5 Mistakes That Make Braised Fish Taste Fishy, Flavorless, and Commonly Overlooked #4

Don’t Remove the Black Membrane in the Belly of the Fish

Normally, when processing fish, people only pay attention to removing the gills, guts, scales, and fins. However, the fish still has a black membrane in its belly that you need to remove before cooking, otherwise the fish will be very fishy.

In addition, with large fish and tuna, you should remove the white tendon fibers on both sides of the fish. When processing, cut a small line close to the fish’s gut. You will see a white tendon line revealed. Use your hand to pull this tendon out.

Depending on the type of fish, you can choose the appropriate processing method. For example, for freshwater fish, you should clean all blood, black membrane, white membrane, and remove the tendon fibers on the fish’s sides. Then, soak the fish in ginger alcohol or rub it with lime and salt and rinse it. For smooth-skinned fish such as catfish, cobia, and pufferfish, if you have kitchen ash, you can use it to apply on the fish to remove the slime. If you don’t have kitchen ash, you can use lime or vinegar to rub all over the fish. You can also pour hot water onto the fish and use a knife to scrape off the slime. For sea fish, it is recommended to wash it with tea water to remove the fishy smell.

Choose the Right Seasonings

Many people skip the marinating step for fish because they don’t have time. This will make the fish taste bland and not firm. For braised fish dishes, you should marinate the ingredients with salt for about 2-3 hours before cooking to let the fish soak in the seasoning. Marinating with salt will help remove the water inside the fish, making the flesh firmer and not easily broken.

Depending on your taste and preference, you can choose different types of seasonings to marinate the fish. The basic seasonings usually used in braised fish dishes are fish sauce, salt, galangal, ginger, lemongrass, dried shallots, chili, pepper, and seasoning sauce. In the North, some places use Ban sauce to braise fish, which gives a distinctive flavor. Vũ Đại village’s braised fish in Hà Nam also uses field crab essence. In addition, for braised fish dishes, you can add green tea leaves, guava leaves… to eliminate the fishy smell.

Add Cold Water While Braising

Braised dishes need to be cooked for a long time to soften the fish meat and fish bones. During the cooking process, the water in the pot may evaporate. At this time, some people will add cold water to the pot. However, this will make the braised fish dish fishy. The reason is that the skin contains an amino acid compound that causes fishy odor, which is trimethylamine NH(CH3). When the hot braised fish skin encounters cold water, this compound will dissolve and make the dish fishy.

When cooking dishes related to fish, if you want to add water, you should use boiling water.

Braise the Fish with Low Heat

Using high heat does not help the fish cook faster, but it can make the fish dry, burnt, not absorb the seasoning well.

To make delicious braised fish, braise it slowly with low heat. It is best to braise the fish in two stages to make the fish firm.

Before placing the fish in the pot for braising, you should line the bottom of the pot with a layer of galangal, shallots, lemongrass or tea leaves, sugarcane cuttings… to prevent the fish from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Place the fish on top and pour the marinating water in. Place the pot on the stove and turn on high heat. Cooking with high heat at this stage will quickly extract the water from the fish, allowing the seasoning to penetrate into the meat. Then, add boiling water to submerge the fish. When the pot of fish boils again, reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the pot of fish cool gradually.

Before serving, you can braise the fish for the second time. Cook it over low heat as well. If the pot of fish is running out of water, add boiling water. Braise until the fish meat becomes firm again.

Flip the Fish Minimally

Fish meat has a short and fragile protein structure, so it is easily broken. Therefore, during the braising process, do not flip the fish multiple times, which can cause the fish pieces to break and not taste good.

To let the fish absorb the seasoning, you can occasionally shake the pot or use a spoon to scoop the braising liquid onto the fish. Avoid flipping the fish and breaking the fish pieces.