Cisco Recipe - Fish Tacos With Slaw and Lime Crema

We had some fresh ciscoes to eat up, I had plans to make cisco lobster rolls with them. But when one of the kids requested cisco tacos, who was I to say no. The cool thing about fish tacos is you really can get creative with them and there is no wrong way to make them. They can be as simple as a tortilla, fish, and cheese or you can get crazy elaborate with them. We usually are somewhere middle of the road and I’m going to give you a couple ideas to mix in with your fish taco routine. I’ve also got some tips for dealing with cisco directly that will ensure you are getting the best quality fish in your tacos.

I’m picky when eating cisco. I like to eat it fresh or cook it and use it in a recipe like fish cakes that can be made and then frozen. In this case because we are going to fry it, fresh is really the only option. I also want to add, you want to bleed these fish immediately after you’ve caught them. It will make the whole experience less messy and it will give you the best flavored cisco. If you’ve ever cleaned a cisco before, you’ll notice they have quite a bit of red meat. This is the fishy tasting stuff and also stores the majority of contaminants that might have accumulated in the fish (except for mercury that is all over in the fish). None of that stuff is making it to my deep fryer, so I’ve got some trimming to do. The easiest method I’ve found is when filleting the meat off the skin, try to not get as close to the skin. I might lose a little bit of meat this way but it really is a pain trying to get the thin red layer off the top of the fillet and you lose that extra meat anyway. The red meat runs deep down the middle of the fillet and I will immediately take the lower half of the fillet off. That section will be boneless and red meat free. On the top half of the fillet, feel the pin bones until they stop. Make a cut there to have another boneless section. All that is left is to cut the pin bones from the remainder of the fillet and chunk everything up as you see fit. I prefer smaller chunks of fish to get more crunchy breading on vs large pieces of fish.

It is hard to go wrong with the simplicity of a packaged breading like Andy’s Red. It has plenty of cornmeal for crunch and I don’t need to get fancy with an egg wash/wet batter. Simply drop the fish in some breading, make sure it is coated, and drop it in the fryer or pan.

After that it is all easy, load your tortilla up with whatever fits. A few pieces of delicious cisco (or any other white flaky fish), slaw, garnish (fresh tomatoes, fresh onions or quick pickle onions with lime juice), cheese, and top with lime crema. You won’t be disappointed and you can find the lime crema and cole slaw recipes below.

Lime Crema

• 1 Lime

• Salt

• Sour Cream or Greek yogurt

• 1 clove of garlic

Lime Crema is a major upgrade to sour cream in my opinion and we make it quite a bit in my house. I don’t measure anything in this recipe other than the base of it. Start with 1 cup of sour cream or whole Greek yogurt (I do prefer the sour cream if we are doing tacos). A zester/grater is important to this recipe and you’ll want to zest an entire lime for it. Once the lime is zested, I use the same tool to finely grate a clove of garlic. The more garlic you use the “spicier” it will be. Juice the whole lime into the mixture next. If you only have small limes, you might need more than 1. Add a solid pinch of salt, taste, and add more if needed. I usually use kosher salt and I try and make this early on in the recipe so that the flavors have time to combine.

The Slaw

• 1 bag of cabbage/carrot cole slaw

• Salt and pepper

• 2 tablespoons mayo

• Juice from 1 lime

• Sriracha or Hot sauce (optional)

I’m taking the easy route on the slaw and grabbing a bag of premixed cabbage/carrot cole slaw. A couple tablespoons of mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste, and the juice from 1 lime. Mix it all up together and you have something to give the fish tacos some filler and a crunchy texture. If you want to spice it up a bit mix a little sriracha or your hot sauce of choice in.