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Recipe writers love to use words to evoke craving. Tender, crispy, rich, melting, crunchy, and similar adjectives make readers hungry. Reading “anchovies with condensed milk” seems more likely to do the opposite. Even eaters who like the salty little tinned fish might balk at pairing them with the cloyingly sweet and mysteriously thick milk in a can. But, and you’ll have to trust me on this, the combination is delicious.
It sounds better, at least to those who don’t speak the language, in Spanish: Anchoas con leche condensada. Culinary lore tells us that Rogelio Gómez came up with the anchovy–condensed milk combo by happenstance. Gómez, who runs La Flor de Toranza, the bar opened by his father in 1952 in Seville, supposedly loved condensed milk so much he ate it with everything. La Flor, his dad’s homage to his hometown of Toranza in Cantabria, on Spain’s northern coast, featured the region’s world-famous anchovies and used them in many of their specialty, the small sandwiches called emparedados served on the Catalan bread called pan de cristal. Gómez put some leche condensada and a few anchoas together on a lightly grilled slice of pan, and the rest is obscure gastronomic history.
There may not be an easier way to both shock and delight your dinner guests. The ingredients are few and widely available. If you can make a grilled cheese sandwich, you’ve mastered the required technique, and all that’s left is opening a couple of cans. The hardest part is convincing the skeptical to take the first bite. But after that you’ll need make more.
Do shop carefully. The open crumbs and thin crust of plain focaccia comes close to pan de cristal, make sure you grab condensed milk and not evaporated milk, since they’re often on the same shelf. Splurge on Spanish or Italian anchovies packed in oil.
Recipe
- Focaccia
- Condensed milk
- Anchovies
Cut the focaccia into manageable pieces about 2 inches wide and not much longer, then split them to expose the open crumb. Heat extra virgin olive oil over medium and gently grill the bread, cut side only, until it’s nicely brown and just a little crisp.
Spread the condensed milk on the grilled side of the bread like you would with any condiment. Not too much, but wall-to-wall coverage. Even though the condensed milk cans are tiny, you’ll have a lot left over unless you’re feeding an army, but it’ll keep almost forever in the refrigerator.
Arrange a few anchovy fillets on top, making sure there’s enough to get some salty fish in every bite. Anchovies often break up coming out of the can or jar; it’s OK to use the smaller bits to approximate a whole fillet. Eat slightly warm or at room temperature.
