The Art of Making Fish Tacos: A Journey with Binging with Babish

As we begin our culinary journey, we're greeted by the enthusiastic host, Babish, who's excited to share his take on fish tacos from the movie I Love You, Man. He assures us that this recipe will be relatively easy to replicate accurately, thanks to its origins in a real restaurant in Venice, California.

The first step is to bring 16 ounces of dried black beans to life. We'll achieve this by simmering them in about three cups of boiling water for approximately an hour and a half. In the meantime, we'll be working on our taco accoutrement, Tacu-trement. This includes preparing pico de gallo, which is a crucial component of the dish.

To create our pico de gallo, we'll need to combine diced roma tomatoes, 1/2 of a Spanish onion, and 1/4 cup of minced fresh cilantro. Babish notes that he's one of those people who hates cilantro but isn't trying to be a fish taco poser. He includes 1/2 of a jalapeno diced, with the seeds removed if you prefer a milder salsa. A squeeze of fresh lime juice completes this flavorful mixture.

Next up is our tomatillo salsa or salsa verde. To make this, we'll slice two tomatillos in half and toss them with a little bit of olive oil. Babish emphasizes the importance of wearing protective gloves when handling these toxic fruits. We'll place them under a preheated broiler until they're perfectly roasted. Once transformed into a smooth, chunky salsa, we can blend it with a blender bulb along with half an onion, quarter cup cilantro minced, half a jalapeno minced, the juice of one lime, some salt, and freshly ground pepper.

Now, let's move on to our homemade tortillas. We'll start with 8 and 1/2 ounces of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon of salt, and 6 teaspoons of baking powder. We'll pulse this mixture together before adding three tablespoons of lard. The next step is to process the mixture until it resembles wet sand. Then, we'll drizzle in three-quarters of a cup of 110-degree water as it runs through the food processor. Letting it form into a cohesive ball, we'll wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Once our dough is ready, we can generously flour our worksurface and roll out golf-ball-sized balls of dough into an 8-inch round. We'll toss these into a ripping hot nonstick skillet and let them sit for about 30 seconds, allowing large bubbles to form on the surface. Babish notes that this homemade tortilla is far superior to store-bought ones – don't just take his word for it! He sets up a blind test with his roommate to prove it.

As our fish prepares to be marinated, we'll keep our tortillas warm in a low oven while we prepare the marinade. We'll place our pan-roasted fillet of mahi mahi in the marinade and let it soak for nearly an hour before cooking it further in the oven until its internal temperature reads 135 degrees.

The final pieces to complete our puzzle are refried beans, guacamole, and spicy tomatillo salsa. We'll start by sweating some onions and adding a clove of crushed garlic to sauté until fragrant. Then, we'll add our soaked black beans and let them simmer until creamy and delicious. Babish encourages us to mash those up and season with salt and pepper.

For guacamole, we'll need about four medium avocados, which we'll remove the pits from before scoring them with a butter knife. We'll dump these into a large bowl and add half a seeded jalapeno, 1/4 of a Spanish onion, the juice of half a lime, and some cilantro, of course. Seasoning with salt, pepper, and cumin to taste, we'll mash everything together until it reaches our desired chunky guacamole stage.

Finally, it's time to assemble our dish! We'll sear our mahi mahi in a hot pan before placing it in the oven to bake until cooked through. Scooping some of that lovely fish onto our homemade tortilla with some refried black beans, Keigo de gallo, guacamole, and spicy tomatillo salsa – we're finally ready to wrap this thing up and enjoy the fruits of our labor! After nearly six hours of prep work, it's clear that sharing meals with friends is what I Love You, Man was all about.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en<Intro Music><Movie Clip Begins> Excuse me, you guys finishing up here soon? Oh, no... Sorry Chief, we're actually staying fordinner. No actually, I already have adinner plan with my fiancé. No dude, thisplace has the best fish tacos, in theworld, literally ranked! Gotta have one.It's the pico de gallo, man. Use your hands, we're barbarians after all, men.Every once in a while I go down to theboardwalk and I just throw my own feceslike a gorilla. Should we get a third orderfish tacos? Hands down best fish tacoI've ever had in my life! God! Thosetortillas were incredible. Yeah they makethem in-house it sets up the flavor forthe whole dish. <Movie Clip Ends>Hey what's up guys. Welcome back to binging with Babish where this week we're tackling the fishtacos from I Love You, Man. Now this one's going to be hopefully pretty easy torecreate accurately because it's basedoff of a real restaurant in VeniceCalifornia. Which starts with black beansto bring to 16 ounces of dried blackbeans in about three cups of boilingwater for about an hour and a half inthe meantime we're going to make ourtaco accoutrement, Tacu-trement. We'regoing to start off with pico de gallofeaturing pours diced roma tomatoes, 1/2of 1 Spanish onion diced as well, maybe1/4 cup of minced fresh cilantro. I'm oneof those people that hates cilantro butI'm not trying to be some kind of fishtaco poser. 1/2 the jalapenos diced. Pickout the seeds if you don't want it to betoo spicy. The juice of one lime, I knowa lime's sole purpose is to be used inmargaritas, but trust me it's good infood too. And now we're on to our nextaccompaniment which is a tomatillo salsaor salsa verde. Slice the tomatillos in half,toss them with a little bit ofolive oil, make sure you're wearing aprotective glove like I am heretomatillos are toxic. Pour onto thepreheated baking sheet, which you can see they're sizzling right there, see 'em jumpingaround- that's fun! and place under apreheated broiler and in the the time it takesto drink one Mexican beer... You're going to have perfectly roasted tomatillos which werethen going to transform into salsa byadding to a blender bulbalong with half an onion diced, quartercup cilantro minced, half a jalapenominced, the juice of one lime, some salt,and freshly ground pepper beforeblending into a smooth, but still alittle bit chunky, salsa now onto thehomemade tortillas which is going tostart with 8 and 1/2 ounces all-purposeflour, a teaspoon of salt, and 6 teaspoonsof baking powder that we're going topulse together before adding 3tablespoons of lard. then we're going toprocess until the mixture resembles wetsand. next up three-quarters of a cup of110 degree water that we're going todrizzle into the food processor as itruns. let that go for a few seconds untila cohesive ball is formed that we'regoing to wrap in plastic wrap and letrest at room temperature for 30 minutes.before generously flowering our worksurface and rolling out a golf ballsized balls of dough into an 8 inch roundthat we're going to toss into a rippinghot nonstick skillet thusly. let it sitfor about 30 seconds into large bubblesform on surface like this. Give it a goodflip- now look at that isn't that so muchbetter than a store-bought tortilla?don't believe me I'll prove it to you...Here's store bought, here's homemade...Here's myroommate to test which one's better..Yeah, that's what I thought. keep yourtortillas warm in a low oven while wemarinate our fish. we're going to placeit in a plastic bag with the juice ofone lime, a little bit of salt, a littlebit of pepper, some olive oil, and somefreshly ground toasted cumin freshlyground you asked? I'll explain. toastingyour own spices with a nonstick skilletbefore grinding in a dedicated spicegrinder is totally worth it. don't believeme? I'll prove it to you. here comes myroommate again to tell us which one ofthese smells better. yeah that's what I thought.Now,long last time to make ourrefried beans we're going to start bysweating some onions, before addinga clove of crushed, garlic sauteing untilfragrant and adding our luscious soakedblack bean that we brought to a boil intheir soaking liquid and let simmeruntil creamy and delicious.go ahead mash those up, seasoning withsalt and pepper and setting aside so wecan make last piece to our puzzle, whichis of course guacamole. have about 4medium avocados and remove the pits scorewith a butter knife and dump into alarge bowl, to which we are going to addhalf a seeded jalapeno, as we have withmost things in this dish. 1/4 of aSpanish onion, the juice of half a limesome freaking cilantro of course. seasonwith salt pepper and cumin to tastebefore mashing up with a fork until itgets to this nice chunky guacamole stage.next and last is our pan-roasted filletof mahi mahi we're going to sear this ina very hot pan before placing it in apreheated oven and baking until theinternal temperature reads 135 scoop some of that lovely fish onto our lovelyhomemade tortilla with some refriedblack beansKeigo de gallo guacamole and spicytomatillo salsa now after nearly 6 hoursof prep work you ready wrap this thingup and shove it in your face butsomething doesn't seem right tacos areafter all that's shared with friends andin the end that's what I love you menwas all about spending quality time withyour Theodore Broosevelt.\n"