Seitons en vinagre
There’s still so much to be explored about the world of anchovies. Perhaps it sounds a bit chauvinist, but Catalonia is home to one of the top companies producing high-quality anchovies in the world. The anchovies from L’Escala, a municipality in the Alt Empordà region, stand out.

WHAT ARE SALT ANCHOVIES?
Salt anchovies are the result of salt curing a food preservation process passed on by the Greeks and Romans -fresh anchovies over the course of a six- to eight-month maturation process. The master anxover is in charge of tasting the fish and deciding if it’s ready to be packed, usually in olive oil.

WHAT ARE THEIR ORIGINS?
Salted anchovies emerged from a moment of hardship during the Spanish Civil War. Given that there was a surplus of fresh fish that couldn’t be sold, the fisherman decided to preserve it via the salting process.

TRADITIONS

Since the birth of salt anchovies, women from the town of Escala, called anxoveres, were tasked with removing the heads and tails from the fish, fileting them, then packing them one by one. This process, impeccably carried out by hand, is a trade passed down from mother to daughter, and a still-existing tradition.
If you have the chance to visit Escala, you won’t want to miss seeing them in action.
In the following recipe, the anchovies are prepared in vinegar instead of salt, then packed in olive oil.