Beer Battered Cod Tacos with Pickled Cabbage and Jalapeño Sauce
These are not strictly authentic Baja fish tacos. Most Mexican fish taco recipes use a quick tempura-style batter, thin and snappy, mixed and fried immediately. This one borrows from the British chip shop instead. A yeasted, fermented batter, left to develop for an hour or so, puffs up into something lacy and almost cloud-like when it hits the oil, with proper depth of flavour from the long rest.
It holds up beautifully against the two things doing the heavy lifting alongside: a bracing pickled red cabbage and a vivid green jalapeño sauce that leans on coriander, lime and a generous hit of oregano. Build them at the table from a platter, with lime wedges and cold beer.
Start the batter first. It needs the time, and you can prep everything else while it ferments.
Beer Battered Cod Tacos with Pickled Cabbage and Jalapeño Sauce
Crisp, lacy beer-battered cod folded into warm tortillas with sharp pickled red cabbage and a vivid herb-heavy jalapeño sauce. A fish taco with British chip-shop DNA.
Ingredients
- 300g cod, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 200g plain flour
- 7g fast-action dried yeast (one standard sachet)
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 330ml Mexican lager (Modelo, Pacifico or Corona), at room temperature
- Around 500ml vegetable oil, for deep frying
- 125ml red wine vinegar
- 125ml water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 100g caster sugar
- ¼ red cabbage
- 2–3 fresh jalapeños
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 large bunch of coriander, stems and all
- 1 tbsp dried oregano (Mexican if available)
- 3 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Juice of 2 limes
- 6–8 small flour tortillas
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, ground coriander and cumin. Pour in the lager and whisk to a smooth batter. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 to 1.5 hours. A switched-off oven with just the light on is ideal, or a sunny windowsill. The yeast needs proper time to ferment, which is where the depth of flavour and the puffed, irregular crust come from.
- While the batter ferments, make the pickle. In a bowl large enough to hold the cabbage, whisk together the red wine vinegar, water, salt and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Shave the red cabbage very thinly on a mandolin and add it to the bowl, making sure it is submerged in the brine. Mix and set aside.
- For the sauce, trim the tops off the jalapeños and add them to a blender with the garlic, the whole bunch of coriander (stems and all), oregano, avocado oil, salt, cider vinegar and lime juice. Blend until smooth and vivid green. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Heat the oil in a deep, heavy-bottomed pan to 180°C. If you do not have a thermometer, a small cube of bread should turn golden and crisp in about 30 seconds.
- Using tongs or a fork, dip each piece of cod into the batter, letting any excess drip off, then carefully lower it into the hot oil. Fry in batches of 3 or 4 for 3 to 5 minutes until deeply golden and puffed. Drain on kitchen paper and repeat with the remaining fish, letting the oil come back up to temperature between batches.
- Put a griddle pan over a high heat and warm the tortillas for 10 to 15 seconds on each side, until just marked and pliable.
- Arrange the jalapeño sauce, drained pickled cabbage, fried fish and warm tortillas on a platter. Build your own tacos and serve with lime wedges.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
1180Fat
58 gSugar
28 gProtein
42 gCarbs
112 gApproximate values per serving
Ingredient Notes
Cod
Look for thick, white fillets with a clean smell and firm flesh. Cut into bite-sized chunks roughly the length of your thumb so they cook through in the time it takes the batter to crisp and puff. Haddock, pollock or coley all work as direct swaps and are often a better sustainability choice depending on where you are buying.
Mexican lager
Modelo, Pacifico and Corona are all reliable. The flavour is mild and crisp, with just enough character to come through in the batter without overwhelming the fish. Any pale lager will do at a push, but avoid stouts, porters and heavily hopped IPAs, which discolour the batter and fight the cod. The beer should be at room temperature for a yeasted batter, not cold, because you want the yeast active.
Fast-action dried yeast
The standard 7g sachets sold for bread work perfectly. Make sure it is in date, as old yeast will not ferment properly and you will end up with a flat batter rather than the puffed, irregular crust you are after.
Jalapeños
Use fresh, firm jalapeños with smooth, glossy skin. Heat varies dramatically from one chilli to the next, so taste a small piece raw before you commit to three. If you want a milder sauce, halve them and scrape out the seeds and white pith. If you want more heat, leave everything in and add a fourth.
Coriander
The whole bunch goes in, stems and all. The stems carry more flavour than the leaves and the fibre is what gives the sauce its body, so do not waste time picking them off.
Oregano
Mexican oregano, if you can find it, has citrus and anise notes that are quite different from the Mediterranean kind. Either works, but Mexican is closer to the flavour profile this sauce is reaching for.
Red cabbage
A mandolin makes the difference here. You want the cabbage shaved as thinly as possible so it pickles quickly and stays crisp rather than going limp. A sharp knife will do the job too but takes longer.
Kitchen Notes
Fermenting the batter
This is where the recipe lives or dies. The yeast needs proper time to do its work, and 15 minutes will not get you there. An hour in a warm spot is the sweet spot. A switched-off oven with just the light on holds a perfect gentle warmth, or a sunny windowsill if you have one. The batter should look noticeably bubbly and slightly risen, with a yeasty smell.
Batter timing
Once the batter is ready, use it within the hour. Beyond that, the gluten tightens up and the carbonation flattens, and you lose the lacy, puffed quality you fermented it for in the first place.
Oil temperature
180°C is the target. Too cold and the batter absorbs oil and goes greasy. Too hot and the outside burns before the cod cooks through. A digital probe thermometer is the easiest way, but the bread cube test is reliable: a small cube should turn golden in around 30 seconds. Let the oil come back up to temperature briefly between batches.
Frying in batches
Three or four pieces at a time depending on the size of your pan. Overcrowding drops the oil temperature and the batter goes soggy. Drain on kitchen paper between batches and resist the urge to stack the fried pieces, which will steam and soften the crust.
Warming the tortillas
A griddle pan over high heat gives the best results, with proper char marks and a pliable texture. A dry frying pan will work. Do them just before serving so they stay warm and soft.
Variations
Tempura-style batter
If you want a lighter, snappier batter closer to authentic Baja fish tacos, drop the yeast and the rest entirely. Whisk 200g flour with 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt and 330ml of ice-cold lager, then fry immediately. Different result, equally good, much faster.
Other white fish
Haddock, pollock, coley and hake all work well and are often more sustainable than cod. Choose firm, thick fillets so the pieces hold together in the batter.
Prawn tacos
The same batter works beautifully with large raw prawns. Peel and devein them, leaving the tails on for grip, and reduce the frying time to 2 to 3 minutes.
Milder sauce
For a less fiery jalapeño sauce, deseed the chillies and add a small handful of baby spinach to the blender. It bulks out the green colour without adding heat.
Crema addition
A spoonful of sour cream or crème fraîche stirred through the finished sauce gives a cooler, creamier version that works well if you are serving this to a heat-sensitive crowd.
Serving Suggestions
How to serve
Lay everything out on a platter or wooden board: a pile of fried cod, a bowl of drained pickled cabbage, a bowl of jalapeño sauce, the stack of warm tortillas wrapped in a clean tea towel to keep their heat, and a generous pile of lime wedges. Let people build their own. Two or three small tacos each, eaten with hands, with napkins close by.
What to drink
Cold Mexican lager is the obvious move, ideally the same one you used in the batter. A margarita on the rocks with plenty of salt works just as well, or a chilled, dry rosé if you want something a bit gentler.
On the side
Charred sweetcorn with lime and chilli, a simple avocado and tomato salad, or a bowl of refried black beans all earn their place here. Keep the sides loose and the meal informal.
Portion sizes
Six to eight small tacos is enough for two as a generous main, or four as a starter or part of a larger spread. Scale up by doubling the fish and sauce while keeping the pickled cabbage roughly the same, as a little goes a long way.
Zero Waste
The jalapeño tops and any seeds left in the strainer can be spread on a tray and dried out in a low oven (80°C fan / 100°C conventional) for an hour, then ground into a coarse chilli flake for sprinkling on eggs, soups or roasted vegetables.
Any leftover coriander leaves from another recipe can go straight into the sauce. There is no such thing as too much coriander here.
The pickling brine is good for at least two more rounds. Strain it, keep it in a jar in the fridge, and use it for thinly sliced red onion or shaved radish over the next week.
Any leftover fried cod (unlikely, but possible) reheats reasonably well in a hot oven (200°C fan / 220°C conventional) for 5 to 6 minutes on a wire rack to crisp the batter back up. Avoid the microwave, which turns it to mush.
