Beer Battered Cod Fish Tacos Recipe

I’m pretty excited about this one because this Baja style cod fish taco recipe was prepared in Quarantine on Cinco de Mayo, this is essentially a fish and chips recipe that we used for the base, we’re just going to change the spices added into the batter. The batter can be prepared either mild, medium or hot. I’ll give you three versions based on the spices you choose. The beer chosen will also change the flavor, my advice is to use a lighter beer with a lot of flavor, no cheap light beers. I chose the “Crisp” pilsner from Sixpoint Brewery based in Brooklyn, New York. I went with Cod as my fish, it’s light, not too fishy in smell/taste and is high in lean protein. Since some ingredients are hard to find I used frozen filets, USA wild caught, and the quality was very good. I let 3-4 filets defrost the night before in the fridge. Enjoy these fish tacos and let me know your thoughts. I also have a grilled fish taco recipe!

Preparing Fish

1 cup of all purpose flour
Cod Filets. I used frozen pieces, and had them defrost in the fridge overnight. After defrosting, I sliced them in half to create thinner pieces
1 medium egg, use just the egg white.
1/2 cup of beer. A lager works well I used a pilsner (you may need to add more if the batter gets too thick)
Sunflower or Olive Oil (don’t use vegetable oil unless you want your home to smell)
Sea Salt or kosher salt
1 Teaspoon of your choice of seasoning, I used paprika. You’ll use one teaspoon for the dry flour coating and another for the wet batter. (mild use paprika, medium use cayenne, hot use smoked Spanish style paprika) I would avoid chili flake that could over power the flavors.
1 teaspoon baking powder

Tortillas

A lot of fish or Baja style tacos call for flour tortillas, so feel free to use flour, I went with corn.
Corn tortillas can be made from scratch or store bought, you can also follow my guide to using prepared corn masa to make tortillas.

Taco Toppings

Cabbage
Avocado
Cilantro
Salsa Verde
Chipotle Mayo

Sides & Garnishes

Street Corn Recipe easily prepared in minutes.
Lime wedges
Radishes – sliced thin to cleanse your palette and generally great for your health!

Beer Batter for Fish Tacos

Cooking Freshly Made Tortillas

Cutting Radishes and Limes

Directions

We are going to shallow fry the fish, we are not deep frying them, grab a large shallow pan and add enough olive oil. We’re going to heat the oil on medium-high, before we get the batter ready.
Grab a bowl add the flour, baking powder, your choice of spice, I use 1 teaspoon of paprika. Start whisking while adding in your beer. Add beer until a decent batter begins to form, it should be slightly thicker than pancake batter but fall off the whisk easily. If the batter is too thick fell free to add additional beer slowly until the consistency is there, be sure the remove any lumps.
Grab a second small bowl take a medium egg and remove the yolk, just use the white, now with only egg white in the bowl whisk quickly until it is white and fluffy with peaks.
Take the egg whites you’ve prepared, we are going to add it to the batter and careful fold it over, we’re going to mix them together not whisk…the batter is now ready.
Grab your fish make sure they are fairly thin, I cut mine horizontally with a sharp knife, next lightly salt each side of the filet.
Take a shallow plate, we’re going to prepare flour for dredging the fish in before having them take a dip in the batter. Mix in with the flour a teaspoon of your chosen spice, in our case paprika. dredge your filets in the mixture they should be lightly powdered now.
Next take the filets drop them in the batter flip them over in the bowl the filets should be fully covered. let the excess batter drip off.
Now you can start to place the filets in the pan with the oil. While cooking you’re going to baste the top of the fish with the oil. Let the one side cook until golden brown, flip the filets over and cook through. The fish should cook fairly quickly 3-4 minutes each. Remove the fish and let them sit on plate with a paper towel to absorb any oil.

Prepare the Taco

Take your tortillas and use a fork to break apart the filet and use pieces for your filling.
Top with shredded cabbage, chipotle mayo, salsa verde, diced cilantro, and lastly top with sliced avocado.
Enjoy!