Baja-style fish taco

As tradition built it

Baja-style fish taco

Standard beer-batter convention, not a single sourced historic recipe

Ingredients

The method as the tradition gives it, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them, lead dishes first.

For the batter

• equal parts plain flour and cornstarch, by volume
• 1 tsp per cup of flour baking powder
• cold beer, to a batter the consistency of double cream

To finish

• mild white fish (cod or similar firm, mild fillet)
• 1 to 2 corn tortillas, warmed
• cabbage, shredded
• sour cream or mayonnaise-based sauce
• fresh salsa
• lime wedge

Method

1. Whisk the flour, cornstarch and baking powder with cold beer to a batter the consistency of double cream.
2. Pat the fish dry and dredge lightly in flour before dipping in the batter.
3. Fry hot and fast until crisp and golden.
4. Serve in one or two warmed corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, the sour cream or mayonnaise-based sauce, fresh salsa and a lime wedge.

Notes

Rival claims come from Ensenada, whose fish market dates its claim to the market's 1958 opening, and San Felipe, whose version Ralph Rubio, a San Diego State University student, encountered on a 1974 spring break trip, obtaining a recipe from a vendor named Carlos; Rubio opened his first restaurant in Pacific Beach, San Diego, in 1983 and has consistently credited the recipe to Baja California rather than claiming to have invented it himself.

No precisely sourced historic batter recipe, flour type, ratios, or the fish species originally used at either Ensenada's market or Rubio's own first stand could be found.

What a modern chef changes

Monitored oil temperature and an iced batter

Ingredients

• cabbage, for dehydrating

Method

1. Hold the frying oil at a precise, monitored temperature with a probe thermometer, around 190°C, rather than judging readiness by eye.
2. Dehydrate a portion of the cabbage briefly before shredding it fresh into the slaw, folding the dried, ground portion back through as a concentrated crunch and seasoning note.
3. Chill the batter itself in an ice bath while frying, keeping it as cold as possible against the hot oil.