The Simplest Ceviche Is the Best Ceviche

Wanna make ceviche? Sure you do. Wanna make it right? Good. Then take all of those tomatoes and that avocado and cilantro and throw them in the garbage. Actually, don’t toss them—you can make a pretty good guacamole with those. Just keep them out of the ceviche bowl.

But when it comes to ceviche, all you really need is four ingredients: octopus, white fish (like sole, for example), lime, and red onions. Nothing more, nothing less, expect maybe a little salt and pepper. That may sound boring, but it’s not; the simplest ceviche is the best ceviche.

It’s not just us saying that. Peru’s ceviche god Javier Wong has been scaling back on ingredients in his world-famous seafood dish for years. But he’s still not content; “If I could take one more element of my ceviche, I would die in peace,” he told us when he let us in on his ceviche-making secrets. Just don’t forget to add “a lot of love.”

And don’t worry about difficulty either. Wong says it’s so simple that even “gringos” can handle it.