Striped Bass Ceviche

[JFC1]

I tried making striped bass ceviche Peruvian style this week for the first time. It tastes great and is quick to make, very healthy as long as the fish isn't filled with heavy metals, and low calorie. Amazing stuff. Great with an ice cold beer.

-fresh 3/4" cubed fish

- jalapenos sliced thinly

-julienned red onions

-lottsa fresh lime juice

-salt

-dash of pepper

-Boil a sweet potato and cool it down

- Fresh corn on cob; best is S. American big-kerneled white 'choclo' type that you can get in places like Paterson, although often only frozen.

- toast dried corn in a pan in a little oil with lots of salt makes what the Peruvians call "canchita," which comes out best if you use the special wide Peruvian corn sold in dried bags, again in Paterson. But any good dried corn works

Put the cubed fish in the lime juice and throw salt on top for like 2-3 minutes. Throw it in a strainer to get the lime juice out so it stops "cooking" and then put the red onions in it for 1-2 minutes. Pour off lime again and hold if anyone wants more gravy. The lime juice turns milky white. 

Sprinkle sliced or diced jalapeno all around and place the fish and onion mix on a slice of lettuce with the corn on the cob and cold sweet potato next to it. 

[SoxFan]

Looks great!

[Oakland Steve]

Nice, thanks!

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[nmc02]

Looks very good. However, ceviche is typically "cooked" through. Looks more like sushi. I like both. Have you allowed the fish to stay in the acidic lime juice any longer? I recommend it....to each, their own. 

[hemlock]

Looks very good!

[JHbowhunter]

Love ceviche. Good job

[JFC1]

8 hours ago, nmc02 said:

Looks very good. However, ceviche is typically "cooked" through. Looks more like sushi. I like both. Have you allowed the fish to stay in the acidic lime juice any longer? I recommend it....to each, their own. 

nmco2, thanks for the input and I always learn a lot and usually love Hank Shaw's recipes, as well as appreciate your ideas here. He's probably right about needing 30 minutes to penetrate the fish chunks. In fact, I had the leftovers for lunch today and it had totally penetrated the fish after over 24 hrs, which is why I could eat it as leftovers without worrying it'd gone bad. 

But in Peru most people I know and have eaten with do not favor the 30 minutes. The tastiest ceviche places tend not to leave it 30 minutes and that "cooked all the way" chalky white look and taste isn't actually typical in the land of ceviche, even if Hank Shaw's translation favors it. Many of the best ceviche preparers actually spoon the salt and lime slowly and miserly over the fish, making sure that the insides of the cubes remains "uncooked" and provide a counterpoint to the cooked outside. Many people prize a white outside and a pink or less white inside, depending on the fish. I think it tastes a lot better that way.  It's what I strived for in doing it myself for the first time, and how most Peruvians eat it. 

That said--and not trying to diss the Peruvians--Peru is famous for intestinal issues that are mostly traceable to a poor sanitary infrastructure and lack of potable water. Shaw seems to be emphasizing safety in "cooking" the fish for 30 minutes, not taste like you are (too many minutes you'll tend to taste  the lime more that will  to some extent bleach the fish, losing its distinctive taste that is, yes, like sushi as you pt out).  So your post raises a question for me if we differ on what tastes best: Is Shaw correct about the need to "cook" all the way through a fresh fish we've just dragged from the ocean and treated correctly? If you cook/sterilize the outsides of the cubes you've cut with a knife or dragged around a kitchen, why is it necessary then to sterilize the insides of the cubes, losing flavor? As I understand it, saltwater fish don't carry parasites that can infect humans and a healthy striper is not going to have flesh filled with harmful bacteria. Barring someone having left their fish in a cooler and letting it get mushy, the insides of the cubes haven't been exposed to anything but the fish's bodily systems. 

BTW, the third photo here is just the chunks BEFORE the lime juice--I was loving the look of the fresh fish so I included it. 

thanks

Edited July 14, 2021 by JFC1

[MGHunter66]

I find this interesting, never did it. Can it be done with different species? Is it a good practice with fish high in mercury? Looks outstanding 

[JFC1]

Just now, MGHunter66 said:

I find this interesting, never did it. Can it be done with different species? Is it a good practice with fish high in mercury? Looks outstanding 

I don't think that cooking or not changes the mercury content or reactivity with human systems. But maybe a chemist or biochemist knows more and can tell us. I'm all ears too. Especially since I've been eating too much striped bass lately, according to the state/municipal guidelines that don't really make sense except out of an excess of caution for a fish that could be migratory or could stay in your back bay--or the Hudson (!)--most of the year.

Yes, it works with all different species, as long as they're not dark and oily. I've watched friends do it with red snapper as well as grouper and it was great. I'm more partial to a white-fleshed fish for cebiche.

[MGHunter66]

1 minute ago, JFC1 said:

Yes, it works with all different species, as long as they're not dark and oily. I've watched friends do it with red snapper as well as grouper and it was great. I'm more partial to a white-fleshed fish for cebiche.

Interesting, I may have to try this with fluke being I eat so much of it. Always looking for different ways to prepare

[JFC1]

Just now, MGHunter66 said:

Interesting, I may have to try this with fluke being I eat so much of it. Always looking for different ways to prepare

pls let us know how it turns out

[MGHunter66]

5 minutes ago, JFC1 said:

pls let us know how it turns out

Will do. Just made a fresh pull of onions from the garden so hopefully this weekend if the fish cooperate 

[JHbowhunter]

I made fluke ceviche it was excellent. So are trigger fish. 

[JFC1]

2 minutes ago, JHbowhunter said:

I made fluke ceviche it was excellent. So are trigger fish. 

wow. great. can you give insight on proper time for the lime cooking?

[JHbowhunter]

7 minutes ago, JFC1 said:

wow. great. can you give insight on proper time for the lime cooking?

Never took it out.