I mean, perch burritos…
Fish tacos, well at least what we call fish tacos in our house are actually more of a burrito. We can add more of the good stuff in a burrito and it is easier for the kids to hold and eat. If you want fish tacos, the recipe is the same, just put it in a taco shell and add less of the good stuff…easy peasy lemon squeeze! Wait, we use lime in this recipe. This is how we do “tacos” but you can add or remove anything you want. Take this as a “guide” to fish tacos.
The Main Attraction, Perch!
I use perch for this recipe because I can readily catch them on Lake Simcoe. The lake is not too far away from home, and they re fun to catch. But you can use any light flakey fish you have access to. Fillet the fish, or get the fish filleted, and put it aside. After filleting the fish, I put the fillets in the fridge for a few hours to overnight. It firms up the meat a bit and dries the fillets. I think it keeps them from getting too greasy and makes them easier to handle and cook.
The first thing I do is season the fillets directly. I add Montreal Steak Spice, salt and cyan pepper. I don’t like adding seasoning to the batter, I feel like it doesn’t season the fillets evenly. After I season the fillets I put them aside and let that soak in a bit while I prep the rest of the ingredients.
Topping for the Fish Tacos
The first thing I do is prep a pseudo guac, which is a guacamole that has a few additions. Start with the avocado and mash it up…if you start with the mango you will have a hard time mushing up the avocado…trust me. Into it, I add mango, cilantro, chives and red onions. You can add white onions if you are not a fan of red onions, or skip them all together but the onions vs the mango adds a great contrast in flavour.
I then Julienne cut some sweet pickles. Dice more onions, if you like them. Grate some cheese, spoon on some salsa and sour cream and pour on the hot sauce to taste before I wrap it and munch it!
Battering the Fish
I make a beer batter out of a complete pancake mix and beer. Dredge the fish in flour before dipping the fish in the beer batter mix. I like using a Tupperware container to dredge the fish, it is easier than a sealable bag and you can clean and reuse it. It also keeps the cooking process a lot cleaner when you are removing the fish from the flour.
Cooking and Assembling the Fish Tacos
Once the prep is done the rest is easy. Remove the fish from the flour dredge, put it in the batter, make sure it is coated and put it into the oil. Cook it for about 2 min aside, then put it on a drying rack. As soon as I put the fish on the drying rack I squeeze some lime on the fillets.
Once the fillets are cooked I assemble the fillets. I start with sour cream, cheese then add the fish. In my mind the sour cream holds the cheese in place while the fish melts the cheese…then I add the rest of the toppings. How much of each I add is based on how much I want.
This is food and you have to eat it. So while you are preparing all of this remember, make it the way you want to eat it. I urge you to try my way, but I am not a professional chef. Maybe a professional eater…but, not a chef. I come about cooking by trial and error, adding or subtracting things that I like. You should do the same.
