Turns out, fish only smells like fish when it's not fresh. So, I walked in on Thursday morning thinking the place was going to reek of fish, but I was so wrong! We had the whole room filled with whole, striped bass, and the place didn't smell at all! Promise.
The first thing we did was meet our fish.
On day 1, my buddy and I were asked to make a ceviche. Well, I think we kinda volunteered. I was interested in making it since I'd never had ceviche before.
For those of you who don't know, a ceviche is, essentially, raw fish which is marinated in an acid that cooks the fish. The texture of the fish in a ceviche is like raw fish, so if you're not into that, I don't think ceviche is for you.
The recipe for the ceviche is similar to that of a pico de gallo: diced onions, tomatoes, serrano pepper, and, of course, lots and lots of lime juice.
First, the fish was marinated by itself in the lime juice, for about an hour. Then, we added the mise en place and it continued to marinate together.
One of my classmates walked in on fish day and told Chef, "Chef, I'll cook the fish, but I really really don't like fish at all. It's so fishy." Without even blinking he said, "you've been eating old fish." By the end of day 2, she said, "Chef, I can't believe you made me like fish."
Tip of the day: We've already spoken about the freshness of fish. If you want to buy fresh fish, don't buy the stuff that smells like fish. For the freshest fish, go to a fish market or store, look for a whole fish with the reddest gills, and ask them to fillet it for you. That way, you know exactly what you're getting. Often times the fish you get at the supermarket can be close to two weeks old.
Can you make ceviche with frozen fish?
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