Escovitch Fish

Jamaican fried snapper drowned in a hot vinegar pickle of carrot, onion, Scotch bonnet, and pimento

Origin: Jamaica

From the journey of Allspice.

Escovitch is the Jamaican descendant of the Spanish escabeche, and behind that of the Persian sikbaj: a fried or poached food preserved in vinegar, one of the oldest preserving techniques in the world and one that travelled with the Arabs into Spain and with the Spanish into the Caribbean. What Jamaica added was pimento. The pickle is boiled up with allspice berries, Scotch bonnet, and often the whole berry left in the jar, and the result is a dressing that is sharp, hot, and warmly aromatic all at once. Escabeche elsewhere in the Hispanic world takes bay and peppercorn; escovitch takes pimento, and that single substitution is what makes it Jamaican. The fish is whole snapper, scored to the bone so the heat penetrates and the pickle can reach the flesh, fried hard until the skin blisters, and then either dressed hot or left to sit under the vinegar for a day. Both are correct and Jamaicans disagree about which is better. Hot from the pan the skin is still crisp; left overnight the flesh takes up the pickle entirely and the bones soften. It is Easter food and Good Friday food, it is the standard Sunday fish at Hellshire Beach, and it is eaten with bammy, the flat cassava bread the Taíno were making before the Spanish arrived, or with fried festival dumplings. The pickle keeps for a fortnight and improves, which is what it was originally for.

Ingredients

Fish

  • 4 whole whole red snapper, about 400 g each, scaled and gutted
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 whole lime, halved
  • 4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting
  • 400 ml neutral oil, for frying

Pickle

  • 250 ml white vinegar or cane vinegar
  • 100 ml water
  • 2 whole carrots, cut into fine matchsticks
  • 1 whole large onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 whole chayote (cho cho), julienned, optional
  • 1 whole red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 2 whole Scotch bonnet peppers, one sliced and one left whole
  • 2 tbsp allspice berries (pimento)
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tsp salt

Method

  1. Rinse the fish and rub inside and out with the cut lime, then rinse again and pat completely dry.
  2. Score each fish three times to the bone on both sides and season inside and out with the salt and pepper.
  3. Dust the fish lightly with flour, shaking off the excess.
  4. Heat the oil in a wide pan to about 180°C and fry the fish, two at a time, for five to six minutes a side until the skin is deep gold and crisp.
  5. Drain the fish on a rack, not on paper, and arrange in a deep dish.
  6. For the pickle, bring the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and allspice berries to the boil in a non-reactive pan and boil for two minutes.
  7. Add the carrot, onion, chayote, bell pepper, and the sliced Scotch bonnet and cook for two to three minutes only.
  8. Drop in the whole Scotch bonnet, take the pan off the heat, and pour the boiling pickle over the fried fish while it is still hot.
  9. Serve at once for crisp skin, or cover and refrigerate overnight for the fuller, more traditional version.

Notes

Red snapper is traditional. Any firm whole fish works: sea bream, parrotfish, or small mackerel. Whole pimento berries rather than ground. Ground allspice clouds the pickle and goes muddy. The chayote (cho cho) is optional but common and adds a clean crunch. It keeps a fortnight refrigerated and the pickle can be reused once for a second batch of fish. Serve with bammy, the Taíno cassava flatbread, or with festival, the sweet fried dumplings, and a wedge of lime.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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