The Acid Treatment: Escabeches and Ceviches

Photo by Laurie Smith LSmithPhoto.com

ESCABECHES AND CEVICHES
by Zarela Martínez for the Los Angeles Times

June 27, 1996

The first time I ate escabeche is engraved forever in my mind.  I was 8 and visiting my grandmother at Santa Anita, her ranch in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, during the cattle roundup.  This is the bittersweet time of the year when calves are separated from their mothers.  They are branded and have their ears notched to identify them and then they are dehorned.
The male calves also have their testicles cut off.  I watched as the cowboys removed them and placed them in a blue enamelware pot.  When it was full, they took these huevitos de toro, or “little bull’s eggs”, (aptly called “mountain oysters” in English), to my grandmother, who promptly breaded and fried them and placed them in a vinegary sauce flavored with bay leaves, peppercorns and jalapeños.  The next day she had a party to serve escabeche de huevitos.
Few people in the United States know what “escabeche” means, even though anyone who has had pickled jalapeños has eaten one.
Basically, escabeche is a cooked ingredient marinated or pickled in a vinegar sauce seasoned with herbs and spices. There are all kinds of escabeches — meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, vegetables, even fruits.  They are light and delicious, and have many layers of flavors.
But their flavor is just one part of their charm.  They are great for entertaining, because they can be made ahead and are usually served at room temperature.  Best of all, escabeches are easy to make.
The cardinal rule for escabeche is to use the freshest ingredients and the best vinegar you can get.
The quality of the vinegar is more important than you might realize. The ideal vinegar is one that has been allowed to mature without pasteurization or preservatives.  Low quality vinegars will give a hard edge to the dish instead of the mellow, subtle finish.
The flavor of the vinegar will determine the flavor of the dish.  I prefer to use white wine vinegar because it is subtle but sherry vinegar adds a pleasing woody tone. Pineapple and cider vinegar lend a fruity note. But stay away from balsamic vinegar: it overpowers the other ingredients.
In any case, you must dilute the vinegar with an equal part of water or some other liquid to reduce the acidity.  My mother uses a strong bay leaf tea with an intense herbal flavor. If a recipe calls for it, I also like to add oil perfumed with fresh herbs.
Let the escabeche sit for a few hours, preferably overnight in the refrigerator, to develop the flavors fully. Then allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Because all sorts of foods can be prepared this way, the recipes I give here are basic ones. The technique is the most important thing; once you learn it, you can change the ingredients to suit your taste or according to the ingredients you have on hand.
I must caution that pork, veal and beef will be relatively tough, and they’ll develop a gray color if left in the marinade too long. Try poultry, fish, and shellfish instead.
My mother is known for her sensational chicken escabeche. At my restaurant, we often serve mussel escabeche as a special.
We also top grilled fish and fried oysters with red onion escabeche.  Other vegetables lend themselves beautifully to this treatment.
I like to keep pickled vegetables- cauliflower, carrots, new potatoes, pearl onions, heads of garlic- in the refrigerator at all times for a quick snack. You can even make fruit escabeche. My cousin Hector makes a delicious version from fresh peaches in a chipotle chile-vinegar sauce.
The technique, like the name, goes back to the ancient Persians, who called it sikbaj (literally, vinegar stew). Originally it was probably a way of preserving food; the acetic acid in the vinegar is a hostile environment for microorganisms.  The dish spread to the Arab world during the Middle Ages, and the Moors took it to Spain. They pronounced the names something like iskbej, and the Catalans, who spell it escabeitx, introduced it to the rest of Spain.
By any name, the process remained the same throughout its travels:  Stew, poach or fry pieces of meat and let them rest in vinegar for a day or two to develop flavor.
There are no medieval Arab recipes for vegetable escabeches, but there is a fish version called samak musakbaj (literally, fish made into sikbaj).  The fish was fried and covered with vinegar seasoned with celery leaves, coriander seed and saffron. Interestingly, the modern Italian dish seapece a la vastese follows the recipes almost exactly.
Vegetable escabeches were apparently invented in Spain, possibly for periods of abstinence such as Lent. The Spaniards took the escabeche technique to the New World, and today it is found in some form or another in every Latin American country. (And not only there. In the English-speaking islands of the Carribean, it’s called scovetch.)
Another dish that’s widespread in Latin America is also based on marinating food with an acidic ingredient and has a similar name: ceviche (also spelled seviche or cebiche).
The difference is that ceviche is always made from seafood, the marinade is always citrus juice and the main ingredient is not cooked, although it stiffens up as if cooked and people say that citrus juice “cooks” it.
I discovered ceviche at about the same time that I learned about escabeche.
The summer after that memorable cattle roundup in Chihuahua, my parents took a family vacation in the port town of Guaymas in Sonora. At that time, Guaymas was a sleepy little place with few tourist amenities, but the water was blue and the beaches were clean.  I had known only desert and mountains, and it seemed like paradise. Here we were in the tropics with miles of orange and lemon groves, tiny oysters by the bucket, fish of all kinds.
Before Guaymas, the only fish I had ever eaten were the breaded fillets (made from frozen fish) that were served at Luby’s Cafeteria chain in Texas. But then I tasted my first zesty, tangy, refreshing ceviche. I remember how the flavors exploded in my mouth.
Unlike escabeche, ceviche has a somewhat mysterious history.  The Peruvians, who are famous for their cebiches (as they tend top write it), claim the dish originated in their country. If so, it couldn’t have been in Pre-Columbian times, because there were no citrus fruits in the New World then.
The idea may really have come from Southeast Asia, where the Filipinos, for instance, make a sort of ceviche they call kilawen.
Like escabeche, ceviche is very easy to make but depends even more on using the freshest ingredients.
If you are making ceviche, buy a whole fish. Make sure the eyes are clear and round and that the fish has a fresh sea smell.  Pick the fish up and hold it in the palm of your hand — if the tails flop down, you will know the fish is a little old because the muscles have relaxed. When you’ve picked your fish, have the butcher or fish merchant fillet it for you.
If you can’t get a whole fish, buy the freshest filets you can find. But avoid frozen fish. It not only loses its flavor, it also disintegrates into a mushy pulp when you add the lemon or lime juice.
The kind of fish used for ceviche varies from country to country and region to region, but a firm fleshed variety- red snapper, hake or sea bass- works best.  Tuna makes delicious ceviche, but it turns gray after two or three minutes in the marinade. Shellfish and squid should be blanched before marinating.
In Mexico, the marinating liquid is usually lime juice. The lemons and sour oranges used in other countries are deemed too sweet, and their lower acidity requires a longer steeping time. Limes “cook” the fish faster.
About that “cooking.” Does the citric acid in the lime juice really cook the fish?  No, but the resulting texture is just like that of cooked fish: The proteins coagulate in the acidic environment the same way they do over heat. By the way, the marinade does not kill bacteria the way cooking does. Apart from the “cooked” texture, ceviche is as raw as sashimi, which is one reason the fish has to be fresh.
How long you let the fish rest in the juice varies greatly, depending on the type of fish and how it is cut (you should use a very sharp knife to avoid fraying the flesh). When “done”, the flesh should be firm to the touch and opaque, not translucent.  To test it, probe the thickest part with a fork. Just as with cooked fish, when it flakes, the fish is properly done.
Drain the dish and pat it dry. Some cooks rinse it in cold water first. The fish is now ready to mix with flavorings of your choice. In traditional ceviches, availability and regional preferences dictate what they will be.
Ceviche is fairly new to Mexico, and it is very likely that Peruvians introduced the it in the second half of the 19th century.
Nuevo Cocinero Mejicano en Forma de Diccionario, a comprehensive dictionary of Mexican dishes and food terms, published in 1853, lists escabeche but not ceviche.  But today each state of Mexico has its own version and the worlds of escabeches and ceviches often meet here; many ceviches are flavored with jalapenos en escabeche.
In Acapulco, the port city in the state of Guerrero, avocados and green olives are added for richness and an interesting flavor note. In the Caribbean, habanero chiles impart a fruity, very spicy note to marinated conch. Cilantro is usually the herb of choice for ceviche, but some people use Italian parsley. In some places, coconut milk and squid ink can be part of the marinade. Some recipes call for catsup, mayonnaise or even heavy cream.
The accompaniments also vary.  Mexican ceviches are usually served with saltine crackers and pico de gallo salsa on the side. Peruvians prefer boiled potatoes and chunks of corn on the cob. Crispy fried plantain slices are traditional in Honduras.
In the United States, diners have been discovering the joys of ceviche.
Many years ago, I tried serving it at my restaurant and in the beginning it met with great resistance; but now our daily ceviche special routinely sells out. In Patria Restaurant where New York chef Douglas Rodriguez creates magical Nuevo Latino cuisine, one of the most popular items is a tasting featuring Honduran tuna ceviche with coconut milk, an Ecuadorean shrimp ceviche and Peruvian black ceviche made with squid ink.
You can even find ceviche at Japanese restaurants.  Nobu Matsuhisa, the chef of Nobu in New York City and Matsuhisa in  Beverly Hills, lived in Peru for many years and serves delicious Japanese-Peruvian ceviche at both restaurants.  He simply makes a ceviche sauce and adds it to whatever seafood he has on hand.  You can do the same at home.
Both ceviche and escabeche are perfect dishes for summer.  Not only are they light, refreshing and easy to make, but they can be made ahead of time, and they’ll look great on your next fiesta table.