Ceviche Tostadas Puerto Vallarta
Shrimp Cocktail Pacífico (Cóctel de Camarón del Pacífico)
Shrimp in Red Pipián (Camarones en Pipián Rojo)
Shrimp Croquettes in Tomato Broth
Crab Cakes with Jalapeño Aioli
Rodrigo-Style Fish (Pescado Rodrigo)
If food has the capacity to transport us, it seems to me that seafood can take us the farthest of all. Cooking fresh fish and shellfish has always felt like a luxury to me, rife with possibilities. The moment I walk into a seafood store, the options sparkle, whether I’m in Washington, D.C., or Mexico City.
My dad and my grandfather, who immigrated to Mexico in the early 1900s, used to rise early on Sunday mornings to go to the old Mercado San Juan, a huge labyrinthian market in Mexico City which sells the freshest seafood—and just about anything else that’s edible. They went before dawn so they could procure the biggest, plumpest, freshest shrimp. If I begged enough, they would let me tag along. As we went, my grandfather would tell us the story of how his Polish family survived in the middle of the Eastern European farmland. Salted herring would come from faraway Nordic lands in immense wooden barrels. They pickled the herring and sold them to passersby. On special occasions, they ate the fish themselves, battering and frying them, and serving them with boiled potatoes, bread, and vodka. What a feast!
After hearing that tale so many times, I always feel immensely lucky to be able to choose from so much abundance at my local seafood shop. Seafood is so versatile that it gives you the freedom to travel anywhere you like on Mexico’s coast. With shrimp alone, you can visit a breezy beach on the Pacific Coast with a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail, or the Yucatán with Shrimp Croquettes in slightly spicy and rich tomato broth, or southern Mexico with velvety Shrimp in Red Pipián.
In this chapter, you’ll find plenty of ideas on how to put a Mexican spin on the gifts from the sea.