Well, this recipe feels like it's been a long time coming. I have been craving fish tacos for a while and had been planning to make some last week.
I missed the window with some Dover sole which went bad on me, but luckily I had some catfish in the freezer. I left it in the fridge to thaw out and the days have just been ticking by.
There was no way I wanted to lose more fish so tonight was going to have to be the night. This was the first time in a long while that I used beer batter, but these turned out really good.
The batter was light and crunchy and even held its crunch after sitting in the oven for 20 minutes, keeping warm. I have a strict rule about consuming deep fried food and that is not to eat it all that often, but more importantly, eat it as soon as it leaves the fryer or it's probably going to get mushy.
I'll never get fried take out, even tempura because I know when I reach home it's adios to my crunch. This batter was simple to make and I made way too much of it.
I'll know next time to half it as a little goes a long way. Want to hear something crazy? I mixed the beer and flour together and then went to add some Cajun seasoning which just so happens to be in the same container and the same color as the cinnamon sitting right beside it.
Yip, I added cinnamon to my beer batter! Luckily it wasn't a huge amount and knowing that the rest of the family were just about to walk in the door ready for dinner, I passed on the opportunity to make a fresh batch.
I managed to skim the powder from the surface with a spoon and all was good, though my wife did say she could taste a hint of cinnamon. Whatever I served these catfish crunches on corn tortillas with some shredded cabbage, Parmesan and a blob of mayonnaise on top, mixed with hot sauce and paprika.
On the side I had some salsa from my very favorite Mexican restaurant, Supermex, which is a small, family run business here in Southern California. I think it's so good that any time I cook Mexican I'll make the drive just to get some salsa - it's so worth it.
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