Salt-Cured

The oldest preparation there is, and the simplest: fish packed in dry salt rather than a liquid, which draws out moisture and cures the flesh firm. It is how the great anchovies of the Cantabrian coast are made, layered whole in salt and aged for months until deep and savoury, then filleted by hand. Salt-cured fish is not eaten straight from the tin like an oil-packed fillet; it is rinsed or soaked first, and what you get is the most concentrated, most traditional expression of the fish.