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I've made some great ceviche over the years and I have never followed a recipe. But I have noticed the following factors that tend to make the civeche come out better.
1. The the smaller the pieces of fish are the more contact they will have with the lemon juice and the faster the citric acid will cure them. I watched a pangero in Baja use 2 forks to shred the fish off the fillet. This yields thin ribbons of fish that 'cooked' or cured in the lemon in about a hour. This the way I prepare my fish now. I don't like waiting over night to eat my ceviche and it's faster than finely mincing the fish with a knife.
2. I have noticed that during the curing in lemon or lime juice that any blood, discoloration, or fishy flavor in the fish will be transfered to the lemon. After the fish is cured through, white and non-transparant, I try to remove ALL the lemon or lime juice from the curing process. I will run the fish under fresh water in to a bowl and then use both hands or a collender to tightly wring the fish out. This yields a clean, mild, almost dry fish for the next step.
3. If I have a 'secret' to my civeche it is the rinsing step. While the fish is curing, about an hour, I prep the veggies. I like fresh crunchy salsa so I use a knife to chop
roma and beef steak tomatos
green and yellow onion
lots of cilantro
red or yellow sweet bell type peppers
jalapino and serrano peppers
I don't messure, I just taste and add until it's right. After the veggies are done I add some fresh lime juice and a little salt. The juice and salt start to break down the salsa and make it a little juicy. Then when I add the rinced almost dry fish to the veggies the fish absorbs the fresh flavors of the salsa insted of retaining any lemon or fishy flavor from the curing.
It's only a little extra work but I like the results. Mike
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