Anchovies with Parmesan Cheese

Deep golden fried toast topped with anchovy filets and melted parmesan

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1759

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While spending time in London, Benjamin Franklin wrote about lodging with an elderly widow whose food was meager, but whose conversation was excellent. He wrote of one meal consisting of a bit of anchovy on a strip of bread and butter and a little ale. He was also a big fan of Parmesan cheese and fervently longed for a recipe for it, which he did eventually receive.

It almost goes without saying, but if you like anchovies and Parmesan, you’ll like this dish. It’s also quite salty, and unfortunately, I’m not the biggest fan of very salty foods or anchovies, but the toast is wonderfully crunchy and rich.

“Des anchoise au Parmesan.
Anchovies, with Parmesan cheese.
Fry some bits of bread about the length of an anchovy in good oil or butter, lay the half of anchovy, with the bone upon each bit, and strew over them some Parmesan cheese grated fine, and colour them nicely in an oven, or with a salamander, squeeze the juice of an orange or lemon, and pile them up in your dish and send them to table. This seems to be but a trifling thing, but I never saw it come whole from table.”

— A Complete System of Cookery by William Verral, 1759

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Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of good French or Italian bread
• 1/4 cup (60 g) clarified butter or olive oil
• 2 dozen anchovy filets
• 1/2 cup (50 g) finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lemon

Instructions:

1. Prepare a baking tray by laying down some paper towel in the baking tray and putting an oven-safe wire rack over the paper towels. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Slice the bread into slices between 1/4 and 1/2 inch (about 1 cm) thick. You can leave the crusts on if you like, but to be a bit fancier, trim the crusts so that you have slices that are about the length and width of two anchovy filets laying side by side.
3. Heat the clarified butter or olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the slices of bread. Let them fry for about 45 seconds, then flip them over and fry them on the other side for 45 seconds. You want the bread to be nice and crisp and well-browned, so fry them for a little more or less time depending on the heat of the oil. When the fried toast is done, place them on the prepared wire rack.
4. Place two anchovy filets side by side on each piece of toast, then sprinkle them with parmesan cheese, as much or little as you like.
5. Place the toasts in the oven for a few minutes, just until the cheese has melted and slightly browned. Take the toasts out of the oven and immediately squeeze a little lemon juice over each one, then serve them forth.

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