How to eat and cook fresh anchovies? Is it ok to eat the insides, or should I gut them. I've got an lb of fresh ones, awaiting your answers?

I like to use a pair of scissors for better grip to snip off the heads and snip the stomachs of the anchovies open. Then I wash the guts off and rinse all the anchovies. I paper toweled them dry, heat the wok with enough oil and deep fried it till crispy. Sprinkle salt sparingly and have a couple of cold beer with it.

Take an anchovy in one hand, use the thumb of the other to slit open the body and then, grasping the head firmly between finger and thumb detach it together with the guts. Gently ease and prise open the body and pull away the spine and flatten the little fish – fanning it out like a butterfly – ready for the next stage.

They grill them just so, they coat them with batter and plunge them into hot oil, they dip them in egg and then breadcrumbs and shallow fry them until crisp and golden. Our friend stuffs them with a mixture of breadcrumbs, herbs and parmesan, sprinkles them with olive oil and bakes them in the oven. Carmella fans them out; like the spokes of a wheel, in a shallow pan, sprinkles over olive oil and parsley, then cooks them very gently so they fry and steam at the same time. Delicious stuff.

I am with the others, I used fresh anchovies, sardines, small whiting, whitebait and a small lake fish called smelts, all very nice deep fried, pan fried or sauteed with garlic and oil, for fresh anchovies, like the one person said use a pair of scissors slit the gut, remove the innards, wash and dry, they either dip in flour and deep fry, pan fry in olive oil, saute and serve warm or cold as an antipasto with a salad or bread, the bones are small and are edible, bigger ones may need to be filleted, you can do thin by slitting them open, griping the head and pulling this removes the spine right out..

You gut them, most people remove the heads but you don't have to. Then they are just little fish. Our cousin in Italy makes them for us frequently - she makes them a few ways but generally a sort of shallow fry. They cook fast. They're good, pretty mildly flavored, nothing at all like the canned stuff.

Deep fried in batter

ew anchovies do not taste good