Baja-Style Beer Battered Fish Tacos
Tacos de Pescado Estilo Ensenada·(tah-kohs de pes-kah-do es-tee-lo en-se-nah-dah)
Chapter 3 — Tacos: The Assembly
Saturday afternoon, the kitchen counter becomes a Mission Street taqueria or an Ensenada street cart. You orchestrate a dozen moving parts at once, from the resting masa to the shredded green cabbage. The salsas are ground in the molcajete in the morning, and the onions are cured in citrus overnight. When the first guest walks up, drop the fish into 375-degree oil and blister the tortillas on a smoking-hot comal. This traditional capeado, fortified with yellow mustard and cold Modelo, fries up shatteringly crisp over white fish. Pull the fish to a wire cooling rack, stack the hot tortillas, and let everyone build their own.
Before you start
Cure the onions overnight.
Marinate the pickled onions in citrus and acid the night before to break down the raw bite and achieve a glowing pink color.
Make the salsas and sauces in the morning.
Press the roasted salsa through the molcajete for proper rustic texture, and whisk the mayocrema so it is ready to go in a squeeze bottle.
Pre-salt the fish.
Season the fish strips generously with kosher salt and let sit in the fridge for 20 minutes to draw out excess moisture before thoroughly drying them.
Ingredients
- firm white fish1 1/2 lb
- all-purpose flour1 1/2 cup
- cornstarch2 tbsp
- baking powder1 1/2 tsp
- chicken bouillon powder1 tsp
- garlic powder1 tsp
- dried Mexican oregano1 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
- kosher salt1 tsp
- yellow mustard1 tbsp
- light Mexican lager1 cup
- neutral oil1 qt
- lard2 tbsp
- corn tortillas24 med
- green cabbage1 small
- chipotle mayocrema1 cup
- pico de gallo1 cup
- salsa molcajeteada1 cup
- pickled red onions1 cup
- Mexican limes4 med
Method
- 01
Mix the dry capeado.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, chicken bouillon powder, garlic powder, Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper.
- 02
Set up the fry station and the comal.
Bring the neutral oil and lard to 350°F in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, while simultaneously heating a carbon-steel comal or wide cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on an adjacent burner.
- 03
Hydrate the batter à la minute.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the yellow mustard, and pour in the ice-cold beer, whisking gently until it resembles slightly lumpy pancake batter without overmixing.
- 04
Fry the fish.
Working in batches, dip the dry fish strips into the batter, let the excess drip off, and lay them away from you into the hot oil to fry for 4 to 6 minutes until shatteringly crisp before transferring to a wire rack and salting immediately.
- 05
Double-warm the tortillas.
Lightly mist the tortillas with water and slap them onto the smoking-hot comal to steam the masa and blister the exterior, warming for 30 seconds per side before stacking them in twos.
- 06
Assemble the spread.
Place the crispy fish in the double-warmed tortillas, top with drained icy cabbage, a generous drizzle of chipotle mayocrema, pico de gallo, a dollop of molcajete salsa, bright pickled onions, and a heavy squeeze of lime.
Notes
Do not skip the lard or substitute it.
The manteca provides the authentic aroma of a Baja street cart, and cutting your fry oil with lard yields pure flavor.
Texture is everything.
Press your salsa through a molcajete rather than blitzing it in a blender; the coarse, rustic texture is what separates home-cooking from a real taqueria.
The secret ingredient is mustard.
Nearly every authentic Ensenada recipe includes yellow mustard in the batter to provide a golden hue and an earthy tang that cuts the fat, while chicken bouillon powder brings a massive hit of umami.
A promise delivered.
When you take that first bite, the crunch of hot batter giving way to icy cabbage and a pliable, charred tortilla will make you say, YES, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE PLACE ON MISSION STREET TASTES LIKE.