Dried anchovies are sold sorted by size, and come in a package, plastic bag, or box.
Smaller anchovies are usually served as a snack by toasting them with soy sauce, sugar, and hot pepper paste to make the side dish myeolchibokkeum. Larger myeolchi are used in the stock of many Korean dishes like sundubu-jjigae.
Store in a zipper-lock bag or airtight container in the freezer. Before using larger anchovies, remove the heads and guts (the black innards).
Personally I like to eat the larger dried anchovies by themselves (after removing the heads and intestines, or course : )). I dip them in hot pepper paste and eat them with rice. Very delicious! The tiny bones of myeolchi contain a lot of calcium and are really good for you.
Medium dried anchovies on the top shelf, and large anchovies on the lower shelf
Large dried anchovies
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Hi
Can you eat dried anchovies as they are as a snack or do you need to cook them in some way? What are all the nutritional values of eating dried anchovies as they are?
Thanks
Adam
I have a finned fish allergy (but *not* a shellfish allergy) and would love to be able to make myself small fishless batches of the meals I make for my family. I’d love to know of an alternative that would help flavor dishes like your steamed shishito peppers and stews for my personal serving. With kimchis I substitute jars of the tiny baby shrimp for fish pastes and nobody seems to mind at all :)
My husband is Korean, I’m not, but my family joins us for large holiday meals as well as random meals when we’re in the mood to cook a little bit more or have special requests. We are in Massachusetts and have a full size Hmart almost an hour from home that I go to but there are some other Asian supermarkets in the area if there are alternatives from other cultures, nowhere near the abundance of food markets that NYC or CA have though! :) Thanks!
How long can the anchovies be kept in the freezer ?????
Indefinitely. ;-)
Very long; I’ve got the small ones in the fridge and the ones for soup in an air-tight container in the pantry.
Bye, Sanne.
Bonjour Maangchi !
I really love your website and recipes, they’re great !
I wanted to ask you if there could be any vegeterian subsitute for dried anchovies ?
Have a wonderful day.
Hello Maangchi !
My nearby asian market only carries anchovy stock powder (it also contains Bonito). Can this also be used successfully in the recipes you posted?
I tried making a stock with the powder but was doubtful how much to use so it will equal the anchovies you use.
hi maangchi!
i want to ask.
Once the anchovies are used, are you throwing it after?
like when you make broth, what do you do after using it?
I usually throw them out but I eat them sometimes, it depends on my mood.
Hi Maangchi,
I just bought a pack of medium dried anchovies and today while looking at it,the expiration date was 2012.09.09 I’m very disappointed! :(
Do you think its still edible?
Thanks!
How frustrating!
If they don’t have mold and don’t smell bad, you still can use them. Otherwise, throw them away. Keep them in the freezer.
Thanks Maangchi!
Hi Maangchi,
Just got back from a month on the Korean Peninsula and I must say Korean cuisine is now one of my favourites! I have a question about large myeolchi. Is it really necessary to remove bones, heads and guts when cooking it (ie. For sundubu jigae and myeolchi bokkeum)? I remember the heads were always present and there was a crunchy texture (which I thought were bones) when I had myeolchi bokkeum as a banchan.
Thanks, and am looking forward to trying out tons of your recipes in the future!
Thanks,
Jason
I bought a bag of anchioves but it doesn’t say “dried”. Are they also okay for the broth for ddukbokki? They are not fresh either, they feel hard. I took a picture and I can post it. Where can I post the picture?
Oh, I wanted to add that my anchovies look just like the ones in your pictures and are hard, not squishy. The bag just says anchovies though.
Yes, that’s dried anchovies. You can use them to make anchovy stock.
Thank you!! You are SO nice!! If you come to Florida, I will love to meet you!! :)
Hi Maangchi. I really appreciate all the recipes you show us and I’ve done somee of them! It was heaven ^_^. I wanted to ask about the anchovies, because back in my place, we rarely have korean groceries store, and it was far away. so I went to some market to find those anchovies. but they sell 2 kinds of dried anchovies, salty and unsalty. which one should I use?
Unsalty is better because you can add salt anytime later. Large dried anchovies are good for stock.
I love your website!. I accidentally bought the small anchovies instead of the big ones (I should have read this page before shopping!) Do you think I could still make stock with them if I used a large enough quantity?
How do you store the dried anchovies after you have opened the package? How about dried kelp and dried shitake mushrooms? I’m asking in reference to your soondubu video… ^^ Thank you!
I Keep my dried anchovies in the freezer, but I keep dried kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms in the pantry.
are you able to substitute japanese “dashi” instead of using dried anchovies to make fish stock?
Hi Maangchi,
How do you gut a dried anchovy? TIA!
Check out this video recipe. You will see how I remove the guts.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamulguk
maangchi..i cant get kelp for soondubu..so what can i use to subsitute the kelp..i really want to make this soondubu!thanx you.
You still can make good stock with dried anchovies and dried shiitake mushrooms. skip the kelp if it’s not available.