On Jul 26, 10:38 am, Steve Wertz > wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:55:03 -0700, Ablang wrote:
> > But don't give up the fish taco dream just yet. It's easy to clean up
> > this dish for a healthy palate. The secret to this beer-battered fish
> > taco recipe is a pan-frying technique that makes crunchy fish using
> > only a fraction of the fat.
>
> The author is mistaken in his assumption that the amount of oil
> you start with has some effect on the amount of fat in the
> resulting, fried product. I suspect his method may even come out
> with *more* oil than if you had deep fried correctly (with hot
> oil and the right batter).
>
He's also wrong in his assumption that fish tacos in coastal Mexico
are always deep-fried. In fact, they are often done in a small wok/
saute pan using about 1/2-inch of oil. It's the frying temperature
and the batter that determine how much oil is absorbed.

And he's wrong when he writes, "Cooking the fish in a nonstick skillet
makes it possible to use a
small amount of oil without having the pieces stick to the bottom." A
nonstick pan is a bad choice for this because it doesn't do well at
the hgh temperature you want for this kind of frying. I use a well-
seasoned 10" steel wok for this kind of small batch frying; nothing
ever sticks.

He suggests tilapia, which wouldn't be high on my list either. The
best fish tacos I've had were yellowtail, in Ensenada and in Loreto.
The most commonly used fish here in the States is cod

It's an ignorant article. -aem