Escovitch is fried whole fish dressed with a hot vinegar pickle of onion, carrot and pepper. Order your snapper cleaned and scaled and this is a 30 minute dish.
What you need
- 2 whole red snapper, about 1.5 lb each, cleaned and scaled
- Juice of 1 lime, salt, black pepper, 1 tsp allspice
- Oil for frying
- For the pickle: 1 onion sliced, 1 carrot in matchsticks, 1 scotch bonnet sliced, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 6 pimento berries, 1 tsp salt
Method
- Score and season. Cut 3 diagonal slashes on each side of the fish. Rub with lime, salt, pepper and allspice inside and out. Let sit 15 minutes.
- Fry. Heat half an inch of oil in a wide skillet until shimmering. Pat the fish dry and fry 5 to 6 minutes per side until the skin is crisp and deep golden. Drain on a rack.
- Make the pickle. In a saucepan, bring vinegar, sugar, salt and pimento to a boil. Add onion, carrot and pepper, cook 2 minutes, then take it off the heat. The vegetables should stay crunchy.
- Dress. Lay the fish on a platter and spoon the hot pickle and vegetables over the top. Let it sit 10 minutes before serving so the vinegar soaks in.
Good hot, better cold the next morning with hard dough bread.