The raw truth: chefs are hooked on seviches; juicy new ideas abound featuring world influences as well as Latin and Asian accents

Nation's Restaurant News, June 2, 2003 by Carolyn Walkup

With Latin American restaurants becoming as torrid as the tango, it's not surprising that seviches are whetting appetites from coast to coast.

Considered the national dish of Peru and widely served in other Latin American countries as well, seviche, also spelled "ceviche" or "cebiche," traditionally consists of very fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juice. The juice "cooks" the fish and turns it opaque. Countless variations of seviche, including Japanese-influenced preparations, are cropping up in contemporary restaurants.

"There are cevicherias in Peru, where people go as people in the United States would go to McDonald 's," says Norman Van Aken, chef-owner of Norman's in Coral Gables, Fla. His latest cookbook, "New World Kitchen," features foods of more than 30 Latin American countries.

Van Aken notes that some Latin American countries have turned to a more sashimi-style of seviche preparation. The Japanese influence is not surprising given the large Japanese populations found in both Peru and Brazil since the early 1900s when Japanese immigrants flooded South American coffee plantations seeking their fortunes.

"The Asian sensibility of sushi and sashimi now is understood," Van Aken says.

One example of the Japanese influence is found in "tiradito," which Van Aken describes as "a slightly more uptown version of seviche," using fish that is sliced thinly and marinated only briefly instead of for several hours.

Van Aken prepares a Peruvian tiradito featuring scallops, which he slices thinly and chills while making the dressing. He uses about a dozen ingredients, including fennel, red bell pepper, tomato, Scotch bonnet chili, mint, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice and Spanish sherry vinegar. He spoons the dressing over the scallops on chilled plates to serve.

Van Aken sometimes makes sea bass seviche in the modern Peruvian style. He eats the dish with chopsticks, which he feels fit its Japanese influence.

The marinade/dressing combines grapefruit juice, lime juice, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno and kosher salt. Van Aken adds the thinly sliced fish fillets, which have been cut into three-quarter-inch squares, to the marinade for 10 minutes. To serve, he spoons the seviche and the liquid into chilled bowls, accompanying it with a side of jicama and avocado slaw, which he encourages guests to use as a topping for the seviche.

It's the length of time used for marinating the raw fish that varies most from recipe to recipe, from 10 minutes to 24 hours. But tiradito preparations are prepared to order, says Jorge Adriazola, executive chef of Chicama and Pipa in New York City. "You don't want the citrus to cure the fish -- it's kind of like sushi with soy sauce," he explains.

His tuna tiradito, for example, combines lime and orange juices, ginger, red onion, cilantro and spicy Peruvian pepper. He adds the thinly sliced tuna at the last minute.

SushiSamba, which integrates Brazilian, Peruvian and Japanese cuisines in its three restaurants in New York and Miami Beach, features sashimi seviche, along with tiradito, in its seviche bars. Sashimi seviche consists of strips of raw fish served lying flat on a plate immediately after being tossed with a citrus-spiked marinade.

Hiroyuki Kobayashi, executive sushi chef at SushiSamba Park in New York, prepares yellowtail sashimi seviche with sashimi-grade yellowtail fillet, sliced into four pieces. He mixes soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger and then tosses the mixture with the fish and some julienned red onion and celery.

He also does a tuna sashimi seviche in similar fashion. The dressing contains orange and lemon juices, yuzu or lime juice, white soy sauce, aji paste, ginger, kosher salt and canola oil. After whisking, he tosses the dressing with the tuna, julienned red onion, yellow pepper and celery, sliced jalapeno, cherry tomato and sea salt. A drizzle of chive oil completes the finished plate.

Those are two of seven sashimi seviche choices on the seviche bar. SushiSamba also features four tiradito selections, three combination platters and three fish tartare varieties, along with a full sushi and sashimi bar.

Many kinds of fish can be used for seviche, but some work better than others. Ryan Jaronik, sous chef at Mas in Chicago, prefers blue marlin because it doesn't get tough like shark or flaky like tilapia. One preparation features blue marlin with watermelon, rum, habanero peppers and coronille, a lemony herb.

Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia has a separate seviche menu, served either la carte or in sampler plates that include three, five or seven choices. One example that the restaurant's executive chef, Douglas Rodriguez, and Jose Garces, chef de cuisine, serve is Ecuadorian-style seviche verde with merluza, which is a Chilean whitefish, and poached clams.

They puree jalapefno, basil, cilantro and parsley to make an opaque green sauce. The poached clams and lime juice are added at the end, with a garnish of Serrano ham and fried garlic.

Alma de Cuba also features a dish named Fire and Ice that is a Peruvian-style tiradito with fluke, preserved lemon sauce, crispy sage and crispy lemon rinds. The dish is served carpaccio-style in a clam shell set on crushed ice and drizzled tableside with hot garlic oil.