Lake trout and barramundi--ceviche?

I just bought a few pounds of lake trout and barramundi. I'm hungry for ceviche, but seeing the flesh makes me wonder...will they work in ceviche? Does anyone have any ground rules for types of fish that should (or should not) go into ceviche? Or recipes that might work?

If these are big no-no fish for ceviche, any recs. or recipes for what to do with all this fish?

Fresh water fish can have parasites that salt water fish do not have. They are killed by cooking, but lime juice is probably not going to do the job. I would stick to salt water fish for ceviche or any other raw or near raw preparation.

Lake trout deteriorates faster than any fish that I have worked with. Personally, I would probably not use that fish for ceviche.

Okay...ceviche is out for the lake trout. So, what do I do with it? Recipes welcome.

I would flour the trout and pan fry it in butter. (If you want to get fancy, first soak the fish in buttermilk or plain milk for a while and use Swedish potato flour.) Then serve it with gremolata (parsley, lemon zest and garlic). This is my favorite all purpose recipe, courtesy of the Upper Peninsula dwelling mother of an old friend.

Floured and fried would be my preferred technique for trout of any age.

For ceviche, I believe a more firm-fleshed fishie would be preferable (snapper, tuna, etc.). You can ceviche anything, of course, and I've never tried to ceviche a trout, but my sense is that it might "disintegrate" a little.

Isn't the ceviche everyone talks about from Las Islas made from tilapia - a freshwater fish? I've never tasted it, but I'd always thought the tilapia would end up sorta "disintegrated" as well.

Jay K wrote:Isn't the ceviche everyone talks about from Las Islas made from tilapia - a freshwater fish? I've never tasted it, but I'd always thought the tilapia would end up sorta "disintegrated" as well.

I can't speak for Las Islas, but I have made tilapia ceviche with great success. The fish held up just fine.



Best,
Michael

FYI, last night's Iron Chef America featured Barramundi, and the challenger made "crudo" -- essentially fish carpaccio cured in citrus.

The panel liked it.

Note, though, that these fish were really fresh, alive at the start of the show.

The best fish and chips I've *ever* had in my life were barrimundi in Tasmania. The second best were barrimundi in Sydney; ditto third and fourth.

Talk about wonderful Simple Pleasures... barrimundi has got to be one of them.

BTW, was just an hour ago in a fish wholesaler in Moody ME, and saw his poster for barrimundi! some outfit in MA is now doing the import-from-Australis routine. Good news.

Geo

Still haven't fiddled with the lake trout, but I made barramundi ceviche last night...it was excellent--a nice, medium firmness (no problems with disentigration) and the preparation gave the fish a good zing.

I sliced the skin off of a smallish filet, chopped the fish into a half-inch or smaller dice, and tossed with enough lime, lemon, grapefruit and just splash of yuzu juice to cover. Marinated for about two hours (I wanted to make sure it was fully 'cooked' in citrus out of fear-o-aforementioned parasites), tossed with chopped red onion, salt-pepper, and topped with avocado dice and served on an El Milagro tostada.

Here's the slightly more involved recipe that I drew from for this experiment...I might attempt the yuzu foam next time.

kl5 wrote:Fresh water fish can have parasites that salt water fish do not have. They are killed by cooking, but lime juice is probably not going to do the job. I would stick to salt water fish for ceviche or any other raw or near raw preparation.

Salt water fish can also have parasites, worms, etc. I've never been too keen on any raw fish because of that.

I think lake trout is kinda nasty. Too fishy and greasy. In about a month I'm going fishing on Lake Michigan and should come back with 10-20 pounds of fresh salmon. Now that is great eating.

AngrySarah wrote:Salt water fish can also have parasites, worms, etc. I've never been too keen on any raw fish because of that.

Generally, salt water fish may contain roundworms and fresh water fish may contain tapeworms. Roundworms cannot survive in the human body, but can cause digestive trouble while they pass. Tapeworms, on the other hand, can survive for quite some time in the human body. Both parasites in fish are killed with a complete freeze or a decent application of heat. Saltwater fish that makes its way to Chicago has, in almost all cases, been frozen (yes, even sushi). With freshwater fish, you never know.

Here and here is some decent information about eating raw seafood.

Kristen

A very vivid article (perhaps too vivid) from the New York Times about the hazards of eating uncooked fresh-water fish.

Ann Fisher wrote:A very vivid article (perhaps too vivid) from the New York Times about the hazards of eating uncooked fresh-water fish.

Beat me to it!

That was gross, huh?

I read that, too, and thought about posting it, but I didn't want to scare anyone off of raw fish. Even though, in the last three weeks, I've had two dodgy experiences with fish--once, tiliapia in a fish taco I made at home, and a second time last week after sushi. The thought of a three foot parasite hanging out in my gut does give me pause, but not enough to put me off of raw fish. Wrong, but true. I think I might stay away from tilapia in ceviche, though, since it is freshwater, and I've read that it might have one of the highest incidences of parasites, depending on where it is fished.

After reading that piece, I did find myself doing a mental check-up of any 'symptoms' I might have. Anyone have experience with it?

HI,

I had the impression tilapia is more a farmed fish than wild caught. Would you be reluctant to make ceviche from a farmed tilapia?

Regards,

I'm not speaking as any kind of authority, but I get the impression that farmed is actually more likely to have parasites than wild-caught. The brief Google search I did on tilapia and parasites turned up some research on farmed tilapia being the most parasitic of a group of fish studied, but I just glanced over it.

Smoke the trout. Home smoked trout is better than any commercial smoked trout. You can use a proper smoker, or just set up your bbq for indirect cooking and use some of the wood chips you can get just about anywhere now (I like hickory or maple for trout). BTW--you can get decent farmed trout for smoking at Costco.