They lie on the bright white plate, twelve slim, rich brown fillets, surrounded by oil. Nothing else. You roll a fillet onto your fork, put it in your mouth – and you are in another world. The taste is so intense that it spreads throughout your body in a split second and you are filled with happiness. All of Spain on a fork! Centuries of artisan tradition concentrated in a piece of fish from a can weighing just a few grams! A fish that, if you buy it fresh at the market to fry, for example, costs around six euros per kilo. “It is the food of the poor that tastes best to the powerful,” philosophizes the three-star chef Martín Berasategui. His colleague Jesús Sánchez adds: “In Spain, three culinary products are on the podium: Jamón Ibérico, olive oil and anchoas.” And high-quality anchoas have as much in common with what is sold as anchovy fillets in German supermarkets as Xabi Alonso has with the amateur coach of a provincial school team.
#Anchoas #Cantabria #treasure #sea