What us ceviche...

[Guest guest]

Which fortunately I remembered how to spell.

This is a way of preparing raw food I would trust.

~^^V^^~

by Stradley, author of " What's Cooking America "

© copyright 2000 by Stradley - All rights

reserved.

The new " in " food of the beginning of the 21st century is actually an

old world dish

from South America called Ceviche. It has been one of South America's

best-kept

secret for centuries, but Ceviche is becoming a popular appetizer and

will be

gaining popularity as the century progresses.

Ceviche's birthplace is disputed between Peru and Ecuador, and as

both countries

have an amazing variety of fish and shellfish, it could easily have

come from the

ancient Inca civilizations of Peru and Ecuador. It is considered

Peru's national

dish. Nuñez de Smolij, who is Peruvian and now living in

Ecuador, sent me the

following information on the history of Ceviche:

There is a theory that pre-Hispanic peoples cooked fish with a

fruit called

" tumbo. " The Inca's ate salted fish and a chicha-marinated fish

dish. The

Spanish contributed the Mediterranean custom of using lemons and

onions.

There are other historians that believe that Ceviche's origin is

Arabian,

imported to Peru by Arabian immigrants and re-interpreted by the

Peruvians

of the coastal areas.

The other version is that some English-speaking people, who watched

fishermen on the coast of Peru eating their fish directly from

the sea with

just lemons and salt, said " See the beach. " Since this is a

phrase that the

locals could not repeat well, they instead pronounced it

" Ceviche. "

Ceviche, which is often spelled serviche or cebiche, depending on

which part of

South America it comes from, is seafood prepared in a centuries old

method of

cooking by contact with the acidic juice of citrus juice instead of

heat. It can be

eaten as a first course or main dish, depending on what is served

with it. The

preparation and consumption of ceviche is practically a religion in

parts of Mexico,

Central, and South America, and it seems as though there are as many

varieties of

ceviche as people who eat it.

Latin American flavors first found a place on Florida menus with

South Florida's

" New World Cuisine " in the late 1980's. This cuisine comes from the

diverse

cooking styles and tropical ingredients of the Caribbean, Latin

America, Central,

and South America. They became fascinated by the tempting flavors of

exotic

tropical fruits and vegetables. From this fascination, many versions

of Ceviche were

developed.

In Peru, my favorite, the ceviche is always cooked in lemon. Just the

shrimps

ceviche demands a little cooking in water, but then it is finsihed by

lemon. Our

recipes has been being modified lately by sophisticated chefs, in

some kind of

contest, or competitive spirit, between the " cevicherias "

(specialized in Ceviche

restaurants). The traditional ingredients include fish or

shellfishes, shrimp. Other

ingredients include orange sweet potatoes, corn, salad leaves, thin

cut onions (these

ingregients are washed with water added to the top of the Ceviche at

the last

minute before serving.

Another Peruvian version uses an exquisite Peruvian hot pepper called

" aji amarillo. "

The fish or shellfish is immersed into a blend of lemon, salt, aji

amarillo peppers,

ground pepper, and sometimes including sour orange juice and garlic

(but garlic is

better when spread with salt over the fish, 30 minutes before mixing

with lemon).

As I said before, nowadays chefs have experimented by searching for

their special

version of the Ceviche that will distinguish their recipe from

others. They have

added other ingredients in the lemon blend, such as celery, drops of

soy sauce,

sugar or even milk (this last one added just before putting the blend

over the fish

or shellfish).

The most important ingredients of the Peruvian Ceviche is the

Peruvian lemon (a

counsin of the Key Lime), which is not so sour but strong, and the

aji amarillo

pepper, which is not only hot, but very tasty (be careful when using

a small piece of

a red, round vegetable called " rocoto pepper. " It is sometimes put

over the dish as a

decoration when serving. Because you could take it to be a tomato and

it is a very,

very, very hot big red pepper.

Tiger milk is the juice that stays in the plate after eating the

fish. Perfect after a

" resaca " , the way we call that miserable feeling we have after

drinking too much

the night before. It is not a misbehavior if you raise the plate with

your hands and

put it in your mouth to drink it. But you can also put it in a glass,

alone or with some

vodka or Pisco, if you like.

That is some of the things I know about this dish that has turned me

on since I was

a 6-year old kid and my mom took me to the market place. I remember I

ate it with

tears in my eyes, because of the hot " ajies " and rocotos " . I hope

these long

explanations to be useful for you.