I was first introduced to the humble Baja fish taco in the mid 90’s during my freshman year of college at UC San Diego. It’s been argued that the fish taco craze in the U.S. originated in San Diego, a result of local college kids going down to Baja, falling in love with fish tacos sold at stands throughout the region, and bringing the concept back stateside. This would certainly explain why fish tacos were widely available all around San Diego. The closest fish taco joint to our campus was Rubio’s Fish Tacos, who heavily advertised throughout our campus, handing out countless coupons for dirt-cheap fish taco deals to students. How can a poor, starving college student say no, right? You can say I ate a lot of fish tacos during that time.
So what is a Baja Fish Taco exactly? In its classic form, Baja fish tacos consists of white fish that is beer-battered and deep fried, then served with finely shredded cabbage and a creamy white sauce on a corn tortilla, topped with a fresh squeeze of lime. That’s it. You can add the optional avocado or Pico de Gallo (see my Pico de Gallo recipe) or some other salsas – it’s a highly customizable food. If you are a purist, you’d leave it alone; if you’re a condiment junky like me, you struggle to show restraint at the salsa bar. Either way, they are delicious!
Fast forward a few years later, I ended up living in Melbourne Australia. I would regale my friends about all the great Mexican food I had available to me back in California. In the early 2000’s good Mexican food (or any Mexican food at all) was hard to come by Down Under. Occasionally you’d find the garden variety Tex Mex, but I was always craving a more authentic Mexican food experience.
When I first brought up fish tacos to my Aussie friends, no one had ever heard of it; in fact, they all thought it sounded strange and unappetizing. Of course that was my queue to make my first fish taco. The “internet” was still a relatively new thing so I had to experiment a bit – a little trial and error never hurt anybody. Today there are many schools of thoughts on fish tacos and particularly on what should go in the batter – egg or no egg, self rising flour or regular all purpose flour, baking powder or baking soda, lager beer or ale. You can research for days, but instead you should just try making it.
The fish tacos I made for my Aussie friends were such a big hit that I even contemplated quitting my corporate desk job to start a fish taco joint. (I would have literally been the only game in town!) While I sit here lamenting about what could have been, you should go grab a beer and get that batter started. 🙂
Baja Fish Tacos
Ingredients
Batter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1 egg
- 6 ounces beer, any beer you want
- 1/2 tsp salt
Fish
- 1 pound firm white fish, such as cod, tilapia, catfish
White Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Mexican crema, or sour cream or crème fraiche (see notes)
- 3-4 cloves garlic, grated (or very very finely minced)
- 1 tsp salt, adjust to your taste
Other Ingredients
- vegetable oil for frying
- tortillas
- cabbage, finely shredded
- lime wedges
How I Make It
- Mix all the ingredients of the white sauce together and let it chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Mix all batter ingredients together with a whisk until smooth and there are no more lumps. The batter will have a runny consistency. Refrigerate and let the batter rest for 30-60 minutes before using.
- Cut the fish into pieces, to whatever size you want. I cut mine into bite size pieces (either fish finger size or chicken nugget size).
- Heat oil into a pan to about 350F (make sure there is enough oil to at least cover half the fish). If you don't have a thermometer, this is around the point where the oil looks shimmering like it's dancing but before it is smoking. Drop a little bit of batter in there and it should sizzle up.
- Dip the fish into the batter and drop it into the oil. Fry it until golden brown. If you aren't using a lot of oil, this might require flipping the fish to cook the other side. It will take anywhere between 4-7 minutes to cook, depending on the thickness of your fish pieces.
- Place the cooked fish pieces on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Season with a little salt.
- Assemble your taco with fish, shredded cabbage, and white sauce. Squeeze some lime over top and enjoy!
Notes
- For the white sauce, you can substitute the Mexican Crema with sour cream, creme fraiche, plain Greek yogurt or even plain regular whipping cream. If you use something that doesn't have a natural tanginess (like cream or half-half), you will want to squeeze 1 lime juice into it. The mayonnaise is important though, it gives the sauce its body so I would recommend leaving that in. Adjust the amount of garlic to your palate.
- Tortillas - while corn is traditional, you can use whatever you prefer. I look for the smaller tortillas about 4-5 inches in diameter.
