Escovitch sauce substitutes

The real thing, cooked briefly on the stove and poured over the fish while still hot.

Best for

escovitch fish, fried snapper and parrotfish, fried chicken, festival and bammy plates, fried tofu

Bring 1 cup white vinegar, ideally Jamaican cane vinegar, to a simmer with 1 large carrot cut in matchsticks, 1 onion sliced thin, half a red or green sweet pepper in strips, 1 scotch bonnet sliced into rings, 6 to 8 whole pimento (allspice) berries, 1 tsp sugar and ½ tsp salt. Simmer three minutes only, so the vegetables soften at the edges but keep a definite crunch, then pour the whole hot mixture over the fried fish and let it sit at least fifteen minutes before eating. Some cooks add a tablespoon of oil or a splash of water to soften the acid. Refrigerate leftovers and eat within three days.

The Spanish, Filipino and Latin American vinegar pickle of the same lineage, sold jarred and often containing carrot, onion and chilli.

Best for

fried fish, fried chicken, rice and peas plates, sandwiches

Same idea and the same family of dish, which is why it swaps straight across. The differences are aromatic rather than structural: Latin escabeche usually leans on bay leaf, oregano, peppercorn and sometimes garlic and olive oil, where Jamaican escovitch is defined by whole pimento berries and scotch bonnet. So it tastes more Mediterranean and less warmly spicy, and it is generally milder. Drain off some of the oil if the version you have is oily, add a couple of crushed allspice berries and a sliced scotch bonnet or a shake of scotch bonnet sauce, and it reads convincingly.

Jarred mixed vegetable pickle, usually carrot, cauliflower, celery and pepper in vinegar or oil.

Best for

fried fish, fried chicken, quick weeknight plates, sandwiches

A good pantry improvisation because it delivers the two things that matter most, sharp acid and crunch, in roughly the right shapes. Rinse it if it is packed in oil, which most Italian-style giardiniera is, since oil will make the plate heavy in a way escovitch never is. Chop it small, warm it in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar and a crushed allspice berry or two, and add a sliced hot pepper. It will taste of celery and Italian herbs, which is the giveaway, and it lacks escovitch's slight sweetness, so add a pinch of sugar.

The shortest possible version: sliced onion softened in hot vinegar, with heat added from a bottle.

Best for

fried fish, fried chicken, tacos and sandwiches, emergency dinners

Honest and effective for a weeknight, and it covers acid and aroma, which is most of the sauce's job. What it misses is the crunch and sweetness that carrot and sweet pepper bring, so the plate is sharper and one-dimensional and looks plain next to the real thing. Pour boiling vinegar over the sliced onion, let it stand ten minutes, stir in a scotch bonnet sauce or any hot sauce, add a pinch of sugar and a crushed allspice berry if you have one. Grate a little raw carrot in at the end for texture and you are surprisingly close.

Mild pickled pepper rings from a jar, warmed with a little extra vinegar and onion.

Best for

fried fish, fried chicken sandwiches, fritters, quick plates

Convenient and the closest thing to the sweet pepper element already pickled for you. The brine is usually milder and slightly sweeter than the vinegar in escovitch, so the plate comes out gentler and less bracing, and the peppers themselves are soft rather than crisp. Fix both by warming them with a sliced fresh onion, a splash of plain vinegar to sharpen it and a fresh hot pepper for heat. Do not use the sliced jalapeno version unless you want the dish to taste of pizza-shop pickles.

The three components you genuinely cannot do without, and nothing else.

Best for

escovitch fish, fried fish of any kind, fried chicken

Worth including as the least-bad honest option, because if you have vinegar, an onion and allspice in the cupboard you can make something that tastes like escovitch. Bring them to a simmer with a pinch of salt and sugar and pour it over the fish. What you lose is colour and crunch, both of which come from the carrot and sweet pepper, so the plate looks bare. If you have any crisp raw vegetable at all, even a shredded cabbage leaf or a grated carrot, add it off the heat at the end. Heat can come from any chilli or hot sauce; the allspice is the part people actually taste as Jamaican.