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June 08
Senor Trachea is fortunate enough to be spending
some time on the coast of Peru. The seafood is great, especially the
Latin American version of sushi, known as ceviche. Today I got a
lesson in it’s preparation.
Step one: find some good, fresh fish.
The fishermen here pull in about 5am with the day’s catch. This nice
lady will sell you some little kingfish for about a dollar a kilo.
Look for ones with red eyes and clear
skin.
Like these:
Next, make some chili sauce or buy
some fresh in the market. The locals here prefer yellow peppers,
kinda hot but not smokin’, this when they can’t find the little red
ones they call "monkey dicks." The sauce is just pureed peppers with
some green onions.
You’re also going to need some lettuce
for garnish, onions to slice over the whole mess and limes. Very
important the limes.
Peruvians are very proud of their limes, which
are especially tangy but still sweet. The ceviche you get in Chile or
Mexico? Just not up to snuff because they’re not lucky enough to live
in Peru where the God’s own limes are grown and common. You’ll know when they’re ripe
because the nipples on both ends are inverted and they
feel juicy when squeezed.
When you get back from the market, it’s
a man’s job to prepare the ceviche, everybody knows this and takes it
as obvious that women just can’t do it as well. So, ladies, kick back
with a cold one and let los hombres get to trabajo. Ask any three Peruvians whether it’s really true that men are the masters of ceviche, and they’ll look at you like you’re retarded (I get that a lot).
Scale the fish, the nice lady in the
market shoulda already lopped off their heads for you and yanked
the
guts, which is why the market smells horrible and your house
fresh as a day in May. If the ladies want to chop onions or lettuce,
that’s cool, but leave it to los hombres to first dose the little
pescados with chili sauce. Use as much as you and your guests can
tolerate heat-wise, and then squirt a little more on for good
measure. Then, take the limes that your wife or girlfriend (or both,
if they get along) have sliced in half and de-seeded. Squeeze them
over the fish flesh until there’s enough to float the contents, salt
and pepper to taste, and then swirl the whole thing around. You’re
allowed to dip a spoon in the lime juice/pepper sauce/fish juice mix
for a little taste. Offer the same spoon to others so they can
confirm how tasty it is.
That’s pretty much it. Pile the ceviche
on a bed of lettuce on a plate, put a layer of sliced onion on top
and serve. A coupla slices of boiled sweet potato add nice color contrast and give you something to soak the acid from the lime and peppers off your tongue.
Be aware that ceviche is a well known aphrodisiac, and
that it’s often served with copious amounts of cold beer, so have
some contraceptives handy.
Buen provecho!
Posted by: Deep Trachea in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
6 Responses to “What I’m Eating Lately: Confessions of a Ceviche-something”
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Priceless. Why is it that around the world, women do the everyday put-food-on-the-table slog cooking and men get the specialties?
I’m not sure I’d want to be eating ceviche and drinking cold anything across the table from that guy!
Nice One Trake. For some reason I thought the fish had to marinate in the lime juice overnight. You guys just get right to it, huh?
Sue, his name is Harold, speaks excellent English, dial him up and tell him I sent you
011-51-01-993-40-2174
While I love ceviche, I never have truly gained confidence in the power of lemon juice to keep me safe from serious bacterial infection. It always goes down with a nervous smile and a little prayer.
Peru is truly unique in its eco-diversity. Coast, desert, mountains, rainforest… Peru has it all.
Diversity-schmsity, I´m mostly into the food and hooch, hoping to put together a lesson on proper preparation of a Pisco sour, but may get too busy throwing them back…and, Sr. Prophet, your prayers may buy you a little time, but ultimately the bacteria is gonna win. Those little bugs only allow us to live so they´ll have an ecosystem.