There are thousands of ways to tweak this recipe to your taste, but this is a scaled-down home version of what we make at Barracuda. Most tacos are wonderful in their simplicity, but a good fish taco is enjoyable in the ways that you can add so many different components, almost whatever you like. The keys are seasoning in every step of the process, frying airy-crispy-flaky fish, a creamy-tangy sauce, and some chile heat on top to offset all that other stuff.

General Ingredients

—3 pounds high quality fish filets cut into 3 oz pieces Neutral frying oil and/or lard

—The best flour or corn tortillas you can find or make

Dry Batter Ingredients

—1 cup all-purpose flour
—1 teaspoon baking soda
—1/2 cup rice flour
—1 tablespoon mexican oregano, crushed in your hand Kosher Salt, to taste
—1 tsp black pepper
—1 tsp garlic powder

Sift all these together!

Wet batter Ingredients

—1 pilsner/lager beer (12 ounces – we like modelo) 1 fat tablespoon yellow mustard
—1 tablespoon totole or knorr “chicken” powder
—1 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix together, whisk into dry batter until lumps are gone, allow to hydrate for 20 min

The White Sauce

—1 cup good crema (we culture our own, but any sour cream will work great) 1 cup good mayo
—Fresh lime juice to taste
—Kosher salt to taste

Fold together and hold cold till ready to serve

The Garnishes

—1 head green cabbage, sliced as thin as humanly possible
—1 white or red onion, diced small
—1 bunch cilantro, sliced thin
—8 oz Salsa Macha or your favorite hot sauce or raw sliced chiles
—1⁄2 cup pomegranate seeds if you wanna dress it like ours…but garnishes can include your favorite pico de gallo, radishes, small diced cucumbers, pickled stuff, crumbled toasted chile de arbol etc.

To Fry

—Fill a Dutch oven with vegetable oil, about three inches high, and bring to medium-high heat (about 365-375 degrees).

—To test the heat, dip an extra tortilla in the oil. If it floats back up the surface, it’s good. If it fries/browns right up, reduce the heat a little.

—Mix the wet and dry ingredients for the batter. Piece by piece, submerge the fish in the batter to fully coat them. Let excess batter drip off.

—Add the fish to the Dutch oven, piece by piece. Don’t crowd the pan too much or you’ll lower the temperature. Gently roll the pieces around with tongs and fry until golden brown.

—Remove with a slotted spoon to a rack over a hotel pan and season with salt immediately. Let dry. Warm all the tortillas, and plate the tacos!