done with the large tins and they've kept well at my modest rate of anchovy consumption.

rien

Perhaps you are missing something, perhaps not. If you're satisfied with how they taste after long storage, then I guess not.

I agree, however, with the following statement, found on the web:

"Salted anchovies begin to lose quality as soon as the tin is opened, so it is better to buy only as many anchovies as you need from a large tin that's been freshly opened in the store. If you don't use them all within a few days, wash the salt off, place in a jar of olive oil, seal with a lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days to get the best out of them."

That's why Italian stores would so often (and still occasionally) have a large tin open, from which customers, who typically would use anchovies fairly extensively in their cooking, could buy appropriate amounts from a newly opened tin. Cheaper, oil-packed anchovies in small tins or jars have, of course, become the widely marketed and available alternative.

The salt-packed anchovies can be repacked and kept in good quality for a bit of time but hardly indefinitely, at least in the opinion of some.