Recipe no. 53 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 35.
Ingredients
- 7 or 8 anchovies
- a few tablespoons of olive oil
- a pinch of pepper
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic cut into very small dice
- a dash of vinegar (optional)
- a household loaf about 3 centimetres thick
Preparation
- Desalting and preparing the anchoviesWash the anchovies, soak them to desalt them, separate the fillets from their bones and set them with the oil, pepper, garlic and, if desired, a dash of vinegar.
- Preparing the breadCut the top off a household loaf 3 centimetres thick and divide it into slices, one per guest.
- GarnishingSpread a few anchovy fillets over each slice and set each piece on a plate.
- Crushing and toastingWith square pieces of bread dipped in the prepared oil, crush the anchovies onto the slice; once the anchovies and sauce are used up, eat the bread that served to crush them, then toast the slice before the fire.
Reboul's text
Having washed 7 or 8 anchovies, let them soak a few minutes in water to desalt them; separate the fillets, freeing them of their bones, put them on a plate with a few tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of pepper, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic cut into very small dice. A dash of vinegar may also be added.
Cut the top off a household loaf about 3 centimetres thick. We indicate this bread by preference because it crumbles less easily.
Divide this large slice into two or three, make others like it if needed; one is required for each guest. Spread over it a few anchovy fillets and set each piece on a plate.
Cut other pieces of bread of square shape. Each person, dipping them alternately into the prepared oil and bringing them back onto the slice, thereby crushes the anchovies onto the bread. When all is used up, anchovies and sauce alike, one eats the bread that served to crush the anchovies and toasts the slice before the fire; a quite distinctive fragrance is then given off, which delights every lover of Provencal cooking, and would be the joy of many a gastronome.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul himself gives certain Provençal names in this recipe: Anchoïade (“anchoiade” in the dictionary). The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the other words used, in mistralian spelling: each of these forms is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary, and the link opens the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| anchoio | anchovy |
| descala | to desalt |
| fielat | fillet |
| aresto | bone |
| òli | olive oil |
| aiet | garlic |
| vinaigre | vinegar |
| pan | household bread |
| roustido | toasted slice |
| grasiha | to toast |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 53, page 35. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.