A perfect fish dish for a hot day
Ceviche—from Peru, Mexico, or beyond—is a great summertime recipe
Hello my friends!
Today, I am answering another of your cooking questions. This one comes from Emily who writes:
“Dear José, I have read a few different recipes for ceviche and I am confused. What is the proper amount of marination time for fish or shrimp? Do you have a recipe? I have read that less time, like 5 minutes is better to keep the fish fresh and keep it from firming up. I’ve read that you should marinate it for up to four hours! And everything in between.”
Emily, this is such a good question and such a good time of year to ask this question because who wants to turn on the hot stove? Ceviche is easy, quick, fresh, and delicious and since it doesn’t require cooking with heat, you will not be sweating while making it!
To answer your question about how long to marinate or to cure the fish, it depends. If it is super fresh from the market (which is what you should really be using for ceviche), you don’t need to wait at all. You can toss it with the recipe ingredients and your liquid and serve it immediately, as we do with ceviches like our Ceviche Clásico at China Chilcano (which uses the firm white fish corvina), Ceviche Verde at Oyamel (which uses bass), our Tuna Ceviche at China Poblano in Las Vegas, (which uses ahi). If you want to cure your fish a little longer, you can, probably 30 minutes in the fridge is good—but never longer than an hour or it will start to get overcured and too firm…not what I’m looking for in ceviche!
With shrimp, you can do one of two things: start with raw or start with poached. If you have super fresh, high quality shrimp, add your lime, salt, and aromatics, give it a good toss, cure it for a few minutes, and serve. Or you can gently poach the shrimp ahead of time—don’t overdo it!—and then toss it with the liquids and aromatics.
The recipe below is one of my favorites, from my Peruvian restaurant, China Chilcano. The magic here is the Leche de Tigre, the “tiger’s milk.” This is the liquid that many Peruvian cooks will use for their ceviche, with lots of lime, aromatics, fish scraps, and fish stock, blended with ice to make a super bright white marinade. You can even add dairy for extra richness—we sometimes add a splash of evaporated milk to ours, so you can try that too. And it’s not just good for tossing with raw fish…many people in Peru love to drink it on its own—it’s healthy, powerful (like a tiger!), and gives you a boost of energy…I’ve heard that some people even have a glass of it after a hangover for a little extra help in the morning.
So Emily—take a look at the recipe and try it a few different ways. Split your fish in three parts and eat one-third right after tossing in the leche de tigre, let one-third cure for 15 minutes, and the last let cure for 30…and you can decide which one you prefer. If you do that, please report back! And everyone else, too—this really is a beautiful dish for a hot summer night. Let me know what you think in the comments!