What's your best fish taco recipe?

1) Never use Tilapia
2) See rule #1
3) Go out of your way to find homemade corn tortillas

Now that you have the rules down here's how I make them.

I like Grouper, Mahi-mahi or Snapper best for grilled fish tacos. Generally I brush them with butter and lightly sprinkle them with Old Bay seasoning and Slap Ya Mamma spice. Don't go too heavy you're not going for blackened. Grill at high heat (450) over charcoal and brush with melted butter when you flip them

I generally use redfish or drum for fried fish tacos because I fish and usually have it on hand, but, Mahi, Cod, and Hake make great substitutes. Unless you have a fish market, I'd suggest getting the frozen ones at Costco or HEB. HEB's fish counter fish suck. I soak them in a crepe consistency batter made with beer, rice flour, and all-purpose flour. Just before frying I dredge them and a dry mixture of equal parts rice flour, all-purpose flour, and corn flour. Both get seasoned with salt pepper and a sprinkle of cumin. Fry at 350 in peanut or canola oil.

For the sauce I use puréed chipotles in adobo mixed with mayo, buttermilk, and lime juice.

I serve my tacos with fairly finely minced pico (mango added for grilled fish), sliced avocado (never guacamole), chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.


There you go. No need to reinvent the wheel.

[This message has been edited by dba fido (edited 7/21/2014 7:06a).]

These are my 2 go-to recipes:

Recipe One (pretty sure I stole this from Bobby Flay on youtube).
1. Mix 1/2 cup of olive oil with 1 rounded TBSP of paprika.
2. Dice 1 jalapeño pepper
3. Combine in bowl with 1tsp salt and the juice of 1 lime.
4. Cover filets with sauce/jalapeno mixture (mahi-mahi is my favorite, but the wife loves the taboo tilapia).
5. Marinate for 1 hour
6. Grill

Recipe 2:
1. Olive oil on both sides of fish
2. Equal parts cayenne and kosher salt on both sides of fish
3. Grill

Toppings that work with both.

1. Two Parts Sour cream
2. One 1 Part mayo
3. Juice of 1/2 lime
4. One medium sized chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
5. S&P to taste
6. Puree

Sauce 2, not to be used in conjunction w/sauce 1.

1. Three finely minced garlic cloves
2. One TBSP olive oil in skillet
3. Heat oil over medium heat
4. Add garlic - cook until golden brown, about 1 minute
5. Pour garlic and oil into small bowl
6. Add 3 TBSP mayo
7. Add 2 TBSP white vinegar or lemon juice
8. S&P to taste - stir

This garlic sauce above is money. It's also great over soba noodle salad - soba noddles, romaine lettuce, shrimp or salmon, fresh red bell pepper and cucumber slices.

It's also great on a leather shoe.

My wife makes a corn salsa with whole kernel corn, red onions, and red bell peppers. I don't know the ratios, but I believe she also puts red wine vinegar in it.

Serve over warm corn tortillas.

We're about to start experimenting with a slaw recipe, but for now it's the fish, corn salsa, and cream sauce only.

[This message has been edited by Adam Ag 98 (edited 7/20/2014 8:27p).]

[This message has been edited by Adam Ag 98 (edited 7/20/2014 8:28p).]

[This message has been edited by Adam Ag 98 (edited 7/20/2014 8:31p).]

quote:

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1) Never use Tilapia

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Why is this? I have used it in the past for a quick meal with a little bit of seasoning and done in a hot pan. Mix in a little mango pico and had a quick dinner.

Because it's a crap fish with zero flavor. It also tends to be farmed in Asian countries where the water quality the fish are raised in is highly suspect.

[This message has been edited by HTownAg98 (edited 7/21/2014 9:42a).]

I know its not the first choice, and should probably be the last choice. Just was caught off guard that it was put as the #1 rule.

[This message has been edited by n_touch (edited 7/21/2014 9:47a).]

You can get Tilapia from Whole Foods where it's responsibly farm raised. Still tastes like nothing, but it's not being raised a mercury pool.

quote:

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Because it's a crap fish with zero flavor

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At first I was going to argue, but, the more I think about it I guess I shouldn't consider mud a flavor. The texture sucks too

Tilapia sucks for Fish Tacos. When I want as real a Mexican West Coast version it must include some shredded cabbage. One thing I like to do is let my shredded cabbage, with some finely diced onion, sit in lime juice for a spell with a splash of vinegar.

I don't care for Pico de Gallo on my fish tacos, I prefer the cabbage and onion and a really good hot salsa. As Fido mentions, avocado goes great with fish tacos and if you get some from a stand or authentic eatery in Mexico they will always come with avocado.

Sometimes I like to soak my fish, and I also agree NO TILAPIA, in some achiote sauce and then bread and fry, I like using bread crumbs as the breading. To me a good saltwater fish is always preferable. Also having good, fresh, corn tortillas is a must.

Since it came up: Some good info about Tilapia

quote:

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The report said that the “inflammatory potential of hamburger (80 percent lean) and pork bacon is lower than the average serving of farmed tilapia (100 g).”

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Ok, so don't eat 10 pounds of Tilapia/week.

The best I've ever eaten were at Playa Maya in PDC, made from grouper "a la plancha". Simple, unbreaded and fantastico.

I like them unbreaded as well Htown, you are right. "A la plancha" is how I had them growing up and also along the Gulf and Caribbean coasts of Mexico. But a lot of people, myself included, do like the crunch of fried.

Best ones I ever had were in a small beach eatery in Tuxpan, Veracruz. Made with fresh ling and they were also a la plancha.

Another very underrated Mexican seafood dish is "salpicon" which basically means hash, I think. There are places in Veracruz where I had fish salpicon tacos that were incredibly good. They made the fish hash, and then pan fried it like a patty almost and made tacos out of it. Salpicon de Jaiba/Crab is also one of my favorite things ever. I have only seen it on the menu of one place in the US. In better days there were places in Matamoros that had excellent salpicon.

Beer battered mahi mahi, shredded cabbage, chipotle mayo, corn tortilla.

As far as tilapia goes, yes it tastes like dirt. So does catfish. That's right, I went there.

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Bam!

Buddy of mine that is a chef makes ahi tuna tacos. Rare tuna, red cabbage slaw with siracha mayo, S&P, cilantro, green onion, carrot, lime, jalapeño, sugar. Incredible slaw, crunchy with all three salty, sweet and spicy. Corn tortilla.
Other taco is blackened mahi mahi, cilantro, onion. Simple but excellent

The first two replies are gold, Jerry, GOLD! And I would use Mahi Mahi.

We use speckled trout, fried however you like (we prefer a beer batter)

The secret is a good sauce. Mine is:

1 part mayo
1/2 part sour cream
1/2 part plain greek yogurt

put that in the food processor and add a sliced jalapeno, a teaspoon or 3 of lime juice, a handful-ish of cilantro, tsp-ish of cumin, and some cayenne. (all measurements are "to taste")

Spin that until its smooth and creamy without chunks.

Put fish, shredded purple cabbage, some grated sharp cheddar, and drizzle with the sauce. Serve with cold beer and good company.

Homemade corn tortillas turn it up to 11.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

you had me until you put cheddar w fried fish. I will have to try that.

I'm not a cook. So here's my convenient(and pretty damn good) fish taco.

Fresh Corn Tortillas from your favorite source
Trident Wild Alaskan Pollock Fish Sticks from Costco
Trader Joe's Cilantro dressing
Coleslaw of your choice(I use the bagged version from Sam's)

They aren't going to win any awards amongst the foodies, but they are relatively cheap, convenient and tasty for the price.