On 2/12/2011 10:48 AM, sf wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:55:56 -0500, >
> wrote:
>
>> A "standard" Baja style fish taco always uses breaded fish.
>
> Is that the major difference between Mexican and California fish
> tacos? Soft shell vs hard shell? What about the condiments?

Always soft. I think hard tacos are a US idea. I have never seen them
served in Mexico and the authentic Mexican restaurants I have been in.

Shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, crema

Just looking for backup and the taco link on Wikipedia says hard tacos
are a US/Canadian thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco

Hard-shell tacos

Beginning from the early part of the twentieth century, various styles
of tacos have become popular in the United States and Canada.[10] The
style that has become most common is the hard-shell, U-shaped version
first described in a cookbook authored by Fabiola Cabeza de Vaca Gilbert
and published in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1949. These have been sold by
restaurants and by fast food chains. Even non-Mexican oriented fast food
restaurants have sold tacos. Mass production of this type of taco was
encouraged by the invention of devices to hold the tortillas in the
U-shape as they were deep-fried. A patent for such a device was issued
to New York restaurateur Juvenico Maldonado in 1950, based on his patent
filing of 1947 (U.S. Patent No. 2,506,305).[11][12] Such tacos are
crisp-fried corn tortillas filled with seasoned ground beef, cheese,
lettuce, and sometimes tomato, onion, salsa, sour cream, and avocado or
guacamole.[13] In this context, soft tacos are tacos made with wheat
flour tortillas and filled with the same ingredients as a hard taco.[14]

Pico de gallo