Finding the Corvina of Your Childhood for Ceviche

  I live in Kentucky. As a child I lived in Panama (Central America), where I became addicted to ceviche. The ceviche was made with corvina fish. I have found some recipes for ceviche, but I do not know where I can purchase the fish. Local seafood markets have not even heard of corvina fish. Can you tell me where I might purchase this type of fish?

 Huh, no Panamanian fish for sale in Kentucky? Maybe it's not such a small world after all. Your question is challenging on several fronts. Corvina is a general name for a boatload (pardon the expression) of fish found in many different parts of the world. They belong to the scaienidae family, which is better known as "drums or croakers." Drum fish and croaker fish are differentiated by whether they produce a drumming sound or a croaking sound when they pop their heads above the water (we're not making this up). There are 270 species within the drums and croakers family, ranging from less than a quarter of a pound to hundreds of pounds. In Central America alone, there are dozens of varieties. Which did you fall in love with? We, along with your Kentucky fishmongers, have no idea.

Although drums and croakers are primarily saltwater fish, and therefore theoretically fine for use in ceviche, James Peterson, author of Fish & Shellfish (Canada, UK), cautions against eating them raw. They often contain parasites, he says, which is the general reason you don't make ceviche with freshwater fish. Cooking renders the parasites harmless, as does freezing for at least 24 hours at 0°F, but the acid of ceviche does not.

Finding parasite-free, impeccably fresh fish is the great challenge of making ceviche these days. Peterson says he used to tell people to rush home with their fish and make ceviche at once, but now says unless the fish was previously frozen or you have some sure-fire way of determining that it is free of parasites, freeze it yourself for at least 24 hours, slowly thaw it in the refrigerator, and then start cutting limes.

In this country, drums and croakers on the market include Atlantic Croaker, Black Drum, Red Drum, Kingfish, Spot, Spotted or Speckled Sea Trout, Weakfish, White Sea Bass, Orangemouth Corvina, Yellowfin Corvina, Golden Corvina, Shortfin Corvina, etc., etc. (Drums and croakers are totally unrelated to either bass or trout, so there is simply no truth in advertising in the fish world.) More of these varieties come from the Pacific, and are more available on the West Coast.

Whether any of these species will make a ceviche that matches your childhood memory, the intermediary freezing/thawing step (which is outright heresy to many ceviche lovers) will probably affect the texture in unexpected ways. But perhaps this is what constitutes the ceviche of the new millennium.

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