“This is the best ceviche I’ve ever eaten “: like this, without half measures, Antonino Cannavacciuolo e Joe Bastianich commented on the Bustinza family’s ceviche during the first episode of the recently concluded edition of Family Food Fight.
“I have tasted many all over the world”, said Joe Bastianich, approaching the ceviche dish presented as a “business card” by the Peruvian competitors of the Sky family cooking show, “but no one has ever convinced me. really”.
None before the one prepared by Miguel and Patricia, who with the help of Maria and Carlos bring the excellent one to Turin restaurant Vale a Peru, a safe address for those who want to taste the best of South American cuisine in the city. The comment of the judges of Family Food Fight was unanimous: the Bustinza ceviche is unbeatable.
Miguel and Patricia opened their restaurant in 2012, in the heart of the San Paolo district, the one that most welcomed the Peruvian community under the Mole. Since then they have tried to offer their dishes not only to their compatriots, but also to the Turinese, giving an increasingly gastronomic imprint to their cuisine, until the opening, a year ago, of “Nativo”, the rib of their restaurant with a proposal of Peruvian cuisine in a gourmet key. Two of their warhorses, the ones that most distinguish the imaginary of Peruvian food and wine in the world: the pisco sour – cocktail with Pisco, a South American brandy made by distilling white and rosé wine – and ceviche, in fact. The best that has ever been served, at least according to the upright judges of Family Food Fight.
Ceviche: what it is
A perfect recipe for the summer, ceviche is a preparation that is as simple as it is tasty. It is no coincidence that it is the main dish of the Peruvian family tables. “There isn’t a precise moment in which you eat ceviche in Peru,” explains Miguel Bustinza. “It’s a dish that you prepare whenever you like, even on Sunday morning for breakfast, simply because you didn’t have time to eat it during the week”.
It is a sort of raw fish salad, marinated in lime (in order to give the right acidity) and seasoned with chilli, onion and typical products of the rich Peruvian agricultural tradition. “There are many variations of Ceviche – explains Miguel – which also change according to the different regions of origin: who makes it with potatoes, who with cassava, who even with beans”. What characterizes a true Peruvian ceviche, in the end, are the five basic ingredients, on which no variation is allowed: fish, lime, salt, chilli and onion.
“What really makes the difference, in tasting ceviche, is the way in which it is eaten”, says Miguel, “the ingredients should not be eaten separately, but a spoon should be used, in order to collect a bit of everything. , and being able to have a set of tastes and textures in the mouth: boiled, raw, crunchy; the acid, the spicy, the sweet “.
A tip that was crucial to Family Food Fight. “What can make me change my mind about your ceviche?” Joe Bastianich asked before tasting it. Miguel, in response, advised him not to focus separately on the individual ingredients, but to enjoy the whole. And Joe Bastianich, for the first time in his life, enjoyed ceviche.
The variants
To think that there is only one type of ceviche in a large and diverse country like Peru would be like thinking of only one sauce for pasta in Italy. The variations of what is a national dish (“the one that most identifies a Peruvian in the world”, says Miguel, “part of our social, gastronomic, historical and cultural identity”) are innumerable.
First, there is a first distinction between the classic ceviche and the mixed one. For the former, Miguel recommends the use ofcroaker: “It is the fish that most resembles the corvina, very common on the north coast of the Pacific Ocean: it comes to us in huge quantities and it is the one that Peruvian families usually use to prepare their ceviche”.
But there are also more creative versions, such as mixed ceviche, which uses different types of fish (“a sea bass, amberjack or tuna, in the most nikkei version, the one contaminated by Japanese cuisine”) or seafood (“I use seared prawns and octopus cooked for about forty minutes, flavoring the cooking water with a pinch of ginger, onion and bay leaf).
The constant, as we said, are those five basic ingredients. Starting from there, you can also work with imagination (but not too much, if you want to respect the Peruvian tradition).
Miguel Bustinza’s recipe
INGREDIENTS (for four servings):
600 gr of croaker fillet (chilled)
80g of fine salt
Juice of 12 whole limes (3-4 limes per serving)
100 gr of red onion (Tropea if possible, a not too aggressive variety is better)
40 grams of chilli (rocoto or limo, alternatively a local one is fine)
300 sweet potatoes (the orange one)
200 gr di but choclo
200 gr more cancha
PROCEDURE:
Cut the raw and chilled croaker fillet into cubes of at least one centimeter, so that they remain firm enough to feel them in the mouth during chewing (“if they are too small and thin – warns Miguel – there is a risk that during marinating disfino and become a pappetta “) and put them in a glass or steel bowl.
Add the salt and massage for about a minute, allowing the fish to begin to release its liquid, which will then be the base of the seasoning. Add the chopped chilli pepper (“for a European palate I would suggest 10 grams per serving, but we Peruvians use at least twice as much”), also wanting a little fresh chopped coriander, and continue to massage for a couple of minutes.
Add the lime juice, which meets the liquid of the seasoned fish: this union creates the “leche de tigre”, the typical condiment of Peruvian ceviche. Leave to marinate for 3-5 minutes, check for flavor and acidity and incorporate the onion cut into julienne strips, taking care to use only the outermost layers, so as not to make the flavor too aggressive.
Boil the side dishes: the choclo corn (which will then be shelled) and the sweet potatoes (to be peeled and cut into slices after cooking). Fry and salt the cancha corn.
Serve the marinated fish with cold side dishes.
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