Surquillo Market to Table — Ceviche, Causa and Tiradito in My Kitchen

Mercado de Surquillo No. 1 is where Lima's restaurant cooks shop. Not the famous ones — their sous-chefs come here at 6am. I arrive at 8am and the market is still alive: vendors selling the specific rocoto chilli that goes into cau cau, the fresh coriander that is more fragrant here than anywhere I've eaten in Europe, the catch-of-the-day fish that will be ceviche within the hour. The key ingredient in ceviche — leche de tigre, the citrus cure — is made fresh, never bottled, and the balance of lime acidity, ginger heat and aji limo chile heat is the whole technique. We buy what looks best, walk 15 minutes to my apartment in Miraflores, and spend 2 hours cooking cebiche (the Peruvian spelling), causa limeña (the cold potato terrine that Peruvians eat at every party), and a tiradito using the Nikkei technique from Lima's Japanese-Peruvian tradition. We eat on my rooftop with a view of the coast.