Jamaican Escovitch Fish with Roasted Sesame

About This Recipe

Escovitch fish is one of Jamaica's most recognized seafood dishes -- whole fish, scored and fried until deeply crisp, then topped with a vinegar-pickled mix of onion, carrot, and scotch bonnet pepper that's tangy, slightly sweet, and just spicy enough. This version scatters toasted sesame seeds over the finished dish, adding a nutty crunch to the traditional preparation. The technique that makes escovitch fish work is frying the fish thoroughly until the skin is genuinely crisp -- deep scoring on both sides helps it cook evenly and lets the marinade and vinegar sauce penetrate afterward -- and then simmering the escovitch vegetables just enough to soften slightly while keeping their crunch, rather than cooking them down completely soft. Served with bammy (cassava flatbread) or festival, escovitch fish is classic Jamaican coastal cooking, often eaten at beachside stands where the fish is fried to order and topped fresh.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 1 wholesnapper or similar white fish (about 700g)(cleaned and scaled)
• 1lime(juiced)
• 1 tspsalt
• 0.5 tspblack pepper
• 1 cupoil(for frying)
• 1onion(thinly sliced)
• 1carrot(julienned)
• 1scotch bonnet pepper(sliced)
• 0.75 cupwhite vinegar
• 2 tbspsugar
• 2 tbsptoasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the fish

   Score the fish 3-4 times on each side. Rub with lime juice, salt, and pepper, and let sit 15 minutes.

2. 2

   Fry the fish

   Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Fry the fish 6-7 minutes per side until the skin is deeply golden and crisp and the flesh is cooked through. Drain and transfer to a platter.

3. 3

   Make the escovitch sauce

   In a saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, and a splash of water. Bring to a boil, add onion, carrot, and scotch bonnet, and simmer 3-4 minutes until slightly softened but still crisp.

4. 4

   Season the sauce

   Taste and adjust sugar or vinegar for a balanced sweet-tangy flavor.

5. 5

   Top the fish

   Spoon the warm escovitch vegetables and liquid generously over the fried fish.

6. 6

   Finish and serve

   Scatter with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately with bammy or festival.

Variations

• •

  Use fish fillets instead of whole fish for easier serving, reducing fry time to about 4 minutes per side.

• •

  Add allspice berries to the escovitch pickling liquid for extra Jamaican flavor.

• •

  Make it extra spicy by leaving scotch bonnet seeds in, or milder by using bell pepper instead.

Storage

Best eaten the day it's made while the fish is crisp. Leftovers keep refrigerated for 1 day but lose crispness.

Frequently Asked Questions