Tacos de Pescado a la Talla de la Costa Oaxaqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Charcoal grill (mesquite or hardwood charcoal preferred)
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and garlic
• •High-powered blender
• •Two wide metal spatulas for flipping the fish
• •Long-handled tongs for managing the grill
• •Sharp fillet knife for butterflying

Instructions

1. 1

   Pickle the red onions

   Toss the sliced red onion with the lime juice, salt, and oregano in a glass or ceramic bowl. Press the onions down so the juice covers them. Cover and set aside at room temperature for at least 45 minutes. The longer they sit, the softer and more deeply pink they become. Start these first. They need time and they do not need you watching them.

   These keep in the refrigerator for up to five days. Make a double batch and you have pickled onion for everything you grill this week.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and pasilla oaxaqueño chiles one at a time, pressing each one flat against the surface with a spatula, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should puff, blister in spots, and release a deep, warm smell that fills the room. The pasilla oaxaqueño is already smoked, so it toasts fast and turns bitter if you push it. Pull it the moment it puffs. Place all the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl, cover with hot tap water, and soak for 20 minutes until completely soft.

   Hot water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the chile skin and gives the paste a harsh, acrid edge. Hot tap water softens the flesh and lets the flavor come through clean.
3. 3

   Toast the garlic and spices

   While the chiles soak, place the unpeeled garlic cloves on the same comal. Toast them, turning occasionally, until the skins are blackened in spots and the flesh inside is soft and sweet, about 8 minutes. Peel them. In a small dry skillet, toast the cumin seeds over medium heat, shaking the pan, until they darken slightly and smell warm and earthy, about 90 seconds. Set aside.

4. 4

   Blend the adobo paste

   Drain the soaked chiles. Place them in a blender with the peeled garlic, achiote paste, sour orange juice, toasted cumin, oregano, peppercorns, and salt. Blend on high until you have a thick, smooth paste the color of burnt clay. If the blender struggles, add a tablespoon of the chile soaking liquid. Just enough to move things, no more. This is a paste, not a sauce. It needs to cling to the fish without running off. Taste it. It should be assertive: smoky from the pasilla oaxaqueño, earthy from the achiote, bright from the citrus, with heat that builds but does not overwhelm.

   If you cannot find sour orange, the combination of lime and orange juice is the accepted substitution across the coast. It is not the same, but it is close enough. Pure lime alone is too sharp. Pure orange alone is too sweet. You need both.
5. 5

   Butterfly and marinate the fish

   If your fishmonger did not butterfly the fish, lay it on its side and cut along the backbone from tail to head with a sharp knife, opening the fish flat like a book without separating the halves. Remove the spine and any pin bones. Score the flesh side with shallow diagonal cuts about an inch apart. These cuts let the adobo penetrate. Spread the paste generously over both sides of the fish, working it into every score and every crevice. Set the fish on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap, cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, up to 2 hours. The achiote will stain your cutting board, your hands, and your counter. That is how you know you used enough.

6. 6

   Make the cabbage slaw

   Toss the shredded cabbage with the lime juice, oil, salt, and chopped cilantro. Mix with your hands, squeezing gently so the lime starts to soften the cabbage. Set aside at room temperature. It will wilt slightly as it sits, which is what you want. This is not a crunchy American coleslaw. It is a soft, bright, acidic counterpoint to the rich, smoky fish. It should taste of lime and salt and nothing else.

7. 7

   Grill the fish a la talla

   Light a charcoal grill and let the coals burn down until they are covered in white ash. You want medium-high heat, the kind where you can hold your hand six inches above the grate for three seconds before pulling it away. Clean the grill grates thoroughly and oil them well with a wadded paper towel dipped in vegetable oil, held with tongs. Lay the butterflied fish skin-side down on the grate. Close the lid if you have one. Grill for 8 to 10 minutes without touching it. The skin will crisp and contract and eventually release from the grate on its own. Do not force it. When the flesh is opaque two-thirds of the way through, carefully flip the fish using two wide spatulas. Grill the flesh side for 4 to 5 minutes more. The adobo should be charred in dark spots, crusty at the edges, with the flesh flaking when you press it gently with a spatula. Pull it off. Let it rest on a cutting board for two minutes.

   The fish will stick if the grates are not clean and well-oiled. This is the most common failure point. Take the time to scrub and oil the grates properly. The señoras on the coast oil their grills with a halved onion dipped in lard. That works too.
8. 8

   Warm the tortillas and build the tacos

   Warm the corn tortillas directly on the grill or on a dry comal over high heat, about 20 seconds per side, until they are pliable and have light char spots. Stack them in a towel-lined basket or wrapped in a cloth servilleta. Pull the grilled fish apart into large flakes, discarding the skin and any remaining bones. Pile the fish onto each warm tortilla, spoon on a mound of the lime cabbage slaw, and finish with a tangle of pickled red onion. Squeeze a lime wedge over each one. Scatter a few cilantro leaves if you want. That is the entire taco. No cream, no cheese, no batter. The adobo and the charcoal did the work. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Ask your fishmonger for huachinango (red snapper) or pargo (Pacific red snapper). Either one has the firm, clean flesh that holds up on a charcoal grill without falling apart. If you cannot find whole fish, use 2 pounds of skin-on snapper or striped bass fillets, about an inch thick. The technique works, but you lose the drama of the whole butterflied fish on the grate. The skin side goes down first, same as the whole fish.
• •Chile pasilla oaxaqueño is what makes this version Oaxacan, not Guerrerense. It is a smoked chile, not just dried, and it carries a depth that chile guajillo alone cannot. If you truly cannot find it, a small chipotle morita can substitute for the smoke, but the flavor profile shifts. This is a compromise, not an upgrade. Look for pasilla oaxaqueño at Mexican specialty grocers or order it online from Oaxacan suppliers.
• •Achiote paste is sold in small bricks at any Mexican grocery. It should be soft enough to crumble. If the brick is rock-hard and old, it will not blend smoothly and the flavor will be flat. Buy a fresh one. The brand from Yucatan, the red block wrapped in banana leaf, is reliable.
• •La manteca es el sabor, but this is a coastal fish dish and the fat comes from the fish itself and the charcoal. Do not add lard to the adobo. The paste should be lean so it grips the flesh. The richness comes from the snapper's own oils rendering on the grill.

Advance Preparation

• •The adobo paste can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated in a sealed container. The flavor deepens overnight. Bring it to room temperature before rubbing it on the fish.
• •The pickled red onions can be made up to five days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. They improve with time.
• •Do not marinate the fish longer than two hours. Past that, the citrus in the paste begins to cure the flesh and the texture changes. You want the grill to cook the fish, not the lime.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 385g)