Normandy Sauce + Anchovy Paste = Anchovy Sauce
Anchovy sauce is built on the classic Normande sauce, called Normandy sauce. Classic anchovy sauce is made with anchovy butter.
In this recipe, you will make anchovie butter using anchovie paste rather than chopping up or pureeing whole anchovies. It is much more accessible, and anchovy paste is readily available.
What is Normandy Sauce?
Normandy or Normande sauce is a classic French sauce made with veloute sauce, fish stock, mushrooms, and butter. I know, so what is velouté sauce?
Velouté sauce is another classic, one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine, and is the base sauce for Normandy sauce, bechamel sauce, hollandaise, and even mayonnaise. You may not realize it, but veloute sauce is used to make macaroni and cheese.
Velouté sauce is made from a roux and white stock (veal, chicken, or fish). Velouté is the French word for 'velvety.'
Anchovy Sauce
So, a simplistic way to look at anchovy sauce is velouté sauce + mushrooms = Normandy sauce + anchovy paste = anchovy sauce.
Anchovies
Not to be confused with sardines, anchovies are small forage fish, also known as bait fish, and are food for larger fish and sea mammals. They are small green fish that can be as small as 1 inch long and grow to 14 inches long.
Anchovies look shiny because of a silver stripe that runs through their bodies. They eat plankton and small, just-hatched fish with their sharp jaws. 
Used In Cooking
Most anchovys found are preserved in a salt brine to cure them and then packaged in oil like the tin above. In Spain, they are pickled in vinegar.
One of the most popular sauces, Worcestershire sauce, uses them as a critical ingredient, and I like to use them in my Caesar salad recipe. It is also often used in fish sauces, including Red Boat.
You'll find them in many of my recipes, including:
Anchovy Paste
Anchovy Paste is a very simple condiment that you can make yourself or, better yet, buy a tube of and have in your refrigerator to use whenever you want to give a boost in flavor to a soup, stew, salad dressing, pasta dish, and the list goes on.
Anchovy paste is anchovies, salt, oil, and sometimes sugar smushed together. That's it. It's pretty simple, but what a layer of flavor it can add to just about any dish. It can provide umami to whatever you are preparing.
📖 Recipe
Anchovy Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 cup Normande sauce
Instructions
- Combine the anchovy paste and butter to make anchovy butter.
- Re-chill the anchovy butter.
- When the Normandy sauce is complete, whisk in the anchovy butter. The colder the butter, the less chance it separating.
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