• Ceviche is cooked only, in effect, by chemical action caused by its acidic marinade/pickling; it's never cooked by heat (not even briefly). Alas, the heatless preparation peculiar to this dish exposes humans to health risks [....]
In particular, unlike when cooking with physical heat, relying on the
chemical action of edible
acids will not kill any-&-all
parasites. The preparation method of the subject dish is categorized by scientific experts as "
raw or
lightly preserved fish", along with "sashimi, sushi,
ceviche, and gravlax" [‡].
Heat is not the only solution:
Freezing to proper
subzero temperatures also kills parasites, altho' as a practical matter, doing so requires commercial equipment [‡]. I assume, but do not claim to know, that the
flash-freezers on-board fishing boats can achieve those specified low temperatures. For some years now, such freezing has been an early step in preparing
sushi or
sashimi; it's at least "recommended" in Japan, and legally required in various Anglophone countries, including the U.S.A.
• Escabeche has comparable ingredients, but differs by being cooked by heat [....]
Cooking that attains proper peak temperatures
kills parasites [‡]; these temperatures are significantly lower than, e.g., the low smoking point of olive oil. So eating
escabeche does not pose the risks that eating
ceviche does.
Instead,
escabeche poses only those risks that are posed by consuming seafood cooked by other methods in a restaurant, e.g.: risks from any
improper handling in the chain of custody from its raw suppliers to the restaurant, and from any
unsanitary habits of restaurant staff. The latter, I've read, can be rather reliably judged from the condition of the rest-rooms.
My words above shouldn't be dismissed as squeamish alarmism: Parasites are relatively common in the flesh of
ambush-predators that sprawl on the ocean bottom while waiting for their prey to appear. I know for a fact that this is an issue for halibut (i.e., in California [†]). I suspect that anxiety about cod from their fisheries based in New England and Maritime Canada wouldn't be easily dismissed, especially because 1 parasite is commonly called (
ahem!) the "
cod worm" [‡].
-------
Note ‡: Robert J. Price, Ph.D., and Pamela D. Tom: "Parasites in Marine Fishes". UCSGEP 90-7, August 1990. <
https://web.archive.org/web/20110927063512/http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/Pubs/parasite.htm>. Coäuthor Robert Price is indeed California's publicly accessible expert for this Web-page's not-entirely-pleasant subject-matter. And U.C. Davis (Yolo Co.?), where the state's flagship animal husbandry, food science, and veterinary departments/schools are situated, is exactly 1 of the prime places that a knowledgeable person would expect to find him. At least back before the "Golden State's" 1990s series of budget crises provided financial excuses for it to begin abandoning its life-sciences responsibilities to the feds.
Note †: Let's just say that what was, um, in the gut of my much-bigger-than-barely-legal halibut was far from being a
microscopic anything. More like a fine size for impaling as bait on a boy's fishing hook. Do I hear a distant
"Eeeuuuwww!"?