San Luis Reservoir Striper Ceviche

It is easy as a flyfisherman to forget that most of the Stripers caught in San Luis reservoir are caught by Baitfishermen, and gear guys. Many of the gear guys are experts and catch way more fish than I do. There is whole new generation of San Luis Striper fishermen that troll umbrella rigs, cast topwater plugs, swimbaits, plastics and jigs effectively for stripers. Some groups concentrate on the Mendota Aquaduct. They are well organized, share their knowledge and help each other out on the water in emergencies. A couple noteworthy groups are FishAholics, and the Anyfishcangetit brand concentrating on the Aquaduct. The Anyfishcangetit brand has even release rap music about fishing for Stripers in San Luis and “the Duct“– Actually pretty great stuff. I digress, this post is about Striper Ceviche. I ran across a Youtube video about making ceviche from Stripers caught in San Luis reservoir; made it, ate it, survived it, liked it. Also I discovered a Youtube video of a Sushi Chef preparing Striper Sashimi on a Pacifica Beach. Gotta try that . Also added Yuzi-It Hot citrus sauce to the buy list

DFG Biologist Ken Oda once told me that the Stripers in San Luis are really clean and that his dad eats San Luis Stripers sashimi style which he doesn’t object. The Anadromous Striped bass of the Pacific Ocean and Delta, especially the bigger ones, often have parasites -specifically roundworm (Anesakidae) . Parasitic infections increase when fish are stressed. Clean fish are fatter and healthier looking but if the fish looks stressed you probably dont want to risk eating it anyways. The most common Diseases of striped bass in the delta according to a 1976 study are fin rot disease, Infections from predator bites (pasteurellosis), bacterial infections (columaris), Viral infections ( lyphosystis) , and skin and gill disease (epitheliocystis). Most of these fish diseases compromise the fish enough to make it look unappetizing. Environmental Toxins are the major reason why the DFG has guidelines to the amounts of Stripers one should eat. Toxins like Mercury, PCB’s and Dioxin can make Stripers unsafe to eat in large quantities. Mercury is found throughout the fish , but PCBs and Dioxins are concentrated in the dark fatty meat of the stripers. Cutting off the dark meat from striper fillets can minimize exposure to these chemicals. Parasitic infections can be virtually eliminated by proper cooking or freezing which kills worm infestations.

To make Ceviche safely, it is important to cook the fish in Citric Acid, This cooking process will kill many types of bacteria that may be present but it does not protect against Salmonella, some parasites and worms. What all sushi chefs know is that the only way to kill anasakis worm larva (seal worm) in salmon and mackerel is to freeze them to -4 degrees F. If you do eat a bad piece of fish, the symptoms are like food poisoning but seldom life threatening. Other parasites like Tapeworm are common in freshwater fish and eating raw freshwater trout is the largest vector for tapeworm infections in America. Cooking or freezing fish kills tapeworm. The bottom line is make sashimi out of Frozen Fish and marinate Ceviche fish in Citric Acid (limes and lemons only for strength) for at least 30 minutes to an hour. A sushi chef once told me that you can see parasites and worms in thinly cut fish and that close observation at preparation and was the traditional way to ensure safety in Japan before freezing was widespread. Tips for eating non frozen fish sashimi would be to bleed and gut fish ASAP since parasites usually live in intestinal organs and once the fish dies, they migrate into the meat of the fish. Look closely at the fish that you are preparing and dont eat anything fish  that doesn’t look healthy and perfect.

Mengs San Luis Striper Ceviche 

  • Freeze San Luis Reservoir Stripers FIllets (20-24 inchers) to -4 degrees
  • Defrost, dice and soak covering fish  in Fresh (or bottled) Lime Juice for 2 hours
  • Dice Red Onions
  • Dice  jalapeños
  • Dice Cucumber
  • Dice Tomatoes
  • Dice Green Onion
  • Squeeze Fresh Lemon  over all ingredients except for fish.
  • Decant lime juice off of fish and add fish to  diced ingredients
  • add little more lime juice to cover Half mixture
  • Mix and Server with Chips or Tostitos scoops
  • Add lemon juice and salt and Tobasco Sauce to taste.  You might also separate some at this point for people who cant handle the Hot Sauce . 

 

Striped Bass Ceviche #2

  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 2 fresco chiles seeds removed and thinly sliced
  • 1 small serrano chile pepper seeds removed and minced
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Juice of 4 limes
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 pound fresh skinless striped bass or other firm white fish fillets, cut into a 1/2-inch dice

Instructions

  1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, Fresno and Serrano chiles, scallions, cilantro, lemon and lime juice, honey and sea salt. Stir in the fish until coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour (and up to 4), stirring every 20 minutes, until the fish is soft and opaque but not falling apart. Taste for seasoning.
  2. Serve the fish as an appetizer alongside tortilla chips or as part of a taco bar with some avocado.

Striper Ceviche #3

Texoma Guide Stephen Andre’s Striper Ceviche

Preparation: 1 hour
Number of Servings: As many as needed

INGREDIENTS:
Striper fillets
White onions
Tomatoes
Salt
Lots of pepper
Bottled lemon juice or freshly squeezed lemons or limes
Tortilla chips

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cut fillets into bite-size chunks. Chop onions and tomatoes. Mix the salt and pepper and place in a large casserole dish. Cover completely with lemon or lime juice and refrigerate overnight or until the juice has “cooked” the fish. Serve as an appetizer dip with tortilla chips.

Another great Recipe for Ceviche

  • 1 pound of bass, thinly sliced into silver dollar medallions
  • 1 cup lime juice
  • 1/2 mango, diced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red onion diced
  • 1 medium jalapeno pepper diced
  • 1 teaspoon crushed cumin seed
  • 1/2 avocado diced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
  • Combine everything, except avocado and cilantro in a bowl deep enough to cover the bass medallions. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours
  • Before serving, add avocado and cilantro.
  • Serve with tortilla chips.

Striped Bass Ceviche #4

  • Striped Bass Fillet
  • Tomato
  • White Onion
  • Fresh Habeñero or Jalepeño Peppers with seeds removed
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Limes
  • Cut Striped Bass into ½” cubes, use only white meat, toss the red meat on the back of the fillet.
  • Cut tomatoes into ½ ” cubes.
  • Chop onions coarsely.
  • If you have a cup of meat, you should have a half-cup of tomatoes and a half-cup of onions.
  • Use one habeñero or three jalepanos for each half-pound of meat, remove seeds
  • Habaneros vary in heat. Green is less hot. Red is hotter, and Orange is the hottest.
  • Slice peppers crossways into very thin slices. (1/16″ for the habeñeros, 1/8″ for the jalepeños.)
  • Don’t dice these. Leave them so that they become optional for the snackers.
  • Mince cilantro, and stir in approximately 1 TBSP for each half-cup of meat.
  • Mix this thoroughly, and squeeze enough fresh lime juice to approx. half cover the mixture.
  • Let the mixture marinate in the refrigerator until the meat is cooked, stirring well every five minutes. As the meat cooks, it will change from clear to white. This takes about 15 or 20 minutes.
  • Serve ceviche on a plate without the lime juice with tortilla chips.
  • Tostitos CUPS for CHIPS

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