Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Cabbage Slaw and Lime Crema

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Crisp shallow-fried beer-battered white fish tucked into warm corn tortillas with crunchy cabbage, a tangy lime crema and mild salsa. This is the San Diego–style taco that launched a thousand beach-shack imitators, scaled down to one Dutch oven and about 40 minutes. Frozen pollock keeps it cheap, and the batter stays shatter-crisp because it's mixed cold and used immediately.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp milk, plus more to thin

• 4 cups green cabbage, shredded thin (about 1/2 small head)
• 1 cup red cabbage, shredded thin
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar

• 1 1/2 lb Alaska pollock or cod fillets, thawed if frozen
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 cup cold lager beer
• 1/4 cup flour, for dredging
• 4 cups vegetable or canola oil, for frying

• 12 corn tortillas (6-inch)
• 1 cup mild tomato salsa, store-bought or homemade
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the lime crema: whisk the sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, lime zest, garlic powder, salt and 1 tablespoon milk in a small bowl until smooth and pourable. Add more milk a teaspoon at a time until it drizzles off the whisk in a ribbon. Refrigerate until serving.
2. Make the slaw: toss the green and red cabbage with the lime juice, oil, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Let it sit at room temperature while you fry; it should stay crunchy, so don't dress it more than 45 minutes ahead.
3. Pat the fish very dry with paper towels and cut into strips about 4 inches long and 1 inch thick — you want 12 pieces, one per taco. Season lightly with salt and keep cold in the fridge.
4. Pour 1 1/2 inches of oil into a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven and heat over medium-high to 365°F (185°C) on a clip-on thermometer. Set a wire rack over a sheet pan next to the stove.
5. While the oil heats, whisk together the 1 cup flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, cumin and paprika in a medium bowl. Put the 1/4 cup dredging flour in a shallow dish.
6. When the oil is near temperature, pour the cold beer into the dry batter mix and whisk just until it's the thickness of thin pancake batter — a few lumps are good. Use it right away; a rested batter fries flat.
7. Dredge 3 or 4 fish strips in the plain flour, tap off the excess, then dip into the batter and let the drips fall back into the bowl. Lower each piece into the oil away from you, holding it for a second before releasing so it doesn't stick to the pot.
8. Fry 3 to 4 minutes, turning once at the halfway mark, until deep golden and crisp; the fish should register 145°F (63°C) at the center. Lift onto the rack, salt immediately, and let the oil return to 365°F before the next batch. You'll fry 3 to 4 batches total.
9. Between batches, warm the tortillas: heat a dry skillet over medium-high and toast each tortilla 30 to 45 seconds per side until soft and lightly blistered, stacking them inside a clean kitchen towel to steam.
10. Build each taco with a small handful of slaw, a piece of fried fish, a spoonful of mild salsa, a generous drizzle of lime crema and a pinch of cilantro. Serve immediately with lime wedges.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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