Pat, the anchovies in meatballs sounds terrific-about how many do you add per pound of meatball mix?

It's now occurring to me (duh ) that I'm using anchovy fillets. The recipe says 2 canned anchovies, drained and finely chopped, and I didn't even think about whether that means whole anchovies or fillets. Perhaps it means whole anchovies, and that's why 2 fillets seemed to be too little.

I usually use 4 fillets. The recipe measures the meat in cups (3 1/2), which comes out to more than 1 lb. but not 2--maybe about 1 1/2 lbs. or so. I can weigh it next time. I probably should know. I just buy 2-3 lbs and freeze the extra.

So, that's 4 anchovy fillets to 3 1/2 cups. How many fillets are there in a whole anchovy? If it's two, then I've hit on the right number .

Was *Silver Spoon* written too early to refer to the much larger salt-packed anchovies?

I recommend investing in a large can of Sicilian or Spanish salt-packed anchovies. You'll have to repack them in a sterile jar; stored in the fridge, they last forever or at least, over a year. Clean by rubbing off the skin and salt--the bones come out quickly. Rinse if you'd like. Use the search engine for earlier discussions. I bought mine at Vace. Balducci's carries/carried a different brand for half the price (($12); I tried a couple from Dean & DeLucca first to see if I liked them. I do. More flavor beyond the sharp salt.

SS was published in 1950, but the revised edition is 1997. I looked through and there are recipes that call for fillets, so this recipe clearly does call for whole anchovies. They specify canned anchovies in oil.

The very best anchovies I ever bought--I believe they were in fillets in olive oil--came from Costco, in a large jar. Those were phenomenal. It took a long time to use them, and I never saw those again. I'll look for the canned ones in salt.

What I would really love to find are capers in salt. I used to find them on the salad bar at the old Pinecrest Whole Foods. I have not seen them anywhere else. The brined ones always smell like acetone to me, and no matter how much I rinse them, I find that smell/taste hard to stomach.

Pat, for some reason I had the Silver Palette in mind as opposed to the English revised version of Italy's Betty Crocker/Joy of Cooking book. In that case, the reference may very well be to salt-packed anchovies which are nothing like even the yummy pink fillets in jars. I haven't met an anchovy I didn't love, but the salt-packed ones are truly worth seeking out. Quite different.

The recipe specifies canned anchovies in oil.