BajaNomad - Fish tacos- not deep fried

Fish tacos- not deep fried

jaymtb - 1-24-2007 at 05:00 PM

Saw a few posts on this some time back. Have had grilled fish tacos most of the time. I just ask _very politely_ if it was possible to cook the fish a la plancha, or on the grill without batter and not in deep oil or fat. at restaurants, taco stands, etc. Usually at taco stands it is good to notice whether they have a bowl of fillets already battered and ready to throw into the oil. You can also ask what type of oil they use for cooking, and what type of fish they have. A good chance to practice Spanish. Usually, if asked politely, cooks are happy to do it this way. Sometimes they seem to think that you are missing out on something by omitting the breading.

Cheers, Jay

BajaGeoff - 1-24-2007 at 05:34 PM

That is because the breading is the best part!

Have you looked...

The Gull - 1-24-2007 at 05:47 PM

recently at the contents of a tortilla? Can you spel Manteca?

Buen Salud, Amigo

Mexitron - 1-24-2007 at 05:55 PM

Sometimes we'd catch surf perch which is a pretty mealy tasting fish, but even those would taste good after we figured out this method--first we'd skin it, then steam the meat until it separated from the bone easily and then throw the pieces into hot oil after salt and peppering them--didn't take too long just a minute in the oil--then throw it into a tortilla with some fresh salsa-always liked that a lot better than the breaded fish tacos.

manteca

sylens - 1-24-2007 at 06:10 PM

definitely in most flour tortillas, but not in tortillas de maíz, i think.

i hope!!

RICHARDH - 1-30-2007 at 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jaymtb
Saw a few posts on this some time back. Have had grilled fish tacos most of the time. I just ask _very politely_ if it was possible to cook the fish a la plancha, or on the grill without batter and not in deep oil or fat. at restaurants, taco stands, etc. Usually at taco stands it is good to notice whether they have a bowl of fillets already battered and ready to throw into the oil. You can also ask what type of oil they use for cooking, and what type of fish they have. A good chance to practice Spanish. Usually, if asked politely, cooks are happy to do it this way. Sometimes they seem to think that you are missing out on something by omitting the breading.

Cheers, Jay

Many thanks, Jay. Your comments sound like the best advice yet! Meanwhile, in anticipation of my travel to Baja, I've been getting some preliminary practice at various Mexican fast-food resaurants just north of the border.

k1w1 - 1-30-2007 at 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RICHARDH

Meanwhile, in anticipation of my travel to Baja, I've been getting some preliminary practice at various Mexican fast-food resaurants just north of the border.

tehe not going to be of great help! Manzanas (sp) y Narangas ! (sp)

RICHARDH - 2-1-2007 at 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by k1w1

Quote:

Originally posted by RICHARDH

... Mexican fast-food resaurants just north of the border.

tehe not going to be of great help! Manzanas (sp) y Narangas ! (sp)

The last place I tried seems to be much more Mexican than the typical Taco Bells in northern Calif... The menu included tacos de cabeza, tacos de lingua, tacos del pollo asada ... But the lady said it was not possible to grill the fish for a fish taco. So I ordered a (breaded) fish taco and tried removing the breading as someone has suggested on this board. Very messy and not very practical! I need some way to have an advanced idea of which taco stands or other eateries I should try asking for a grilled fish taco (or grilled shrimp taco or grilled chicken-breast taco).

I also tried a bean tostada. It tasted pretty good, but I wonder whether the tostada (tortilla) was deep fried in, say, lard (high in saturated fat) or crisco (high in trans fat). For very occasional meals it shouldn't make much difference. But if one wants to establish a habitual eating pattern, healthy ingredients are important.

Most of the time when I'm camping I will probably rely on corn tortillas and canned black beans as basic staples. (I'm hoping that tortillas will last a lot longer than, say, whole wheat bread before they get stale or moldy.) But when I visit towns in Baja, I'd like to have a good idea of what to eat that is nutritious, cheap, and tasty.

Cypress - 2-1-2007 at 05:54 AM

Tortillas can be made using only flour and water. Form dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball, flatten anyway you can and cook in hot ungreased skillet or grill for about 1 minute on each side. :bounce:

coconaco - 2-1-2007 at 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaGeoff
That is because the breading is the best part!

SDRonni - 2-1-2007 at 03:34 PM

Rubio's has grilled fish tacos.....

RICHARDH - 2-1-2007 at 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SDRonni
Rubio's has grilled fish tacos.....

I see via google that Rubio's seems to be primarily in the southwestern U.S. Are there any Rubio's in Baja?

BajaNomad - 2-1-2007 at 09:17 PM

No Rubio's in Baja that I'm aware of. And Ronni, if you want some good grilled fish tacos in SoCal (also CO, and parts of HI, TX and NorCal), try Wahoo's.

--
Doug

RICHARDH - 2-1-2007 at 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Tortillas can be made using only flour and water. Form dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball, flatten anyway you can and cook in hot ungreased skillet or grill for about 1 minute on each side. :bounce:

Hmmm. Sounds like a pretty good idea. I think I might try that with whole wheat flour.

Mike Supino - 2-1-2007 at 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Form dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball, . :bounce:

You may want to try them the size of a golf ball instead.

Mexitron - 2-2-2007 at 07:28 AM

Pompano--those sound a lot better than Cypress' tortillas sin manteca!

RICHARDH - 2-2-2007 at 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano

'Tortillas-youbetcha'

8 cups riced or mashed potatoes
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp. salt
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

...

.....Did I mention this is not diet food!...but, it is delicious!!

[Edited on 2-2-2007 by Pompano]

Not only is it not "not diet food!", but it is downright unhealthy for regular fare. It will put you on the fast track to heart disease and diabetes!

It is unfortunate that too many people confuse what's good for you with what tastes good. To illustrate, it is my understanding that there are extremely dangerous poisons that will kill you very quickly, but do not taste bad -- in fact, some are even tasteless. It seems it should be rather easy to add ingreadients that will make an extremely tastey concoction that will kill you very quickly. So, without a doubt, "tastes good" does not automatically equal "good for you".

Also unfortunately, there seems to be a popular idea going around that it is not possible to make healthy food taste delicious. I tend to disagree with that idea. (But I admit I am not an expert on this subject.) However, I have tasted various "health" foods that turned out to be a bit "off" or at least not very tasty.

Consequently, I am also inclined to think that making healthy food taste good may take a bit more skill than many cooks and food purveyors have.

And there is also the matter of taste being to some extent a matter of habituation. In particular, it seems quite possible to acquire a taste for something that's good for you when at first you thought maybe the taste was a bit odd or "off".

I'd be interested in hearing opinions on this question, including, where available, facts to back up your opinions.

While these issues seem to play very widely in the U.S., especially concerning eatery fare, I'd be especially interested in their relevance to eatery fare as well as home cooking in Baja.

Mariscos Alegria

The Gull - 2-4-2007 at 06:33 AM

All this talk about fish tacos forced me to go to Mariscos Alegria in Primo Tapia for one of Flo Alegria's fabulous FAT fish tacos. Truly the biggest fish taco on the peninsula. Had three beers and three tacos, cost me a few minutes, a few pesos and according to pop-medical advice, it may have cost me my life. If so, the smile on my face could not be wiped off for all the manteca on it.

I know genetically low cholesteral is great to have - too bad for the rest of the population.

Paula - 2-4-2007 at 11:07 AM

I'm glad to see on closer inspection that those aren't chocolate dipped batter fried fish fillets to wrap in those sinfully yummy sounding tortillas.

Hmmmm... how wold fish mole tacos taste? Well, maybe not...

bajalera - 2-5-2007 at 09:36 PM

Yes, tortillas can be made with only flour and water. The little dinky ones are called Communion Wafers.

Mexitron - 2-6-2007 at 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajalera
Yes, tortillas can be made with only flour and water. The little dinky ones are called Communion Wafers.

That's kind of what I was thinking they would taste like!

RICHARDH - 2-20-2007 at 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Supino

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Form dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball, . :bounce:

You may want to try them the size of a golf ball instead.

Making (whole) wheat tortillas

I have finally tried the "golf-ball" approach to making whole wheat tortillas.

First, I spooned several tablespoons of whole wheat flour into a bowl. Then I added a heaping tablespoon of flaxseed meal (and dry-mixed the result), simply because I happened to have some flaxseed meal handy, because there is (disputable?) opinion that it's a good source of nutrition, and because the package says flaxseed meal can be substituted for butter (in the ratio of three for one volume-wise).

I then added water and mixed the result into a sticky glue, so I added and kneaded more flour into the dough until the outside was powdery and non-sticky. Then I P-nched off golf-ball-size blobs and rolled them around in flour to restore their non-stickiness. Recalling someone -- probably my grandmother -- I watched prepare cookie, pie, and/or biscuit dough, I quickly realized that I needed to sprinkle flour on the smooth Formica counter surface to bathe the tortillas in as I flattened them -- I suppose much like some birds like to take dust baths to condition their feathers. Then I sprayed the equivalent of Pam on a skillet and heated the tortillas. I had to experiment a bit with the heat level to get the tortillas to quickly toast a little without burning.

My first tortilla looked rather irregular and erratic -- like flubbing the frying of pancakes. But I quickly got the process down to a low-level production.

Result:

1. The taste is not bad -- probably as good as any flour tortilla I've tasted.

2. Clearly, at least for me, the making of tortillas like this, just as with cooking generally, seems only worthwhile when one is cooking in large batches, and then developing especially efficient procedures seems a good idea.

3. Consequently, I think I will resort to buying corn tortillas in large batches to use as my source of whole grain, complimenting canned beans for a combined, "complete" a source of protein while remote camping in Baja. Corn tortillas seems to be much more regular in shape than I get for whole wheat tortillas and also seem to be rather convenient, but I think I'd prefer the whole wheat tortillas if I could get making them down to a very efficient production.

So that's the result of my experiment, in a nutshell.

I'm guessing and hoping that corn tortillas will last a long time without refrigeration.

Could someone in the know confirm this or correct me on this?

Will corn tortillas last a long time without refrigeration?

RICHARDH - 2-20-2007 at 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RICHARDH

... Then I added ... flaxseed meal ... because there is (disputable?) opinion that it's a good source of nutrition ...

Nutritional questions

Incidentally, the net nutritional benefit of flaxseed meal (and the flaxseed oil it contains) seems perhaps disputable because although flaxseed oil contains a supposedly beneficial "alpha-linolenic acid", I seem to recall via reading content labels that flaxseed oil also contains a moderately high concentration of saturated fat, which is definitely said to be hazardous to cardiovascular health. But there are evidently even some who dispute the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol in one's diet are unhealthy. It seems to be a question of interpreting statistical data, and good empirical tests are hard to come by. It seems many so-called professionals may be falling into the mental trap of confusing the relationships between statistical prevalences and cause-and-effect. Such relationships are fundamental issues in scientific philosophy, and the issues can be complicated. Fortunately, there are often good counterexamples to demonstrate that caution is appropriate in the interpretation of statistical prevalences in terms of causes and effects. But good health is important, and so I am willing to stretch scientific interpretation of statistical data to their limits of credibility, but I do insist that the interpretation be as "scientific" or "rationally correct" as possible.

An authoritative source of information seems to be
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrug... ,
which discusses "polyunsaturated fatty acids" content and their effects, but does not mention any questions about "saturated fats" content as such. This article seems to suggest that the questions of health benefits are a matter of ongoing research.

One web site that has links to articles questioning the "conventional wisdom" about the health hazards of saturated fats and cholesterol is found at
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/flaxoil.htm ,
but, as I mentioned, these issues of causes and effects are complicated, and I'm not sure whether some who are claiming professional expertise are missing important subtleties in the issues. Also, I should mention that I have sometimes found it difficult to get medical doctors to comment on nutritional issues in regards to health.