Caribbean food is just an amazing and underrated cuisine. Today, I bring you a hidden Jamaican gem: Escovitch Fish.
Easy and flavorful dinner idea that will make you feel like in a beachfront restaurant. It has bold flavors that are combined harmoniously.
What is Escovitch fish?
It’s basically a whole fish fried. It’s seasoned with all-purpose seasoning: black pepper, paprika, onion, and garlic powder. A powerful seasoning mix.
The wow factor of this recipe is the pickle vegetables that are used as a garnish for the fish. These vegetables are sweet and sour while keeping some degree of crunchiness.
These vegetables have a kind of spicy sauce that will soak the fish and give that pungent flavor of escovitch fish.
What type of fish do you need?
This recipe calls for snapper, especially red snapper.
As you may know from my fried fish recipe, I’m in love with red snappers. Sadly, I don’t always find fresh red snapper in my local grocery store.
The day I took these photos I used yellowtail snapper. It turns out just as yummy.
The snapper family is super diverse, so you have a wide variety to choose from.
Snapper has lean and firm meat that is perfect for frying and baking it.
What are scotch bonnet peppers?
Scotch bonnet peppers are a spicy type of pepper that is common in the Caribbean island.
It’s a bit spicier than regular habaneros or malaguetas. It has a sweet taste that makes it great for sauces.
It can be kind of difficult to find in the US and Europe. As always, I believe in swapping ingredients and not making a big deal of it. If you get scotch bonnet pepper, that’s great for this recipe. If not, consider the next options:
- 1 habanero
- 1 malagueta
- 1 tsp cayenne powder
For those that don’t tolerate spicy food, you can just pierce the pepper and, at the end of the cooking process, remove it. This way it will release some spiciness but you won’t have the chance to eat a spicy piece of pepper.
And for my spicy people, just cut the pepper into tiny slices and enjoy.
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