Bocarte-style Anchovies in Spiced Olive Oil

Zallo is one of the Basque Country's most celebrated conservas producers — a family operation based in Ondarroa, on the Cantabrian coast, where the anchovies are caught, cured, and packed with the kind of care and precision that defines the best Spanish tinned fish. Bocarte is the Basque name for the fresh anchovy before it's cured — and bocarte-style means these are packed to preserve that fresh, clean anchovy character rather than the intensely salty, deeply fermented profile of a standard anchovy.

The spiced olive oil is the other half of the story: extra virgin olive oil with cayenne pepper, adding a gentle, lingering heat that complements the anchovy without overwhelming it. The result is a tin that works beautifully straight from the can — on toast with good butter, draped over a simple salad, laid across a slice of manchego, or eaten directly with a toothpick and a glass of Txakoli. 120g of some of the finest anchovies on the Cantabrian coast.