But carefully loaded and pinched between thumb and finger, a taco can be easily delivered to your mouth, bringing, with a first bite and gentle sucking, a moment of Baja bliss. Add too much spice and your morning is ruined. Overload, and the ingredients will landslide down your front.

But subsequent do-it-yourself application of salsas and salads from the bar transform your taco: a little chipotle mayonnaise, some pico de gallo salsa, a pinch of shredded cabbage, some fresh coriander, sliced radish and, of course, a squeeze of lime.ĭressing a fish taco is an art. Presented with pieces of fried fish in a corn pancake, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Photograph: Tom Kevill Davies/The Guardian ‘Buen provecho!’ Tacos being made at a taqueria in Baja California. Three warm corn tortillas were taken from a griddle, the fried fish was placed in the middle and the lot was handed over on a lurid plastic plate. She would submerge a few hunks of lightly battered dorado into spitting oil, retrieving the golden morsels moments later and leave them to cool. Taking my place with the truck drivers, fishermen and rancheros, I would place my order with the smiling matriarch.

Waking in the desert at first light, I would brew campfire coffee, pack my bike and then cycle to a taqueria in the next fishing village. Often little more than makeshift kitchens of gas bottles, griddles, corrugated metal and sun-bleached plastic furniture, these roadside vendors of Baja cuisine are a cyclist’s saviour. At daybreak their catch is available in tacos de pescado from numerous taquerias. Too much spice will ruin your morningĪt night the glimmer of lights from the pangas (fishing boats) reflects off the sea. Overload, and it will slide down your front. But as the Transpeninsular Highway turns east to hug the beaches of the Sea of Cortez, Mexico’s quintessential street food becomes decidedly fishy. In northern Baja, tacos are predominantly meaty, carne asada and tacos de tripa. The villages that sporadically took shape on the hazy horizon became my oases, welcome opportunities to rest, replenish supplies and eat tacos. Cycling the black ribbon of asphalt that weaves through the unceasing cactus forests, scrubland and arid mountains is monotonous, shadeless and hot.

Fish taco recipe iina