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ceviche

post #1 of 6
8/23/08 at 11:42am
Thread Starter 
so, the owner of my place orderd some fish he wants me to use in a ceviche. i think its called a unicorn fish, but i dont have the sheet in front of me, so not sure. its basically a bottom feeding white fish. so i cooked a piece last night just to see what im dealing with, needless to say, i wasnt impressed. one of my waitresses tried it and said it tasted like old shrimp. thats when it hit me, it is a bottom feeder, its been sitting there eating... old shrimp. would this translate well in a ceviche? or is it just going to taste like old shrimp with citrius. any thoughts or feedback would be appretiated.
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post #2 of 6
8/23/08 at 1:32pm
The kind of fish usually called "unicorn fish," not only isn't a bottom feeder, it isn't a commercial food fish at all. That means you're asking for advice on whether or how to ceviche an unknown fish which may or may not have been a bottom feeder based on its cooked taste profile.

Don't know.

Good luck,
BDL
What were we talking about?
 
http://www.cookfoodgood.com
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post #3 of 6
8/23/08 at 1:37pm
alittle research on line this is what ive found



The horn of the tataga (unicorn fish) .


“The most prized fish today and yesteryears is the unicorn fish," Ben says. "Usually they grow maybe 14, 15 inches long and they’re about six inches wide. They have two blades on each side of the cadle, the tail side in the back, and then there's this unicorn horn in the front.

"Those are usually prized fish, along with the rabbit fish, the one that we spear at night. If you catch one of those, everybody at home is smiling and happy. We cook the unicorn fish primarily over fire, barbecue it. I have seldom seen people cook it other ways. Some people chop it up and cook it with coconut milk. Others prefer the flavor of barbecue. We always barbecue rabbit fish."
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post #4 of 6
8/23/08 at 1:45pm
The Unicorn fish is in the Naso genus of which there are 17 different species. They are found from Red Sea to the Pacific. They sometime have a spike that potrudes from forehead or sometime a bump potruding,therefore there name Unicorn. There is usually a spine near tail area that they use for defense, sometime 2 spines. They feed on Poisonous Algea from coral reef. They themselves become poison from ciquatera which cannot be killed by heat. I would not use it in cevich, and to be honest with you would be very careful as to the source of the fish.
CHEFED
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post #5 of 6
8/23/08 at 6:06pm
I have a soft spot for the piscean inhabitants of the oceans
Probably more than you would like to know about this fish

Naso Unicornis
Naso unicornis, Bluespine unicornfish: fisheries, gamefish, aquarium

What it eats
Food Items - Naso Unicornis

Not a bottom feeder at all.

A little bit about cigutera poisoning
Ciguatera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Usually ceviche is made from white flesh fish that is flaky -
Snapper comes to mind as well as grouper.
I have also played with shrimp and lobster.
Life is like Plastic Wrap!
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post #6 of 6
8/23/08 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
i just wanted to thank you all for the information you provided, im still not sure what im going to do with it, but it definatly not be a ceviche.
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