How Little Time Can You Get Away Safely With Marinating Ceviche
When our editor-in-chief sent me the recipe for ceviche, I was thrilled because ceviche combines two of my favorite summer activities: eating seafood and not cooking. However, when I read the recipe, I was a little shocked because it suggested leaving the pretty fresh sea bass chunks in the sour marinade for two fucking hours .
No.
Not only is it too long to wait for summer dinner, but marinating fish for a long time will ruin it in terms of texture, giving you fish that will flake off each other with just one glance.
In truth, you can start eating ceviche in just five minutes in the marinade. (If pathogens bother you, don’t worry. Vibrio cholera , a seafood-borne pathogen, cannot exist in environments with a pH less than 4.5, and lime juice has a pH of about 2. Also, you should be using sushi anyway. class, super fresh fish.)
I usually leave this on for a little longer for texture reasons, but to be honest, I find anything longer than twenty minutes to be a kind of fish overuse. When you place a delicate piece of seafood in acid (like lemon or lime juice), it begins to denature proteins, changing their structure and allowing previously unexposed parts of the molecule to form new bonds with each other, creating a denser configuration and increased strength. The longer these proteins are in acid, the harder they become. In my opinion, ten or 15 minutes is the best. The outer flesh will be beautiful, firm and pleasant to the touch, but the inside will still have a little silky feel, reminiscent of sashimi. Here, we’ll show you how to make ceviche on a plate and in your mouth in less than twenty minutes, with just ten minutes finger twirl.
Step 1. Choose really fresh fish
Food fish is not good here. See a reputable fishmonger and buy the freshest fish they have. (Tell them that you will be using the fish for the ceviche so they know that freshness is paramount.) Choose a slightly dense ocean fish with white flesh and avoid oily fish (such as sardines) and freshwater fish (such as catfish). Finally, trust your feelings. A good fish will have a marine rather than fishy odor, firm flesh, and clear eyes.
Step 2: cut it
Ask your fishmonger to remove the bloodline and all bones, as neither will give you the pleasure of eating ceviche. Once you’ve taken care of this, decide on the type of cuts you want to serve, keeping in mind that the smaller and thinner cuts will “cook” faster than the thicker ones. I like to cut mine into half-inch cubes if I’m going to scoop them up with the chips, but sashimi-style chunks can be good if you’re making toast or just serving protein ceviche on plates.
Step 3: add acid and aromatics
For every pound of fish, you need half a cup of lime or lemon juice, or a mixture of both. I also like to add flavorings at this stage, such as thinly chopped purple onions, cilantro, chopped jalapenos or serrano peppers, and maybe some chopped garlic. Stir everything together gently, season to taste with salt and pepper and stir again gently. You can add vegetables here, but I prefer to add them right before serving to keep them crisp.
Step 4: Wait (but not that long)
The fact that we cook with acid does not mean that we are not cooking. The protein changes happen very quickly, and after a couple of minutes you will start to see how your fish hardens and becomes a little opaque. How long you wait depends largely on your personal preference, but you can start eating your ceviche in as little as five minutes.
If you’ve cooked 1/2 inch cubes, you should be able to bite off fish with a barely cooked texture on the outside and mostly raw on the inside in five minutes. I prefer to season the fish after about 10-15 minutes, which is usually enough for the fish to have a nice contrasting texture. By the twenty minute mark, things get even more stable, and as soon as you pass half an hour, the fish will become completely opaque. Going even longer, you start to run into design problems as the fish starts to break and flake. If you’re not sure which degree of doneness you like best, just try while you wait, starting at the five-minute mark.
Step 5: add crispy flakes
I like to add vegetables here, such as very thinly sliced radishes, fresh sweet corn, and slices of crispy cucumber. Just toss it all in there, mix it gently and gently, and transfer it to a serving jar. Serve with good chips for the perfect lazy summer dinner.