Puerto Rican Escabeche

Escabeche can be used to “pickle” fish (as in last night's recipes), and vegetables (the Mexicans do wonderful things with peppers). 

My personal favorite is escabeche with chicken gizzards and green bananas, a Puerto Rican delicacy that made its way to our plates for the Xmas holidays.

Gizzards are a high in protein delicacy that doesn't get a lot of culinary play with Americans. Actually, in the US most internal organs get ignored and the faces made by children of all ages when these are mentioned are priceless.

If you have never made or had gizzards, there is an informative piece in the San Francisco Gate.

Try them first as Southern Fried Chicken Gizzards and snack on them and get used to their texture and taste. It's a smoky taste – as opposed to the flavor associated with white or dark meat. It is not as strong as chicken livers. Gizzards are chewy but less so than hearts.

In fact, if you like the fried recipe above, you may set some aside for the escabeche.

The other component of the dish is green bananas. In Puerto Rico and parts of the Caribbean, there is a breed of tiny bananas that are perfect for this recipe. However, these are not as easily available in the continental US. You may use regular bananas. They must be green, though – ripe bananas change the texture and flavor of the dish and it won't work.

The dish may be made with only bananas (if you prefer not to use gizzards). You may also use only the gizzards, but the joy is to have both in one plate.

To prepare the green bananas, cut the tips off and make a slit lengthwise on the skin of each banana. Place in a pot with around four quarts of salted water and boil for at least 15-20 minutes. The skins will darken as it cooks, and the bananas will firm up and start to grow out their skins.

Remove from water, use a fork to remove the skins off and discard skins. Let bananas cool (you may put in a bowl with cold water to firm them up and stop the cooking). Cut in 1/2” slices, place in a glass or porcelain container and top with escabeche sauce.

Make sure you do not overcook the bananas. You can test their doneness by stabbing lightly with a knife. The knife should stick through without much resistance but the banana will not fall apart.

The green bananas, like most starches, require seasoning because they are pretty bland on their own. A head of garlic, sliced and cooked until golden in olive oil will add depth to the dish. Top with lots of peppercorns for heat. Red onions are also great with this version of the sauce.

You may substitute and use green plantains instead.

For the traditional recipe, cook the gizzards in a rolling boil for about an hour. They will become tender (they're like velvet!). Clean them by removing the yellow tendon-like parts. After they cool off, you can cut them in small, bite-sized pieces and add to escabeche sauce. 

UPDATE: If you enjoyed this article and the recipes in it, you can link to its companion piece, a dedicated Pinterest board you can refer to any time.