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The smell of vinegar, brash and dissonant, wafted out of my childhood kitchen often, tickling my nose. I came to associate it with the promise of something good. It could be my Iranian mother making sekahnjebin on a hot day, or my Puerto Rican father preparing bistec encebollado for dinner that night. Or, it could be either of them marinating fish in a heady mix of vinegar and aromatics. I didn’t realize it as a kid, but pescado en escabeche, a dish of fried or sauteed fish almost pickled in a vinegar-based sauce, is a link between the disparate cultures of my parents.
“The Romans were no strangers to preserving fish in vinegar and oil — Apicus gives a recipe for fried fish preserved in vinegar in De re coquinaria (late fourth century). But escabeche probably came into Spain with the Muslims,” writes Maricel E. Presilla in “Gran Cocina Latina,” one of my favorite books. “The word comes from the Arabic iskedeg, which in turn is a popular form of the Persian word sikbaj. A thirteenth-century Baghdadi recipe for sikbaj instructs cooks to fry fish in sesame oil with coriander seeds and then pour vinegar colored with saffron over it.”
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Get the recipe: Pescado en Escabeche
When the Moors settled in Al-Andalus — present day Andalusia — they brought this technique with them. Not only was it prized for its deliciousness and adaptability, but in the days before refrigeration, it was a reliable way to preserve fish, as Anya von Bremzen writes in “The New Spanish Table.” (Escabeche was and is also made with meat, vegetables or legumes.) Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Muslims lost their hold on Andalusia as it gradually became more Christian. Escabeche endured this transition, as well as the painful Inquisition years that followed.
Share this articleShareThe Moors gave the Spanish a taste of sweet and sour, a flavor combination that persisted across Europe through the Middle Ages. Accordingly, escabeche recipes sometimes also included almond milk, honey, dried fruit and warm spices. Eventually, the Spanish settled on a formula heavy on the olive oil, vinegar, garlic and bay.
It’s no surprise then that the escabeches of the Caribbean, Central and South America are largely based on this quartet of aromatics. From there, cooks in different regions pulled from locally available spices and seasonings, augmenting the pickling sauce with a variety of herbs, vegetables, fruits and chiles. In Puerto Rico, green bananas and chicken gizzards are made into an escabeche with onions, allspice and sofrito. In Uruguay, partridge escabeche contains carrots and black peppercorns. In Mexico and Central America, a variety of vegetables are made into escabeches, which are served alongside more elaborate dishes.
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For this version of Pescado en Escabeche, I wanted to create a recipe that honored traditional escabeches. I also wanted something I would reliably want to cook and eat — meaning, I wanted to be able to make and eat it within an hour.
Many Puerto Rican recipes for fish escabeche call for dredging the fish in flour and then pan frying it in olive oil before dousing it in a vinegary sauce. Here, you’ll simply sear firm halibut steaks and then set them in a bowl filled with lime juice, vinegar, olives, garlic and onion slices. Add a bay leaf to keep it traditional. I prefer to toss in a sliced Fresno chile. Its subtle heat adds a little extra dimension — and color! — to the pungent dish. Let the fish settle into the escabeche for at least 15 minutes before serving. Garnished with cilantro, it is wonderful over rice. I like serving plantain chips on the side, too, for a little crunch.
Get the recipe: Pescado en Escabeche
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