Aguachile is originally a dish from Mexico, similar to the ceviche, in which raw fish is flavored with an acid-heavy vinaigrette. We have taken up the idea behind it and make a hydrosol from the basic ingredients and a vinaigrette from it in the further course.

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix finely for 1 minute at the highest setting. Place the homogenized liquid in a vacuum bag and vacuum it completely, cook in a heating bath at 55° C for 2 hours and refrigerate for 24 hours and let it infuse. Then pour the mixture into a glass flask.

Caution:
It is essential to distill the mass in two steps, as it foams very much due to the proteins that are released.

Select the following settings for distillation: 
100 rpm, heating bath at 51° C, the cooling should have at least an initial temperature of 1° C. 

For the first distillation, it is advisable to approach the boiling point in 5 mbar steps from an initial pressure of 250 mbar. At a certain point, the liquid will foam very strongly at the beginning, so it is advisable to stay with the device so that the liquid does not foam over into the receiving flask.

When the boiling point is reached and the process is running, the vacuum should be lowered rather slowly to an end point of 50 mbar. 

For a better viscosity, the hydrosol must still be enriched with the sugar syrup after distillation. In order to take out the sweetness again a little, the hydrosol should still be balanced with a little acid. Fresh lemon juice is best suited for this.
 

The matching dish:

We use the hydrosol in a dish with pickled mackerel, Gemmrigheim sweet potato, scorched pineapple and turn the hydrosol into a vinaigrette, which is enriched with a chive oil.

Have fun while enjoying!

Benjamin Maerz

Photo credits by Michaela Klose