French · Provence · sauce/condiment

Anchoïade

Name: Anchoïade
Prep time: 41 min
Total time: 41 min
Cuisine: French · Provence
Ingredients: anchovies — 200 g; garlic — 20 g; olive oil — 138 g; red wine vinaigrette — 15 g; fresh thyme — 1 g; black pepper — 3 g; water — 15 g; fennel — 300 g; celery stalks — 150 g; radishes — 150 g; red peppers — 300 g; spring onions — 90 g; country ham — 320 g

Anchoïade reads umami 7.1, salinity 6.6 and richness 5.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Provence sauce/condiment, about 41 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 8.6 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.5 / 10
Sour & Bright — 3.3 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.3 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.1 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.1 · Salinity 6.6 · Richness 5.8 · Funk & Ferment 4.7 · Allium 3.6 · Marine & Briny 3.6 · Herbaceous 3.0 · Sweetness 3.0 · Sourness 2.9 · Smoke 2.0 · Fruity 1.7 · Citrus 1.5 · Floral 1.4 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Earthy 1.2 · Bitterness 1.1 · Nutty 1.0 · Heat 0.9

What's in it (13)

anchovies — 200 g
garlic — 20 g
olive oil — 138 g
red wine vinaigrette — 15 g
fresh thyme — 1 g
black pepper — 3 g
water — 15 g
fennel — 300 g
celery stalks — 150 g
radishes — 150 g
red peppers — 300 g
spring onions — 90 g
country ham — 320 g

Time & effort: about 41 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 78.9 kcal, 9 g protein, 2.8 g fat, 4 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Soak the salted anchovies in cold water for 20 minutes, then run a thumb along the backbone and lift the two fillets away. Rinse them, pat them dry and check for stray fin bones. Do not use oil-packed anchovies from a tin if you can avoid it: the salt-packed fish have a firmer, cleaner flavour and the whole sauce is only really four things, so each one shows.
Pound the garlic with a pinch of the pepper in a mortar until it is a smooth white cream with no visible pieces left. Rushing this is the commonest fault — chopped garlic in an anchoïade tastes raw and hot rather than sweet.
Add the anchovy fillets a few at a time and pound them into the garlic until the paste is uniform and slightly grainy, about 4 minutes of steady work.
Now dribble the olive oil in a very thin thread, turning the pestle constantly against the side of the mortar. It behaves like a mayonnaise: added too fast the sauce splits into an oily slick, and if that happens start again with a fresh anchovy in a clean mortar and beat the broken sauce into it a spoonful at a time.
Beat in the vinegar, the thyme, the rest of the pepper and the warm water. The water loosens the paste to a spoonable, glossy consistency. Taste before adding any salt — the anchovies almost always carry enough.
Grill the bread slices over embers or under a hot grill for about 3 minutes, turning once, until they are marked and dry at the edges but still soft in the middle.
Set the fennel, celery, radishes, peppers and spring onions round a bowl of the anchoïade with the bread. It is served at room temperature, and it is a dish to stand over rather than sit down to. It also keeps a week under a film of oil in the fridge, and is better on the second day.
Substitutions: 32 salt-packed fillets can stand in for the whole salt-packed anchovies; the Vallée des Baux can stand in for the fruity green olive oil.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Polpo alla Luciana — Italian · Naples
Baked Salmon Puttanesca — Italian-American
Chupe de Camarones — Peruvian
Banh Bao Thit — Vietnamese
Bacalao a la Vizcaína — Basque · Hegoalde (Spain)

Keep reading: what umami, salinity, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

See how this dish fits your palate — take the short taste test →

Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.