Ceviche—shellfish cured by citrus juice acid—has been popular in Latin America for many centuries. It dates some 2,000 years to an Inca dish of raw marinated fish.

The dish was discovered by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s; they added the lime juice and onion that are integral to modern ceviche. The name “ceviche,” pronounced say-VEE-chay, is thought to come from the Spanish “escabeche,” meaning marinade.

Today, ceviche—spelled seviche or sebiche in some countries—is so popular that there are cevicherias, restaurants that specialize in ceviche.

There’s a whole menu of ceviche, from different types of fish and seafood to country-specific preparations. Each country adds its own spin based on local seafood and preference for ingredients like avocado. Some add a dressing of ketchup or a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise.

Ceviche is delicious “health food.”

 
> Try this classic shrimp ceviche recipe.

> More ceviche recipes.

> Create your own recipe, using your favorite seafood, with this guide.

> More on the the history of ceviche.
 
 
RECIPE: CEVICHE-STYLE LOBSTER WITH
WATERMELON SALAD

Executive Chef Damian Gilchrist of the Ocean Reef Club in North Key Largo, Florida serves Florida Lobster “Ceviche-Style” with Watermelon Salad. Here’s his recipe, which serves four as a main or eight as a first course.

You can substitute other crustaceans—scallops, shrimp—or fish.

Ingredients

 
For Serving

 
Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl to thoroughly combine. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. Serve atop watermelon planks with mache and drizzled with balsamic syrup. For balsamic syrup, reduce balsamic vinegar or buy a ready-made balsamic glaze.

[2] Ceviche with mixed shellfish (photo © Food Colors | Fotolia).

[3] Lobster is so much more delicious in ceviche than mixed with mayonnaise in a lobster roll (photo © Get Maine Lobster).

[4] Two ingredients for any ceviche: cilantro and lime (photo © Lindsay Moe | Unsplash).

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One reason those anchovies are so intense is that casual restaurants don’t take the time to rinse the anchovies, but just scoop them up from the oil.

Another reason is using cheaper anchovies!

But in fact, these little fish can be truly delightful—still with a strong flavor, but one that’s delicious.
 
 
THE BEST ANCHOVIES

The 144 species of anchovies, a salt-water fish related to herring. They live in many of the world’s oceans and seas, including the Atlantic, Indian, Mediterranean and Pacific.

The good brands are things of beauty. Italians—who not only make some of the world’s best food, but as a society have among the most demanding palates—use them as a backbone in many recipes.

The best Italian anchovies come from Cetara (photo #1), an enchanting fishing village along the Amalfi coast, on the Gulf of Salerno. They are packaged by Nettuno, a family-run company. Production is completely by hand, using simple but precise traditions of local anchovy preserving.

The best anchovies are caught between March and July when their flesh is at its most plump; the better brands only fish during this period.

The fresh anchovies are immediately placed in oak barrels layered with water and sea salt and cured for about five months. The salt used by Nettuno is the exceptional sea salt that is hand-harvested in the salt panes of Trapani, Italy—uncontaminated Sicilian waters.

The result: anchovies that are soft, moist, and plump. It takes only a few seconds to rinse them in cold water and then put them to use.

Look for Cento, Nettuno and Agostino Recca sardines.

And if you’re a true anchovy lover, try a bottle of colatura, “anchovy juice” that is the modern version of garum, the favorite condiment in ancient Rome. You can buy it here.

Here’s more about garum, a great umami flavor.
 
 
RECIPE: PENNE PASTA SALAD WITH ANCHOVIES

This recipe is courtesy of La Cucina Italiana and Chef Andrea Tiberi.

Ingredients for 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. BRING a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Drop plum tomatoes into water and boil for 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove tomatoes from the pot (reserve the cooking water). Drain, peel, cut in half, and seed.

[1] This spaghetti recipe uses anchovy and capers compound butter that’s so good, you might also want to spread it on bread and canapes. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Catching anchovies (photo © Gillian’s List).

[3] Anchovy fillets. When buying anchovies are sardines, get the best possible brand. Cento anchovies are very good for the money; these are from a premium brand, Agostino Recca (photo © Agostino Recca).

[4] Piennolo tomatoes (photo © Emporio Italiano).

4. RETURN water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, transfer to a large bowl, and toss with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt. Set aside to cool.

5. REMOVE the tomatoes from the oven; transfer to a cutting board and finely chop. Add to the bowl with the pasta.

6. ADD the the greens, Piennolo tomatoes, 3 tablespoons oil, anchovies, capers, chervil, and marjoram; toss to combine. Arrange on plates. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and some fresh ground pepper.
 
 
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*The Vesuvio Piennolo cherry tomato is a variety grown in the southern Italian region of Campania, around Mount Vesuvius. They owe their intense flavor to the mineral-rich volcanic soil. These small, sweet tomatoes have a certified origin (DOP): Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP. A regional specialty, they hang in clusters outside homes in the Sorrento peninsula in early fall and are preserved in water for pure taste. For a delicious sauce, simply cook down the tomatoes in their juices over high heat for 4-5 minutes and serve them over pasta. They are available jarred in the U.S. (you can find them on Amazon and elsewhere).
 
 

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As a nation, we love crunchy snacks and creamy dips. As calorie counters, we don’t.

In this video, chef Curtis Stone shows how easy it is to make your own lowfat baked chips (commercial chips can have 30% fat) and lowfat, low-calorie dips.

They taste good and keep you looking good (Chef Stone looks great!).

See our Snacks Section with healthful snacks and recipes.

Crunchy, freeze-dried vegetable and fruit snacks have been growing in popularity. They taste good, provide the crunch factor, are full of fiber and moderate in calories. If you haven’t tried them, you’re missing out.

One of our favorite brands is Crunchies, A selection of all natural snacks that are gluten free and available in kosher-certified and organic-certified versions.

Fresh fruits and veggies are placed in a refrigerated vacuum chamber that removes up to 97% of the moisture. The process retains a high percentage of the nutritious enzymes that are lost through conventional heat-drying dehydration and provides an extra-crunchy texture.

While snacking on the crunchy delights by the handful is the original intent, they make most excellent additions to everyday foods and recipes, from yogurts and salads to tea and hot chocolate.

Read the full review to see all the different ways we’ve used Crunchies in recipes.

See all of our favorite snacks in our Gourmet Snacks section.

You can create the complex flavors and tender texture that will bring kudos from others at the dinner table while you get deeper in touch with your inner chef.

The first time you make corned beef or pastrami from scratch, you may want to rely on a kit of ingredients and instructions that walks you through the process of curing and cooking a brisket (the base of corned beef and pastrami). Even professional chefs use this Corned Beef & Pastrami Kit from Leener’s.

The kit comes with everything you need except the brisket: Morton Tender Quick, a very effective meat tenderizer, curing salts, plus spices, wood chips and a tenderizing tool. While you can certainly come up with your own tenderizer, black pepper, garlic powder, mustard seed, paprika and and other spices, this Make It kit is a turnkey cookbooks with simple instructions.

There’s enough in each kit for up to 10 pounds of brisket. The only caveat is that you need to cure the seasoned meat in the fridge for five days per each inch of meat thickness. In our packed apartment-size fridge, we’d have to toss all the condiments to make space!

It took Leener’s, which specializes in “Make It” kits, six months to perfect the Corned Beef and Pastrami Kit. “We tried many recipes and methods of making corned beef and found that the traditional brine method produces the highest quality corned beef possible,” says company president Jim Leverentz. “Our goal is to bring back the old-fashioned goodness and flavors of a more patient time along with the satisfaction of making it yourself. You will be enjoying the best corned beef and pastrami sandwiches you have ever eaten.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Although it goes without saying, you also need a top-quality brisket.)

In fact, the company also makes kits for the other ingredients of a Reuben sandwich: an Artisan Bread Kit to make deli-style rye, a Sauerkraut and Dill Pickle Kit, a Deluxe Cheese Kit for the Swiss cheese and a Mustard Making Kit. Pair the Reuben with your choice of brews from Leener’s Home Brewery System.

The Corned Beef & Pastrami Kit is sold in a four-pack for $32.95, or $8.00 and change per brisket. You can give any extra kits to people who invite you over for barbecue or other meat-centric meals. Kits are also fun gifts for anyone who likes to cook.

Get your kits now.
BRISKET 101: A beef brisket consists of two parts, the flat and the point. Traditionally the flat is used to make corned beef for slicing. The point, while cured in the same way, is smoked to make pastrami.