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Tacos de pescado

From WikiTacos, the taco encyclopedia · Taco type
Also known as: Baja fish taco, Ensenada fish taco, Taco de pescado estilo Ensenada, Fish tacos

Tacos de pescado in the Baja style are corn tortillas holding strips of batter-fried white fish, dressed with shredded cabbage, salsa, a thin creamy sauce and lime, a street food that took its modern form at the Mercado Negro fish market of Ensenada, Baja California, around 1960.

Contents
  1. History
  2. Spread to the United States
  3. Preparation
  4. Recipe
  5. Where to try it
  6. Reviews
  7. See also
  8. References

History

Fish wrapped in tortillas is as old as coastal Mexican cooking, but the battered and fried Baja taco has a more recent and much-debated origin. Mexico News Daily and Discover Baja both trace it to the Mercado Negro, a cluster of about twenty informal portside stands in Ensenada that operated from roughly 1957 until authorities shut it down in 1967.

The vendor most often named as the first modern fish taquero is Mario, nicknamed El Bachigualato, a Sinaloan who began selling fish tacos at the market around 1960. His tacos were not fried: he cooked angel shark, a fish local crews often discarded, wrapped in foil and topped it with salsa bandera of tomato, onion and chile. Zeferino Mancilla Fortuna, originally from Tamaulipas, is credited with first flouring and then battering the fish, and Discover Baja says he also added finely shredded cabbage. Pedro Alvarado, open by 1961, is remembered as another early frying pioneer. In 1963 Mario handed his stand to Socorro Negrete Rivera, who after the 1967 eviction moved to San Felipe and helped establish the fish taco there. Revista Selecciones dates the start of the tradition to 1960–1961.

A popular theory credits Japanese fishermen, who had settled in Ensenada from about 1918, with inspiring the batter through tempura. Both Mexico News Daily and Discover Baja treat this as plausible but unproven, and describe the dish as a likely fusion food.

Spread to the United States

In 1974 Ralph Rubio, a San Diego State student, ate fish tacos in San Felipe on a spring break trip and obtained a recipe from a local taquero. In 1983 he opened the first Rubio's in San Diego, and the chain grew to roughly 200 locations, doing much to make the fish taco a Southern California staple. Mexico News Daily names Tacos Fénix in Ensenada, opened in 1970, as the oldest surviving fish taco vendor in the city.

Preparation

Rick Bayless notes that most Ensenada cooks make a thin batter of flour, baking powder and water or beer, often without egg, and season it with ingredients such as garlic, oregano, mustard and chicken bouillon. The fish is cut into long fingers and fried until puffed and golden. Angel shark, locally called angelito, is still common in Ensenada; elsewhere cooks use mild white fish such as snook, red snapper, halibut or cod.

The taco is finished at the table. Discover Baja describes stands serving fried fish on bare tortillas with a self-serve bar of shredded cabbage, salsa bandera, a crema of mayonnaise thinned with lime or milk, pickled onion and a fiery avocado salsa. Fish tacos are typically a morning and midday food in Baja, and many stands sell out by early afternoon.

Recipe

Makes 12 tacos · Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 500 g firm white fish fillets (snook, snapper, halibut or cod), cut into 8 x 1.5 cm strips
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup cold light Mexican beer or sparkling water
  • 1 garlic clove, mashed to a paste with salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • Vegetable oil for frying
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise and 1/3 cup Mexican crema, thinned with milk
  • 2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
  • Salsa bandera: 2 tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 serrano and cilantro, finely chopped, salted
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • Limes and bottled hot sauce

Steps

  1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, beer, garlic, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper into a batter the thickness of thin pancake batter. Rest 10 minutes.
  2. Stir the mayonnaise and crema together, adding milk until it is pourable.
  3. Heat 4 cm of oil to 190 °C (375 °F).
  4. Season the fish lightly with salt and lime, dip in the batter, let the excess drip off and fry a few pieces at a time until golden and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on a rack.
  5. Warm the tortillas. Place one or two pieces of fish on each, then add cabbage, salsa bandera, a drizzle of crema, lime and hot sauce.

Fry just before eating; the batter softens within minutes.

Where to try it

Reviews

Reviews and tips open at launch. Readers will be able to share where they found the best version of this and how they make it at home.

See also

References

  1. "The mystery behind the invention of the Baja fish taco". Mexico News Daily. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  2. "Baja Fish Tacos". Discover Baja Travel Club. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  3. "Ensenada-Style Fish Tacos (Tacos de Pescado "Clasicos de Ensenada")". Rick Bayless. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  4. "Aprende a preparar el taco de pescado estilo Ensenada". Selecciones México. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
Categories: Baja California cuisine Fish tacos Seafood tacos Street food Taco types