Brilio.net - Salting is a common method of preserving food, including fish. According to nofima.com, salt preserves by extracting water content from fish muscles, making them last longer. Anchovies are one type of fish that is often preserved with salt, resulting in a very salty taste and requiring special processing to reduce the salt content.
Usually, reducing the saltiness of fish is done by soaking it in hot water and salt. This method is effective for wet salted fish , but not suitable for dried salted anchovies. Dried anchovies tend to become soft and fall apart when soaked, especially in hot water. Therefore, a special trick is needed to reduce the saltiness without damaging the texture of dried anchovies.
In response to this, a YouTube netizen named Ana shared a trick to reduce the saltiness of anchovies without hot water. Quoted by BrilioFood from YouTube Dapur Ana on Saturday (1/11), just use salt and normal temperature water.
photo: YouTube/Ana's Kitchen
The method is to put the salted anchovies into a container. Then pour plain water until all the anchovies are submerged.
photo: YouTube/Ana's Kitchen
After that, add one tablespoon of salt. Stir until the salt dissolves. Just let it sit for five minutes. No need to soak the anchovies for too long because it can risk destroying them.
photo: YouTube/Ana's Kitchen
After five minutes, discard the soaking water. Then wash thoroughly to remove any remaining salty taste and salt solution. Finally, drain and the anchovies are ready to be cooked.
photo: YouTube/Ana's Kitchen
Even though they are soaked in salt, there is no need to worry that the anchovies will become saltier. Because soaking salted fish in salt will actually dissolve the excess salt content in the fish and flow into the water (which has a low salt concentration). As a result, the fish will be less salty.