Beer-Battered Fish Tacos

It's hard to tell what gets you on that first bite into the fish taco. Is it the spiked acidity of the pickled jalapeños and red onions, the soft, warm beer-battered fish, the raw, spicy freshness of the radish, the creamy tartness of Baja tartar sauce, the perfumed cilantro?

I can't choose. I just know I love a good fish taco on a Sunday afternoon. There are so many recipes for them, but I mix and match the elements I love best. The fish has to be beer-battered, there have to be red onions and jalapeños pickled in red wine vinegar, the sauce can't be mixed with ketchup. Once you become a fish taco aficionado, you know which elements to combine.

So here's how I do fish tacos: marinate thinly sliced red onion and jalapeño in red wine vinegar for a half an hour or more, chop cilantro and slice radishes paper-thin, make a sumptuous white sauce by combining Mexican sour cream with mayonnaise and habanero hot sauce, dip a white fish (I used mojarra, or crappie, but mackerel and halibut would work fine) into a beer batter with a hearty helping of grainy black pepper and fry it, warm< some tortillas, and mix 'em all together for taco bliss.

Fish Tacos

2 lbs boneless white fish
1 cup flour
1 cup dark beer
3 jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced (more if you want spicy, spicy tacos)
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
6 radishes, thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons habanero hot sauce (or to taste)
1 package flour tortillas
4-5 limes, sliced into wedges
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine onions and jalapeños and pour red wine vinegar over them. Let sit at least 30 minutes. Make the beer broth by combining flour, beer, and salt and pepper to taste (I like to go heavy on the pepper - it should be the thick, grainy kind). Whisk well until the bubbles from the beer have dissolved and the batter has a smooth consistency. Set aside and let sit 15 minutes. Chop fish into 1/2 inch cubes and marinate with lime. Let sit 15 minutes. Combine sour cream and mayonnaise and season with habanero hot sauce. I use up to four
tablespoons, but do taste tests to determine your habanero comfort level.

Coat fish with the batter mixture. You can either dump the fish into the bowl with the batter and mix, then scoop the fish out with a slotted spoon, or dip the fish in using the slotted spoon. It depends on how much batter you want on the fish. I usually go with the former. Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a saucepan until a small drop of batter sizzles
in the oil. Fry the fish until golden brown. When fish is just about done, warm tortillas in a pan, wetting them with a few drops of water and flipping them when they begin to puff up.

Serve on separate plates: fish on one platter; cilantro, limes, and radishes on another; red onions and jalapeños in one bowl and sauce in another. People can make their own fish tacos according to their tastes. Squeeze lime over the top of the finished taco.

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