Name: Homemade Gentleman's Relish
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: about 1 small pot per 50g anchovy
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 50 g (~1.75 oz) anchovy fillets, DRAINED weight — weigh whatever tin or jar you have; this is the anchor, scale everything else to it; 60 g (4 tbsp / ½ stick) unsalted butter, softened — use 1.2× the drained anchovy weight for a spreadable batch, or equal weight for a sharper, more authentic paste; ⅛ tsp ground mace; 1 pinch ground nutmeg; ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper; ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper; ½ tsp lemon juice

Homemade Gentleman's Relish

Spiced anchovy butter — the DIY answer to discontinued Patum Peperium. Keto, essentially zero carb. The recipe scales off the DRAINED WEIGHT of your anchovies, so any tin or jar size works: weigh what you drained, then scale the butter and spices to match.

Yield: about 1 small pot per 50g anchovy Prep: 10 min Total: 70 min British Condiment

Ingredients

50 g (~1.75 oz) anchovy fillets, DRAINED weight — weigh whatever tin or jar you have; this is the anchor, scale everything else to it

60 g (4 tbsp / ½ stick) unsalted butter, softened — use 1.2× the drained anchovy weight for a spreadable batch, or equal weight for a sharper, more authentic paste

⅛ tsp ground mace

1 pinch ground nutmeg

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp lemon juice

Instructions

Weigh your anchovies after draining — this is the anchor for the whole recipe. To scale, multiply the butter and spice amounts by (your drained anchovy weight ÷ 50). The amounts listed are for a 50 g batch.

Soften the butter fully to room temperature. Don't melt it.

Mash the drained anchovies to a paste with a fork (rustic) or a mini food processor (silky).

Blend the anchovies into the butter until smooth.

Work in the mace, nutmeg, cayenne, black pepper, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust — anchovies are salty, so you likely won't need added salt. The lemon is what keeps it from tasting flat.

Pack into a small jar, smooth the top, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (longer is better) so the flavors marry and it firms to a spreadable paste.

Notes: Scaling examples (by drained weight): a 2 oz tin drains to ~40–45 g → roughly the base batch, ~50 g butter (3½ tbsp). A 95 g Ortiz jar drains to ~65–70 g → ~80 g butter (5½ tbsp), spices ×1.3. 100 g drained → 120 g butter (1 stick), spices ×2. Flavor balance: mace leads, nutmeg is a whisper behind it. Butter-forward keeps it spreadable and slightly milder than the ~60%-anchovy original — push toward equal parts anchovy:butter for a sharper, saltier result. If it sets too firm, swap to 3 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil per 50 g anchovy for a softer spread.

ketolow-carbcondimentanchovymake-ahead