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For several years, our family winter break destination was Sayulita in the State of Nayarit. We would spend several weeks exploring the area visiting different beaches, villages and markets. Equipped with an all-terrain vehicle, there wasn’t a place we would hear it was worth the visit that we wouldn’t venture to see. We would carry food and ice cold beer along, at times a grill with the corresponding marinated seafood ready for the coals also joined us. Divorcing good food from travel has never been an option for us.<\/p>\r\n
We also visited the busy tourist beaches, those with the countless and ever present vendors of blankets, popsicles, marijuana brownies\u2014restricted clientele\u2014and pescado zarandeado. <\/em><\/p>\r\n Sold on a stick in the beaches of Nayarit, pescado zarandeado<\/em> never appealed to me because it was offered cold. I had had it in Sinaloa food restaurants\u2014as a dish and in tacos\u2014in Mexico City and always wanted to learn how to make it at home. I asked waiters and cooks, and always got a long list of non-appealing ingredients or what seemed to me dubious recipes. In Nayarit, I would ask the beach vendors where the kitchen was where the fish was being prepared, and if I could go there and buy it hot out off the grill. I had the double purpose of eating it freshly cooked and to see how it was made. After getting directions, I would go to try it and if I liked it I would push to get the recipe, with no luck. The \u201ckitchens\u201d were always improvised humble open air huts where you could see how they would marinate, cook, and prepare the \u201cfish on a stick\u201d. Often I liked the available version but no one would want to tell me what exactly was in the dark red liquid where the fish was marinated. I could spot\u2014and taste\u2014lemon, red chile powder and a series of off the shelf bottles of fiery sauces and other sauces such as soy, Worcestershire, mayonnaise, Maggi, Huichol, and the like. That was the norm. As usual, every kitchen had its own concoction, many good ones but nobody would reveal the \u201csecret\u201d that they were hoping one day would make them millionaires. Since I prefer cooking from scratch, I decided to do some research and try to develop my own recipe\u2014as the story of my life has been…<\/p>\r\n Pescado zarandeado<\/em> has a Pre-Hispanic origin in the Pacific coast of Mexico where the Totorame<\/em> people lived. A territory limited in the north by the Piaxtla river in what is today Sinaloa, and in the south by the Santiago river, today’s State of Nayarit. I had to talk then to my friends in Mazatl\u00e1n, Sinaloa and the ones on the Riviera Nayarit as well.<\/p>\r\n When something is \u201cfinger licking good\u201d in Mexico, the claim most of the time is that the origin is a grandmother’s kitchen in a small town hidden in a far away jungle or mountain. Pescado zarandeado<\/em> was no exception but I wanted to get to the bottom of it anyway. My friends from Sinaloa claimed they created it and the ones from Nayarit copied them. Further research told me that the specific place where this dish originated was Mexcaltit\u00e1n, an island in a lake of the same name fed by the Santiago river in the municipality of Ixcuintla, Nayarit. This small paradise, by the way, only measures around 435 yards in length by 380 yards in width. During the rainy season, its streets get flooded for several months and people use small boats to get around. This Pueblo M\u00e1gico<\/em> is often called \u201cLa Venecia Mexicana\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\r\n Looking at the different ways the dish is prepared in the region, I noted that originally Pescado Zarandeado<\/em> in Nayarit was just a butterflied fresh fish that has been marinated in lemon juice and sprinkled with ground dry red chile then cooked in a zaranda<\/em>\u2014a grill basket made of mangrove branches\u2014over mangrove wood at low heat. Since mangrove is now a protected species and cannot be harvested\u2014only naturally fallen branches or dead trees can be collected\u2014charcoal is used instead.<\/p>\r\n In Sinaloa, the marinating becomes complex. They have added\u2014pick and choose\u2014mustard, butter, achiote paste, mayonnaise and spices among other \u201cgood ideas\u201d. They also add tomatoes, onions, bell peppers on top, wrap it in aluminum foil and cook at low temperature. This added complexity comes from the belief that the more ingredients you include in a recipe the better the flavor of the dish would be. Often, this approach\u00a0 ends up masking the delicate flavor of the fish and offsetting the balance of the original two or three ingredients. The two versions are in fact different! Traveling and migration has contributed to the exchange of \u201cgood ideas\u201d and we find everywhere original recipes being altered or what I call \u201ccontaminated\u201d.<\/p>\r\n For your pleasure, find the Mexcaltit\u00e1n old recipe below and two other \u201cgood ideas\u201d about how to \u201cimprove\u201d it. Venture to develop your own version as I did, just don’t forget the original and the origin. If someone wants to discuss with you whether pescado zarandeado<\/em> is from Sinaloa or Nayarit, just tell them that those States didn’t even exist when the Totorame<\/em> people invented the dish! And brag about your version!<\/p>\r\n In Mexico City find Tacos de Pescado Zarandeado<\/em> on a blue corn tortilla at Restaurante \u201cAvenida La Tizona\u201d Salamanca 69, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Instagram<\/a> & Facebook<\/a> @avlatizona<\/p>\r\n Pescado Zarandeado: the original recipe<\/strong><\/p>\r\n This dish was originally prepared only by squirting lemon juice and sprinkling red chile powder and salt to an open whole fish and then cooked over coals. You can prepare it using a grill basket, lemon juice, chile guajillo powder and salt to taste. If you want to make it fiery just add chile de \u00e1rbol<\/em> powder to your liking.<\/p>\r\n Pescado Zarandeado a la Mexcaltit\u00e1n <\/strong><\/p>\r\n Cooked in a grill basket, this contemporary version it’s served with a simple salad on the side made of lettuce, tomatoes, onions and avocado.<\/p>\r\n Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\r\n For the adobo:<\/p>\r\n Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\r\n In a blender mix the adobo ingredients to a thick sauce. Spread the adobo generously on the fish and let it rest for half an hour in the refrigerator. Using a grill basket, cook it over coals in low heat on both sides. Ready in around ten minutes. Enjoy!<\/p>\r\n Yield: 4 servings<\/p>\r\n Heat level: Medium<\/p>\r\n Pescado Zarandeado a la Sinaloa<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\r\n For the adobo:<\/p>\r\n Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\r\n In a blender mix the adobo ingredients to a thick sauce. Spread the adobo generously on the fish and let it rest for half an hour in the refrigerator.<\/p>\r\n On a piece of buttered aluminum foil, place the fish covered with the vegetables and sprinkle the soy sauce. Fold the foil to a closed wrap sealing on the edges. Cook over low heat coals between 10 and 15 minutes. Serve with rice, beans and corn tortillas. Enjoy it!<\/p>\r\n Yield: 4 servings<\/p>\r\n Heat level: medium<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For several years, our family winter break destination was Sayulita in the State of Nayarit. We would spend several weeks exploring the area visiting different beaches, villages and markets. Equipped with an all-terrain vehicle, there wasn’t a place we would hear it was worth the visit that we wouldn’t venture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[92],"tags":[98,97,95,96],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6058"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6243,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions\/6243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seafood-harvest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recipes<\/h1>\r\n
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