Ceviche, Cebiche, Seviche
 

Shrimp Ceviche (Cebiche or Seviche)
An international seafood dish that originated in South/Central Americas, Latin & Caribbean cultures. Ceviche must be prepared fresh and strictly using only fresh ingredients to prevent food poisoning. Ceviche is made from raw fish that is marinated in citrus juice, with no cooking involved. The citrus acids will actually “cook” the fish in the marinade. Citrus juices used are anything involving acidic fruits, most popular are lemon and lime juice, but also include grapefruit juice and orange juice. There are several different types of variations of ceviche and have been dated back to nearly 2000 years ago. Ceviche is marinated in a citrus-based mixture, and the acids from the citrus make the proteins in the fish to become denatured and like alcohol, will kill any cell activity and problems dealing with food poisoning. Classically, it was told to let the diced fish rest in the acids for about 3 hours, but commonly today when you add the diced fish to the acids, by the time you add the rest of the ingredients, combine and serve to the table the dish will be perfect for consumption. Ceviche is commonly used with white fish, not fish with a dark, or red color of flesh. For example, you would make ceviche from shrimp, lobster, scallops, etc. and not from a tuna. Typically when the fish is marinated in the acids, the fish will turn a pale white color instead of being translucent, so if you used a red-fleshed fish, it would turn brown like an avocado or an apple would when exposed to air. ErikDowellCulinary.Tumblr.com or twitter- ErikFDowell.
Shrimp Ceviche
2 lbs Shrimp. Peeled, and De-veined
2-3 Tomatoes, small dice
1/2 of a Red Onion, small dice
1 Cucumber, small dice
12 lemons, juiced
6 limes, juiced
2 oranges, juiced
1 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tbsp. oil
1 bundle of Cilantro, finely chopped
1 Jalepeno pepper, small dice (keep the seeds in if you like spicy, take the seeds out if you like it less spicy)
1/2 of a Red Bell Pepper, small dice
1/2 of a yellow Bell Pepper, small dice
1 Serano Pepper, small dice
Procedure
1.)Peel, De-Vein and chop the shrimp into small pieces. Use fresh shrimp from the market, or in the deli case in your super market, not frozen! (1/4-1/2 inch pieces, medium-large dice) and place into a tall bowl or even a large ziplock bag.
2.)Juice the lemons, limes, and oranges and place the juice into the bowl or large ziplock bag and cover. Place in the Refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
3.)In a seperate bowl, combine all of the other ingredients…
4.)Small dice: the tomatoes, onion, peppers, & cucumber and finely chop the bunch of cilantro and combine.
5.)Add the apple cider vinegar and oil.
6.)Once the shrimp have reached a pale, white color, marry the two mixtures together.. Depending on how you want it, first strain the liquid from the shrimp into another bowl. Once you add the shrimp and toss it together, check the taste and consistency… You can add more of the juice that you strained off, or not.

…Apparently the juice leftover from ceviche is a magical hangover cure, I have not tested this but please feel free to get back to me about that and let me know!

It's the Vitamin C in the juice that does it.

Thanks for the recipe. It looks good.

Yep. That's why Bloody Marys work. Tomato juice is full of vitamin C.

It's yummy with squid and a good way to tenderize octopus. No garlic?

i love ceviche and can attest to the hangover cure somewhat, but it's still not a perfect remedy like all other hangover cures. it's very acidic so if things need to come back up, it"ll burn your esophagus nicely

in any case, thanks for the recipe, erik. i like that you juiced fresh fruit instead of using bottled stuff.

Garlic??? Aw man.. Is that something to use to make it? I didn't think about putting garlic in it, which is wierd because I love garlic and can pretty much eat it in excess with Anything. I literally take a garlic bulb, wrap it in aluminum foil and drizzle some olive oil inside, seal it off and bake it for over an hour... Or until the garlic becomes like a paste and is spreadable like butter... Put on toast and it's the heaven bells ringin'.

Hahaha in regards to the hangover cure.... If im hungover it's usually an all day event of complete terror. But, not always puking, so maybe I will try it if I ever have leftover ceciche juice hanging around on tap. I would imagine it would be terrible feeling to have come back up. But, no guts.. No glory.

A tad to much info ekkers mate but have you noticed when you create a pavement pizza there is always cubed carrot in it:smile:

Over here some people are phobic about parasites in "raw" fish, your views please.

Wouldn't the parasites be there whether the fish was cooked or raw? In the case of Seviche I think that the citric acid that "cooks" the fish, would also kill the parasite. I will eat some raw fish, but frankly I just don't think it has much flavor until it is cooked. Since seeing "worms" in Cod, I prefer Halibut when I have fish & chips.

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The heck with that fish stuff! Use conch!:wink: J/K When is a ceviche not a ceviche? When it's a conch salad!

Craig

That is why you should only buy fish that is to be eaten raw from a trusted source. I LOVE raw fish, but will only eat it from restaurants I trust or from my local fish monger who I trust.

I eat a pretty good deal of raw fish... Mostly ahi tuna, salmon and eel...but the eel is typically smoked. It's a higher grade of fish, like a sushi grade. I went to a food show for class up to New York City and it dealt with a lot of raw fish and I tried a raw scallop. It was different, good...but kinda sketchy, but if it's fresh and a higher grade of seafood, typically it's okay. I didn't get sick. I also enjoy raw oysters a bunch. I know shrimp are not good to eat raw at all, buy my instructor told me he has eaten raw shrimp that was really fresh when he was traveling abroad overseas... And didn't get sick.
Conch is great but ive only had conch fried...conch fritters!!

Are you a Billy Connolly fan. I'm pretty sure that's from one of his routines. Yes, I have noticed.

Yup, I'm concerned too. That's why I freeze any fish that I'm going to use raw. A week in a home deep freezer should do it. It takes much less time in really cold commercial freezers. I googled this a while back, since I love gravad laks.

Yes Tax I fear I was but Al Murray The Pub Landlord has usurped that position, I would post some of his clips from youtube but the subject matter may ruffle a few feathers within our US brethren:lol:

Not really sure about what you are talkin about but I'm not an uptight guy, so post whatever... Wont take it to heart haha

One question. Why can't you use frozen/thawed fish. I understand the quality would be way better with fresh fish, but is it a safety issue? And, if so, could you tell me why that is?

Fresh foods that are frozen and thawed typically lose some of their quality. It's not a food safety issue. However, freezing for 72 hours and thawing, completely eliminates the parasite issue.

I have found out that the benefits of eating a fresh fish/seafood over frozen fish/seafood is that when you get a frozen fish from a supermarket they are less healthier and do not have any nutrients in them. Fresh fish contain nutrients that are very beneficial to our health..example- Omega-3 fatty acids. Also, obviously fresh fish will taste better because you know it is not processed, atleast nearly as bad as a frozen fish...depending on where you buy the fish.. because it could have come from a fish farm..which then, it could be pumped full of hormones. But, if you buy off the docks; if your so lucky to live on a shore, or if you have access to a fish monger..thats the way to go!

Safety issue... i dont really think so, i mean you'd have to do some research, some fish you cant eat raw and you want to stear clear of eating raw at all. Some fish it is okay to eat raw...it really depends. I dont have a distinguished list in front of me, but i could probably find one.. Using a frozen fish would not hurt you though.

This is to my knowledge off the top of my head and what i found really quick... maybe someone else might know more on here?

OK. I figured as much. I am landlocked and live 100 miles from the city. Not much fresh fish around here. I have a few supermarkets which offer a decent variety of seafood products, but they are all frozen. I would be interested in trying it, even though it is not an ideal situation.
Thanks, doods.

Fish doesn't lose any Omega 3 fatty acids by being frozen. If the fish is frozen on the fishing boat, it's going to be fresher than what can be bought "fresh" for those of us further from the ocean.

BTW, I've seen previously frozen fish at fish mongers, as well as farmed fish. You gotta pay attention. Of course, if you can buy it fresh off the dock, that is really the way to go.

Farmed fish can be perfectly nice. I lived on a trout farm for a while. The fish there ate wild food for the last year before harvest. Some places want big fish in a hurry, so they feed them Trout Chow right up to harvest. Guess what those farmed trout taste like. :ermm:

The quality of frozen fish varies a lot. Fatty fish freeze well. Until I got worried about farmed fish from Asia, we used to buy High Liner. Their stuff tastes fresh. I'm very picky about fish. I lived in Copenhagen - lots of fresh caught fish in Copenhagen. Lots of fish in the Scandinavian diet.

High Liner does have frozen wild salmon and frozen wild cod. Haven't tried those, 'cause we have been too broke. I just wish they would write on the package where the fish were from. By law, product of Canada, only means that it has to be packaged in Canada :ermm:

I have bought the frozen salmon from High Liner. It is good. I only buy it when it goes on sale for 4 bucks, down from 6.

In the USA, "fresh" only means the fish has not been frozen. I prefer to eat fish that I have caught; second choice is "fresh" fish from a reputable monger; third is smoked fish (eg finnann haddie and lachs); and fourth canned fish. Having passed some fish cannery towns in New Brunswick, that aroma has been enough to somewhat stifle my enthusiasm for canned fish. The freshness of seafood, as well as its habitat, can have a profound effect on its flavor and texture.

must be nice to live on a giant sand bar called lawn guyland, huh jpbill?

Bucky, it get's pretty much less and less nice each year; i.e. more and more 'developed' / civilized.

How do you make your gravlax? I love the one that my friend from Greenland makes at Christmas time...

I used to use Julia Child's recipe, one I wrote down from one of her shows. It's not the one in her book, The Way to Cook. I lost the one I used to use.

I have some marinating in the fridge right now. I'm using this recipe: Gravlaks, sort of.

I'm making a much smaller amount, so I cut down all the amounts. I cut the sugar to a ratio of 3 parts salt to 2 parts sugar. I left out the carraway seeds, and I used vodka instead of akvavit or brandy. You could use lemon juice instead of the booze.

I'll post about it if it turns out good. :lol: The recipe looks a lot like the one I used to use.

The thought of gravlaks has me drooling...Trade you maple syrup for some gravlaks <g>. I can meet you in C'wall.

I'll probably try gravad trout next. I don't think it's as expensive as salmon. Since smoked trout is yummers, it should be good gravad.

BTW, I hate cooked salmon and cooked trout.

Oh--I can get smoked trout at the locker plant...I could make this for Easter while I'm at my folks! Great idea!

For freezing fish, being frozen does not actually kill any bacteria that may be present in the fish, but instead stops its growth, so freezing inferior grades of fish will not make it 'safe' to consume raw, the bacteria will still be there.

In regards to the farm raised fish, I wasn't talking about nice fish farms that actually take the time to give the fish natural food that it would typically eat in the wild, but rather the fish farms who are about mass-production. Most frozen shrimp you buy at a store, that come in a box are shipped over from Thailand which is the breeding ground for 80 to 90 percent of commercial seafood species..the improper production methods have devastated the natural areas surrounding Thailand and ways of production..which means who knows what we have been eating..:sad:

i also love smoked fish! smoked salmon is amazing... My buddy had smoked a bluefish, which has a high oil content, and i had never really thought about a bluefish as something i would want to eat, and maaaannnnn.... delish!

The point of freezing fish for uncooked dishes is to kill parasites. Of course it doesn't kill bacteria. Freezing just stops bacteria from growing while they are frozen.

And I seldom eat fish because I don't live close enough to the ocean to get fresh fish that I consider fresh. I used to eat frozen fish 'til I found out that most of it is from Asia. They won't allow most of the farmed fish from Asia to be sold in the EU.

It's a shame that eating fish requires so much research. I miss it.

Agreed! It def makes things tougher.. But better knowing than to go at it blindly...

Now how about raw chicken?? When I cook with it I am a sanitation freak, and cooking it to a well done point that doesnt over cook it and dry it out... But I also heard of people getting really high grade chicken and being able to eat it sashimi style and raw... My instructor said he did it in Europe, not sure where... also heard of it in NYC... I am not the kind of person about to try something like this.. My stepdad had a run in with some raw chicken and it got the better of him

Don't get me started about chicken. Most of the problem has to do with how the carcasses are handled at the abattoirs. In most modern, North American abbatoirs they kill and gut the birds and then dip them in cold water to cool the birds. But, lots of birds get dipped in the same cold water. If one bird's guts were pierced or broken, that gets into the water and contaminates all the other birds. I believe it's the same problem with beef and pork.

Someone did a study and the average home has more E. coli on their kitchen counters than on their toilet seats. E. coli is associated with feces.

That's the main reason why we have to treat our meat as though it were medical waste.

Good morning Tax, first off how do you make your mustard and dill sauce for the Grav?
2nd I was on a cruise ship in Miami and the bowls of peanuts on the bars were tested, 75 different strains of urine, 13 different strains of faeces:ohmy:

This is how we make our mustard and dill sauce:

1 T oil
1 T vinegar
1/3 tsp salt
pepper
2-3 T mustard (dry)
2-3 T sugar
LOTS of fresh, minced dill

A friend of mine mixes 2/3 c mayo to 1/3 c Dijon and tons of fresh, minced dill

I watched a documentary about lemons in restaurants and how this organization tested 20 restaurants and over 3/4 lemons had feces and other raw meat detected on them.. Mostly due to not cleaning cutting boards or knifes used to cut other items and then used to cut lemons... Like trimming and cleaning a chicken and then with same tools cutting lemons for water....what!!?! I've also heard of people cutting lemons on the back of servers trays... So dirty with all the hands that hold that side.... The video was pretty gross