Alberto's Recipe Selection

Ceviche   Causa   Pisco Sour

Peruvian Ceviche

(Raw fish in lime juice)

Ceviche is very popular in many countries and the US.  You will find a wide variety of fancy ceviches served in restaurants.  However, there is nothing like the authentic, basic Peruvian ceviche.  Once you try the basic ceviche, you can experiment variations on your own.

Basic Ceviche: Cut some white fish fillets into byte size pieces. Most sushi grade white fish will work, just ensure it is very clean, fresh and has no skin, dark meat, bones (frozen fish becomes to soft and has very little taste) or fishy smell. Chilean  sea bass (the best), sole and flounder work well (if the fish is good for Sushi, it is good for Ceviche). Squeeze several limes into a big bowl. For best results use key limes, but limes work fine too. Add salt and pepper to the lime juice until it has a nice salty and peppery flavor (make it a little saltier than you normally like since some of this salt will be absorbed by the fish). Place the fish in lime juice and mix thoroughly. Let it sit and marinade for 20 m inutes to one hour, depending on how raw you like the fish. In most high quality restaurants in Peru, they make the ceviche when you oreder it and the fish is very raw. But if you don't like it too raw you can marinade the fish in lime juice until it cooks in the lime's acid (it will turn white). Stir the fish in the lime juice every few minutes. Before you serve, cut one or two red onions into thin slices (circles or half-circles) and a little parsley or cilantro and mix them with the fish. Serve with lettuce, sliced corn on the cobb, boiled or fried yuca, and/or boiled sliced potatoes or yams. Note: in Peru the ceviche is served pretty raw. If you like it this way marinade the fish in the lime juice no more than 30 minutes.

Variations: (1) Mix with other seafood (note, some seafood like shrimp and squid has to be cooked first; other seafood like scalops and clams don't need to be cooked; if you would not eat it raw, then cook it); (2) Mushroom vegetarian ceviche: replace fish with mushrooms, use less lime juice and add some vegetable oil; (3) Try mixing fruit juices with lime juice, orange juice works well; (4) Try mixing in other vegetables or fruit (e.g., cucumber chunks, celery, mango, pinneaples, etc.).

Tiradito: This is the new ceviche. It is prepared like ceviche, except that the fish is cut in very thin slices and then marinaded for only 2 minutes or so and served without onions, just the plain fish. There are several versions of tiradito. The simplest form is plain fish marinaded in lime juice, but other versions have things like a hot pepper sauce or olive oil on top. You can be as creative as you wish with tiradito.

Goes well with chilled white wine, beer or straigh Pisco. Enjoy!

Causa

(Potato Doe)

In Spanish, cause means "cause", but this name comes from the native dialect Quechua, not Spanish, so I am not sure what the name means.  Boil potatoes and mash them as if you were making mashed potatoes, but don't use any milk or butter, just the potatoes.  Let it sit until it cools down.  Then add salt and pepper to taste, and squeeze in one or two limes until the doe has a nice lemony taste.  Once you like the taste of the doe, then add some vegetable oil, not much, just enough to make the doe hold.  It should look smooth and consistent.  You can now serve this doe by rolling little balls (served as hors'deurves with a tooth pick and dip sauce), or making a bigger ball (or football shape), as an appetizer with some lettuce, slice of hard boiled egg and a pitted olive.  However, the best way to eat this is stuffed.  Use anything you like to stuff it: tuna fish salad; egg salad; chicken salad; boiled vegetables with a little mayonnaise; my favorite: a mix of corn, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and avocado with mayonnaise.  How to stuff it? A number of ways: (1) inter mix layers of doe and stuffing in a dish; (2) make a ball with the doe, then make a big dent on it and place the stuffing there; (3) my favorite: put a layer of doe in wax paper, place stuffing ingredients on top, one at a time, one next to each other in lines, put a thin layer of mayonnaise on top, then fold and roll the doe over the stuffing, then cut the rolled doe into slices, the stuffing will look like a spiral in each slice, and depending on how you arrange the ingredients it can be quite colorful.  This is a great and cool appetizer for the summer time.

Enjoy!!

Pisco Sour

(Peruvian Cocktail)

This cocktail is similar to a Mexican Margarita, but a bit stronger. First, you need to find Peruvian Pisco. Pisco is a hard liquor made from grapes. It is similar to Italian Grappa, but Grappa is made from the residue leftover after making wine, whereas Pisco is distilled from pure grapes. If you were to distill pure wine several times you would get Pisco. Currently, Peru is producing highly refined pisco that is fermented from pure grapes. Some Pisco's are made for sipping, not Pisco Sours, and can cost upwards of $60 for a 1/2 litter bottle (in Peru). But a pisco like this will be made from approximately 45 pounds of grapes for one litter.

My favorite is Pisco "La Blanco" (http://www.piscolablanco.com.pe) and the best pisco in the market is their "Gran Herncia' made with 45 pounds of Quebranta grape per litter of Pisco produced n an artisan distillery in Ica, Peru, dating back to the 1600's. It is expensive ($75 per 1/2 litter bottle) but worth every penny. It would be a waste to use highly refined pisco for Pisco Sours. Less expensive Pisco's like Montesierpe or Machu Pisco would be perfectly fine for Pisco Sours. However, some of the new thinking on Pisco Sours is that bad Pisco can only make bad Pisco Sours and that good Pisco makes better Pisco Sours. So, many sophisticated bars give you a menu of Pisco's for you to select for your Pisco Sour. You may be happy paying $30 for an awesome Pisco Sour from the heavens made with La Blanco Gran Herencia. 

Also, Pisco comes in many varieties (Mosto Verde, Italia, Moscatel, Acholado, Quebranta, Torontel, etc.). The best Pisco for Pisco Sours is Pisco Puro (pure pisco) from Quebranta grape, which is the strongest, although today mixologists are making pisco sours with all kinds of aromatic piscos made with Italia and Torontel grapes.

Many people think Pisco is from Chile, but it actually originated in the Pisco province of the department of Ica in Peru, which is a region with great production of grapes.  While Chile is producing acceptable Pisco, you will find a greater and better tasting variety of Piscos in Peru.  Piscos range from very strong (Pisco puro) to very mild (Pisco Italia), depending on the grape used and the distillation process.  Pisco can be made with a single grape type (e.g., Quebranta, Torontel, Italia) or can be "Acholado" (a blend of grapes). Mild Pisco is great for drinking straight or with juices or sodas.  The best Pisco for Pisco Sour is the stronger Pisco (Pisco puro or pure Pisco). 

One other variation in Pisco is called "Mosto Verde". Normally, pure grape juice is extracted (no stems, no peel, no pits, no sulfites, no nothing). All sugar and water comes directly from the grape juice. The juice is fermented 100% (i.e., all the juice sugar ferments into alcohol until there is no sugar left). Once fermented 100% the juice (i.e., young wine) is then distilled into Pisco. Mosto Verde is a variation in this process in which the fermentation is stopped at 50% more or less, so that there is still some sugar in the juice and then distilled. The result is a much smoother, tastier Pisco that is great for sipping.

I used to recomment a 1-2-3 recipe for Pisco Sour, but most popular bars now serve less sugary Pisco Sours following a 1-1-3 recipe. You gotta try different amounts of sugar to find what tastes better to you. Many bars today ask you for your favorite proportions and they make the Pisco Sour to your taste. Here is the 1-1-3 recipe. 

1 Part lime juice
1 Part sugar
3 Parts pisco
4 Parts ice (you can vary this to your taste, use 3 parts for stronger Pisco Sour)
1 Egg white for each blender mixing

There are two school of thought on how to blend this:

  1. Some people swear by the "jarabe de goma," which is simple syrup. You can  buy it in Peru, but really all you have to do is take the sugar from the recipe above and mix it with one of the 4 parts of ice above, but instead of ice use water. Then heat up the sugar and water until all the sugar dissolves. Let it cool off and now you have your own home made Jarabe de Goma or Simple Syrup.

  2. Some people feel (strongly) that the genuine Pisco Sour is made with sugar, not Jarabe de Goma and that dissoving sugar in water only waters down the Pisco Sour.

Regardless of method, follow this blending process:

  1. If using Jarabe de Goma, place all ingredients in the blender and blend until all the ice is dissolved and the mix has a nice, foammy, milky consistency.

  2. If using sugar, place the sugar and Pisco in the blender and blend until all the sugar is dissolved. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until all the ice is dissolves and the mix has a nice, foammy, milky consistency.

  3. Serve. The foam will rise to the top. Then add a couple of drops of Angostura Bitters (Amargo de Angostura)

Note: ensure that the blender is only half full when you blend the ingredients, otherwise when the mix starts foaming it will spill over.  Serve this foamy mix in small brandy or cocktail glasses and let it sit for a minute or so.  The foam will rise to the top and it will look pretty cool.  Sprinkle two drops of Angostura Bitters on top.  The Bitters gives it a nice color and a unique taste.  Many people think that the brown spots from the Bitters is actually cinammon.  The original Pisco Sour does NOT have Cinammon, but Angostura Bitters.  However, if you don't have Bitters, cinnamon tastes good to, so just sprinkle a little cinnamon for color on top and, frankly, the cinnamon tastes pretty good.

Salud!! Cheers!! But please don't drive after you drink this and drink responsibly!! One or two Pisco Sours should be your limit.