Recommendations
Fried anchovies with Osborne Sherry Fino
On the plate is a pile of small fish, dusted in flour and fried so briefly that they crunch when you pick them up. Opposite, the fino is a cold, dry wine with acidity and salt, which cuts the fat of the pan and does not overpower the fish.
From the shelf
The bottle
Osborne has its sherry bodegas in El Puerto de Santa Maria, one of the three cities of the sherry region; the house was founded in 1772 by the Englishman Thomas Osborne Mann. This bottle is a fino: made from palomino, biologically aged under the velo de flor and, in the solera y criaderas system, three and a half years old on average. That is short for a fino and you can taste it: the wine is pale, straw-yellow and dry, with a mild finish rather than a long bitter one. According to the Consejo Regulador, a fino must age for at least two years and may have between 15 and 18 percent alcohol; this bottle is at 15 percent and comes in 75 centilitres.
The combination
Why this works together
Fried anchovies are the benchmark for a fino in Andalusia, and that is no habit without grounds. The fish brings salt, the flour crust brings fat, and together they call for acidity and cold rather than fruit or wood. A fino has hardly any residual sugar, and because there is no sweetness in the glass, the salt of the fish is not lifted but kept flat. A sip at 6 to 8 degrees also rinses the film of fat from the tongue, so that the next little fish arrives sharp again. The weight fits as well: with its average of three and a half years, this fino is light and mild, and so it stays alongside the fish instead of over it. The Consejo Regulador names salty dishes, fish and shellfish as the first partners for fino, and fried anchovies are all three.
At the table
The dish
- For 4 people
- Ready in 30 minutes
- Type main course
What you need
- 800 g fresh anchovies or other small fish
- 240 ml flour (about 150 g)
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- olive oil for frying
- coarse sea salt
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
How to make it
- Clean the little fish: remove the head and scrape along the inside with your thumb to remove the innards and the bone.
- Rinse the little fish under cold water and pat them very dry with kitchen paper.
- Mix the flour with the fine salt on a flat plate and turn the little fish through it one by one. Shake off the excess.
- Heat a layer of olive oil about one and a half centimetres deep in a frying pan over medium heat until the surface of the oil starts to shimmer.
- Fry the little fish in portions, about a minute per side until golden brown. Do not put too many in at once, so the oil stays hot.
- Lift them out with a skimmer onto kitchen paper, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and serve with the lemon wedges.
In the glass
Serving
Serve this fino between 6 and 8 degrees. Put the bottle in a bucket of ice and water for half an hour, not in the freezer. Use a catavinos of about 200 millilitres or an ordinary white wine glass, filled to a third. Keep in mind that an opened fino tires quickly: the Consejo Regulador advises one week in the fridge, with the bottle tightly closed.
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