Smoked Fish Tacos, Camp Version
Citrus-and-tequila marinade, flaky white fish, and cabbage slaw pickled in the cooler.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 90 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 135 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Crappie or other flaky white fish fillets | 3 lb | panfish, tilapia, and cod all work |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic | 3 cloves, chopped fine | |
| Fresh cilantro | 1/2 cup, chopped | |
| Limes | 3 | zest and juice both |
| Oranges | 2 | juiced |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 2 tsp | |
| Ground black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Tequila | 1/2 cup | |
| Red cabbage | 1 small head, shredded | |
| Rice wine vinegar | 1 cup | |
| Flour tortillas | 12 | |
| Barbecue sauce | 1/2 cup | |
| Mexican crema | 1/2 cup | sour cream thinned with lime juice also works |
Method
- Shake the garlic, cilantro, lime zest and juice, orange juice, cumin, salt, pepper, and tequila together in a gallon zip bag.
- Slide the fillets in, work the bag until every piece is coated, and lay it flat in the cooler for an hour. Longer and the citrus starts cooking the fish.
- In a lidded container, toss the shredded cabbage with the vinegar. Back in the cooler it goes for the same hour.
- Build a small fire and let it burn down, or run a grill low. You want smoke and gentle heat, not flame.
- Lift the fillets out, shake off the marinade, and lay them on a well-oiled grate or in a foil tray. Cook 40 to 45 minutes over indirect heat until the flesh flakes with a fork. Dump the marinade.
- Warm the tortillas on the grate for a few seconds a side. Fill with fish, drain some cabbage on top, then barbecue sauce and crema.
This is a car-camp or basecamp dinner, not a pack-in one. Three pounds of fish and a cooler full of crema puts it firmly in the day-you-drove-in category, which is also the day you are most likely to have caught something.
The marinade does two jobs. The citrus and tequila loosen the flesh of a lean panfish so it does not dry out over slow heat, and the salt starts pulling moisture back in as brine. An hour is the ceiling — acid keeps working, and past that the fillets go opaque and chalky before they ever see the fire. The cabbage soaking in vinegar for the same hour is the other half: it cuts the crema and the barbecue sauce, both of which are sweet, and it stays crisp in a way lettuce will not after a day in a cooler.
Packing
Mix the marinade at home and freeze it flat in the bag — it doubles as a cooler ice block and thaws by the time you want it. Cabbage travels shredded in its own container. Crema and barbecue sauce stay cold until service.
Variations
- Sliced jalapeño or a spoon of peach-mango salsa on top.
- Corn tortillas instead of flour if someone in the group is avoiding wheat.
- No fire? A cast iron pan on a two-burner stove does it in fifteen minutes, though you lose the smoke.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/smoked-crappie-fish-tacos