CookManFood.com!

At the end of last month we posted episode 5 of our cooking show.  We are doing our best to have the recipes posted before or after the shows that we post.  So, a little late but better late than never, the crispy tacos recipe. 

I love fish tacos.  I grew up back east so I did not get introduced to good southwestern and Mexican style food until I moved to San Diego when I was 18.  Since that time, I have been making up for it.  I have had fish tacos done over a dozen different ways over the past decade and having them crispy in a corn tortilla has to be my favorite.  The key to this is picking out a good fish, for these we used tilapia.  Next you need a good beer batter.  In the video, Todd talked about using a pancake mix and using beer instead of water.  That is a great way to do it but a flour, seasoning, and beer mixture also works well.  Another thing I like to do is add a little hot sauce to the batter.  In this case we used Miss Anna’s Hot Pepper Sauce Cut the fish into 3/4 inch by 1 – 2 inch chunks and coat in the beer batter.  Next, get your fryer prepped and make sure the oil is good and hot before dropping the fish in.  Also make sure the basket is in the down position.  Otherwise your fish will stick to the basket.  Cook for 5 minutes or so until the batter is golden brown.

Next step is to make the pico de gallo.  This can be done first if you like and it can also be done the day before.  I like to keep it simple, some tomato, red or yellow onion, cilantro, and some fresh diced chili.  I also like to add a little lime juice to it to give it some zing.  Dice up the ingredients into small chunks and mix into a bowl.  Add a little fresh squeezed lime juice to give it some citrus flavor.  I also like to have this sit for a half an hour or so in the fridge.  I find the longer i let it sit, the better it gets.

Finally you want to cook up the tortillas a bit.  We used corn tortillas on a cast iron skillet lightly coated in oil.  We had them on there for about 30 seconds a side, just enough to get them warm and soft so that they won’t fall apart when we are eating them.

We added some Miss Anna’sgarlic habanero sauce on the top of the tacos, as well as some fresh cabbage.  Cabbage bring some crispness to the dish and the Miss Anna’s brings the heat and that great flavor that belongs on most seafood dishes. 

How do you like your fish tacos?