# Anchovy paste



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

How long does it keep in the fridge after opening?


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Quite a while, but I use it in a lot of things so a tube usually lasts 4-6 weeks.


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## kingnothing (Mar 15, 2013)

Whats a good brand you guys recommend? I normally grind them in a mortar and pestle


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Well for starters it depends what you're planning to do with the stuff. 

Sure I prefer smooshing up my own fresh as well, but  I think you'll 

find that a tube of paste keeps as long as you'll need it to, provided it's kept 

refrigerated after opening. I don't have a personal brand preference.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I don't use it fast enough to justify a tin of them, though I do have a tin in my pantry for when I do.. So i use the tube paste mostly. Amore is the brand I can find most readily. I don't have any complaints. I use their tube tomato paste too.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I use the Amore brand tomato paste and they also have anchovy paste.  I've never bought it.  I always open up a fresh can of anchovies each time I need anchovy paste but I don't use all of it, and then I store it away but throw it out.  Does the anchovy paste keep well because of how much salt is in it?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

The packaging helps too. Only the bit at opening is exposed to air and such. Minimal oxidation and contamination. I'll often discard the 1/4 inch or so in the tip because it dried a bit or discolored. How long it keeps? I've never had it go bad so i don't know; 8 weeks at least i think.


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Unofficially I would quietly say it lasts longer than that even. I was making....something....Ceasar maybe?...

grabbed up a half full tube of Anch Paste squeezed it out, looked and smelled fine, used a couple teaspoons

of it....then later got to thinking....wait--when did I BUY that? I never did figure it out but it was longer than

8 weeks I know that. It's like Phatch said, it can't get air much so it stays almost vac-sealed.

Makes ya wonder...if we left our toothpaste out in an open container, would it spoil? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/confused.gif


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

I have a tube in the fridge now that's over two months old. I'll make a Caesar tonight, if you don't hear back from me you will know what happened./img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

My local grocer had the Reese brand anchovy paste on my  last visit. I've not used that one. Any opinions on it?

I noticed they also had a Cento brand tomato past in a tube to compete with the Amore. The Cento was cheaper. I picked one up to see if I can tell a difference. It would be hard to differentiate I think with how tomato paste is commonly used.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I've tried several brands and it's pretty much all the same I mean a processed anchovy is a processed anchovy.  Back home in Greektown we got whole anchovies packed in layers of salt - now that's an anchovy.  

It's cheaper for me to buy tomato paste in the can and I usually use half and save half in a ziploc and keep it in the fridge.  Good for up to two weeks that way if you get all the air out of the bag.  It's funny to pull a "lid" of tomato paste out of the ice box.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Mike9 said:


> I've tried several brands and it's pretty much all the same I mean a processed anchovy is a processed anchovy. Back home in Greektown we got whole anchovies packed in layers of salt - now that's an anchovy.







  








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koukouvagia


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Aug 31, 2015


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Yup - those are the real deal. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Are you saying I should use those for when I want to make a caesar?  Cause they sell them right around the block from me at the greek market.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I never used them for a Caesar they don't emulsify like canned, or paste does.  We used to just rinse and eat with warm bread and butter, maybe some cheese, olives  and of course Retsina.


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## chicagoterry (Apr 3, 2012)

I may be courting botulism, but I always buy tins of anchovy fillets and what I don't eat, I put in a jar and cover with olive oil and keep it in the fridge. Sometimes for a very long time.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

ChicagoTerry said:


> I may be courting botulism, but I always buy tins of anchovy fillets and what I don't eat, I put in a jar and cover with olive oil and keep it in the fridge. Sometimes for a very long time.


You do like to live dangerously.


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## cerise (Jul 5, 2013)

Personally, I don't care for canned or tubed.  If you are not utilizing an ingredient often enough, dump it and buy fresh. There are many applications for same ingredient.

There should be an expiration date on same.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Cerise said:


> Personally, I don't care for canned or tubed. If you are not utilizing an ingredient often enough, dump it and buy fresh. There are many applications for same ingredient.
> 
> There should be an expiration date on same.


Sorry, I don't know what you mean.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

In the US, federal law requires an expiration date on all packaged food products.  It can't be more than two years out. This applies even in cases where things don't go bad per se. Dried pasta for example. 

Exactly what the dates mean is a little vague anyway. Best by, Sell by, Use by, don't mean the food automatically turns bad on that date. 

And fresh anchovies, even if readily available, aren't the same for using as the processed ones. Recipes are built around the processed ones, even in Italy. I've never seen them in the salt stack as shown above. 

I'll admit another tube product I use. Lemongrass. I've never figured out minced lemon grass. It always comes out like fingernails in the finished dish. I'll bruise it up and steep it or use the tube, but I've given up trying to peel it and mince it.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

phatch said:


> I'll admit another tube product I use. Lemongrass. I've never figured out minced lemon grass. It always comes out like fingernails in the finished dish. I'll bruise it up and steep it or use the tube, but I've given up trying to peel it and mince it.


I mince it as finely as possible and then pound it usually with sugar in a mortar and pestle. It still gives a little texture to the finished dish... so if I marinate baby back ribs in a marinade that has lemongrass, they'll have a little crunch to them, the lemongrass creating something like a bark almost. I don't mind it, in fact I enjoy it. But it's been pounded to death so that it doesn't come out like wood splinters.

I've tried frozen minced lemongrass once and found it tasteless. I'd rather just omit it. I've never tried the tube stuff though.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

The tube stuff is weaker, but still a good flavor.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

@phatch I've never cooked with lemongrass so I don't know if this would be any help but would it make a difference putting it in a FP?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

You don't use lemon grass in the kind of volume where a food processor would work well, even to pre-process in bulk and store for later.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

phatch said:


> You don't use lemon grass in the kind of volume where a food processor would work well, even to pre-process in bulk and store for later.


 I see what you mean, but other ingredients add volume like garlic, onions, whatever else is going in the recipe along with the lemongrass to constitute throwing a little chunk in.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I don't really like the texture you get as a result of putting lemongrass in a food processor. The food processor cuts, so that you're still left with little bits of lemongrass that may feel like wood splinters. 

I much prefer the mortar and pestle to tame that woody texture.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I shouldn't even be talking, I've never cooked with lemongrass.  Please ignore me.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I agree with FF, for lemongrass, a pestle and mortar is the way to go.

Whereas FF uses some sugar, I normally use a bit of coarse salt. Both of them have some abrasive action.

Back to anchovy paste: I never use it, I use tinned anchovies or whatever I can get.

I wish I could get those salted anchovies and I would definitely use them in salads. Maybe more in a salad nicoise than a caesar though!


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

In my very limited expeience stuff like that can last virtually forever in the fridge.  I'm absolutely serious here, I had an opened bottle of oyster sauce that got lost in my fridge for about 20 years, maybe longer.  I used it without even thinking one day.  It was delicious and I didn't suffer in the least for it.  Honest ******.

My experience of an opened bottle of balsamic vinegar is that it turns into a magnificent sludge after a few years or so. 

Rick


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Cerise said:


> Personally, I don't care for canned or tubed. If you are not utilizing an ingredient often enough, dump it and buy fresh. There are many applications for same ingredient.
> 
> There should be an expiration date on same.


I don't understand this, as most anchovies come packaged and if one needs just 2-3 filets, one must reseal the can or package, again any ways.

The tube offers the same ingredient but you can use what you need and replace the rest.

...kinda like toothpaste. It lasts a long time.


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Yeah, "fresh" and "anchovy" in the same sentence really doesn't scream quality to me.  The whole thing with preserved (oil, salt, what have you) is that preservation and aging changes the essential character of the fish into its own category.  As long as they are stored properly, aging improves these sort of products.


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