Making Fish Tacos

[HungryChris]

I have had a few fish tacos. All were good, but my favorites so far have been with fried fish on a soft corn tortilla. I thought the soft corn tortillas used at Rubios were a big part of the overall flavor that I enjoyed. I have yet to find any like it in my area. If I did, fish tacos would be the first thing I would try and make with them. I would try lightly breaded fried Halibut first I think.

HC

[chefadamg]

A "Baja" style is the simplest and the best. I generally use mahi-mahi..marinate in lime and oil for about 3-5 minutes..grill. Serve on a properly cooked corn tortilla (grilled or roasted over open flame. Dress with shaved cabbage..NO..I REPEAT NOOOO DRESSING ON CABBAGE. Now..the finish is up to you. I prefer a concoction of mayo and sour cream with lime juice and cilantro. Some like a simple salsa fresca..its up to you. You really need to keep this simple...the more crap you pile on the worse it will be.

[Jensen]

Chefadamg, now that sounds like my ideal fish taco. Mmmmm

[Live It Up]

A "Baja" style is the simplest and the best. I generally use mahi-mahi..marinate in lime and oil for about 3-5 minutes..grill. Serve on a properly cooked corn tortilla (grilled or roasted over open flame. Dress with shaved cabbage..NO..I REPEAT NOOOO DRESSING ON CABBAGE. Now..the finish is up to you. I prefer a concoction of mayo and sour cream with lime juice and cilantro. Some like a simple salsa fresca..its up to you. You really need to keep this simple...the more crap you pile on the worse it will be.

←

This is very similar to the fish tacos that I make, except that for the sauce I like to use sour cream with chipotles in adobo mixed in (and a little lime juice). Also, I like chopped red onion on mine, but I like that on all tacos. Oh, and I prefer red cabbage to green. But, yeah, that sounds really good right now.

[jdtofbna]

I had fish tacos at Radius 10 here in Nashville last week that were fabulous. Made with grilled grouper, the menu listed the ingredients as red onion, fresh chili, watermelon, radish, avocado, tomato and cilantro lime crema on soft flour tortillas. The stuff dreams are made of!

[FatTony]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm in SF again next week so I might just ask Taylor's how they make 'em.

JoeBlowe, let me know how you got on if you visisted.

Toliver, thanks for the epicurious link. I know what you mean about the marinade term but it's delicious so I forgive them the crappy copywriting.

The other posts make me realize there's more than one road to a delicious taco. But I'm going to get this one right first.

[heidih]

In the fish sticks topic a member mentions using the frozen breaded "fish sticks" in fish tacos. For me the fish tacos are about the special combination of fragrant soft corn tortilla, crisp fried fish, crunchy slaw, creamy white sauce and spicy salsas, I think this can work. My point of reference is Ensenada style fish tacos down by the fish market in the 1980's....

[onrushpam]

When y'all mention "white sauce", do you mean Mexican crema or something else?

[heidih]

I think we all have had a slightly different experience. Yes Crema, but if not available a thinned down mayo preferably with a slight tang. We are talking only a drizzle here; just one of the layers of flavor in this simple street food.

[Katie Meadow]

I usually combine the crema and the slaw, and make a creamy slaw. It's very forgiving. I start with a simple favorite slaw using lime juice instead of lemon or vinegar, and then add a mixture of mayo and Fage full-fat yogurt or mayo with mostly creme fraiche, or whatever I have on hand to approximate the crema. I've used sour cream thinned with half & half with a little mayo for extra tang.

Fish sticks? That's a bit sad. The simplest batter using fresh fish would be so much better. Beer batter is good, but even just a modest dip in egg and then seasoned flour works, as long as the fish is good. Black Cod (aka sablefish or butterfish) is my favorite fish for tacos, or Ling cod, but I'm sure whatever is local and fresh caught would be the way to go. My preference is for pan-fried and lightly battered, rather than deep-fried, but then I'm not very expert at deep-fry.

[flightcook]

I have read the entire fish taco thread just to see if anyone got the white sauce right, and everyone has missed it. Think about it, everyone is talking about Mayo, Crema, etc. This sauce sits out in the sun all day long; I don't care how much lime you add, mayo will kill you after a few hours in the Baja sun.

I got to watch the sauce being made by a nice elderly lady in Ensenada, MX and the ingredients make perfect sense. Not Mayo or Crema, but canned evaporated milk and lime juice, that is all it is. The Ultra Pasteurized Evaporated Milk is the safest dairy there is for sitting in the sun all day and the lime juice thickens it and adds an additional level of protection. The batch I saw made was several gallons but I have found that 2 to 3 limes squeezed into a 15 oz (maybe not 15 oz, but the standard size can), stir and let sit for a few minutes.

I cannot speak for the rest of Mexico, but this is the true white sauce for Baja Tacos de Pescado. The other ingredients are correct. I like a beer batter, just some shave cabbage and a real taqueria salsa (as mentioned, made with a base of roasted tomato and rehydrated chili peppers).

Try it, you will like it.

[heidih]

Flightcook - that does make sense on the crema, not just from the "holding all day in the sun" perspective, but from the economic standpoint. I will be giving it a taste try.

[EatNopales]

I have read the entire fish taco thread just to see if anyone got the white sauce right, and everyone has missed it. Think about it, everyone is talking about Mayo, Crema, etc. This sauce sits out in the sun all day long; I don't care how much lime you add, mayo will kill you after a few hours in the Baja sun.

I got to watch the sauce being made by a nice elderly lady in Ensenada, MX and the ingredients make perfect sense. Not Mayo or Crema, but canned evaporated milk and lime juice, that is all it is. The Ultra Pasteurized Evaporated Milk is the safest dairy there is for sitting in the sun all day and the lime juice thickens it and adds an additional level of protection. The batch I saw made was several gallons but I have found that 2 to 3 limes squeezed into a 15 oz (maybe not 15 oz, but the standard size can), stir and let sit for a few minutes.

I cannot speak for the rest of Mexico, but this is the true white sauce for Baja Tacos de Pescado. The other ingredients are correct. I like a beer batter, just some shave cabbage and a real taqueria salsa (as mentioned, made with a base of roasted tomato and rehydrated chili peppers).

Try it, you will like it.

Sorry but no you cannot make that claim even remotely. For starters, the most popular & established fish taco stands in Ensenada all have electricity & refrigeration... Tacos Corona (40 years & going strong), Don Zefe (who claims to be the original fish taco stand), Tacos Lulu, El Fenix (the most financially successful with several locations), La Floresta and Tacos Ensenada... these are the busiest stands sought out by local connoisseurs.

I know for a fact that:

Tacos Ensenada uses straight Crema Agria that happens to be naturally thin (kind of like the Cacique brand Crema)

La Floresta uses straight Mayo

Don Zefe uses watered down Mayo

Further there is no universal agreement on the fish to be used (Corvina, Angel Shark, Mako Shark and Dogfish are all popular), and there is no universal salsa style (from Pico de Gallo to Molcajete sauce) or batter style (ranging from Pancake Mix & Beer... to Egg Batter)

You cannot make a universal claim based on one particular experience with one particular unnamed stand.

[BadRabbit]

This sauce sits out in the sun all day long; I don't care how much lime you add, mayo will kill you after a few hours in the Baja sun.

Commercially made mayonnaise will not come even remotely close to killing you after a few hours in the sun regardless of locale.

[Robin G]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I saw the discussion of fish tacos and couldn't restrain myself from noting that Rubio's uses a mixture of equal parts mayo and yogurt in their white sauce. I first saw this mentioned in a bunch of copycat recipes, but it's also in the official fish taco recipe on their site: http://www.rubios.com/images/funstuff/recipe_tacos.pdf

Obviously Rubio's isn't street food and it's San Diegan, not Mexican, but it sure is good!