When I was going to college in Texas, I had a girlfriend named Barbara Sharon Miller. We called her B.S for short. One day, B.S. came to my dorm room and said, “Come on. Let’s go get some fish tacos!” I , of course, replied, “Scuse me? Did you just say, FISH tacos? Because the last I heard, BEEF+ corn or flour tortilla= taco. FISH? + tortilla = NOT taco.” She assured me that some really cute guy from California had opened up this new, little Taco Stand near the campus and that his fish tacos were out-of-this-world! “Maybe out-of-this-state.” I thought.
However, you couldn’t argue with her (or with the opportunity to meet some new cute guy from California), so off we drove in her Mustang convertible to this new, rather fishy-sounding taco stand. “Don’t worry.” My friend said, “If you don’t like ‘em, he’s got the regular beef tacos, too.”
Well, when we arrived, it was immediately apparent that she certainly wasn’t “B.S.ing!” It was literally just a little Taco Stand. And yes, the guy running the stand was very cute. and, It also turned out that he definitely made one tasty fish taco! As a matter of fact, it was so good that I asked him for the recipe. A big grin spread across his face and he said, “The trick is in the picklin’. But, if you’ll go out with me, I’ll show you, myself, how to make them!” Now, this was one good taco and picklin’ or ticklin’, he was also one really cute boy from California, so how could I say no?
Now, all these years later, I don’t know whatever happened to that cute boy from California, but I sure hung onto that recipe. And now, I’m sharin’ it with you today. Gee, you know what? There’s problee’ lots of good recipes out there. Maybe I should have me a little sign drawn up, “WILL DATE FOR GOOD RECIPE!” Heck, you never know what tasty adventures are ahead!
Fish Tacos
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: California Cuisine
PREP TIME
20 mins
COOK TIME
10 mins
TOTAL TIME
30 mins
I have divided it into parts to make it easy!
INGREDIENTS
Fish Part:
1 pound cod or halibut or mahi mahi (skinless and cut into strips)
Salt and pepper
¾ cup unbleached flour
2 tablesopoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dark beer ( I like Negro Modelo)
3 cups canola oil
Picklin’ Part:
1 small white onion (sliced)
2 jalapeno peppers (stems removed and sliced into rounds)
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt and pepper
Cabbage Part:
One small head of green cabbage (shredded)
¼ cup of that picklin’ juice (with jalapeno peppers and onions, too)
4 tablespoons of cilantro (roughly chopped)
½ teaspoon salt and pepper
White Sauce:
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 tablespoons sour cream or crema
1 ½ teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove (minced)
¼ teaspoon salt and pepper
Tortillas
8-9 flour or corn tortillas
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Fish:
Pat your fish dry and cut into strips and set aside.
Pour about ½ to ¾ inch of oil and heat in your skillet.
Mix all the ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl. Dip the fish strips into the batter and coat thoroughly.
Then place them, about four at a time so as not to crowd in the skillet or dutch oven.
Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and dry on a wire rack with paper towel under it.
When all done, place the fish on the wire rack in a warm oven to keep warm ‘til serving.
For the Picklin’:
Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir around to thoroughly combine. Let it sit in the icebox for at least 30 minutes. You can mix this up ahead of time and take it out when you are assembling the tacos. It’ll keep in your icebox for 2 or three days.
For the White Sauce:
Just mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
For the Cabbage:
Toss all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
For The Tortillas:
Cook flour or corn tortillas according to package directions. I simply heat my directly over the gas flame on my stove burner or in a very hot cast iron skillet until it begins to char just a bit and bubble up some. Be careful not to burn. Then, I place them in some aluminum foil and crimp edges shut and wrap in a kitchen towel ‘til I’m ready to assemble.