Ultimate Tip #1: Thoroughly Clean the Fish Before Cooking
One of the most important steps when preparing fish dishes is thorough cleaning and preparation. It is essential to remove any traces of blood, the black membrane in the belly, as well as the gills, scales, and fins to eliminate any fishy odor.
Soaking the fish in a basin of water for about 10 minutes helps draw out and neutralize the blood. This makes it easier to clean the fish thoroughly. Pay close attention to the gills and belly area, as these tend to retain more blood.
After soaking, you can rinse the fish with salt, lemon, or ginger wine to further remove any slime and residual blood, ensuring a more effective odor removal.
When cooking fish soup, keep these tips in mind to avoid a fishy taste.
Ultimate Tip #2: Cook the Fish, Not the Marinade Liquid
After rinsing the fish, ensure it is well-drained or patted dry before seasoning. This helps the fish absorb the flavors better and results in firmer flesh when cooked. You can season the fish with a mixture of salt, MSG, sliced raw onion, and ground pepper. Mix well and let it marinate for about 15 minutes.
When cooking, place the marinated fish directly into a hot pan or boiling water. Avoid using the liquid that comes out of the fish during marination, as it primarily consists of blood and slime, which can cause a fishy odor and cloud the broth.
Ultimate Tip #3: Cook Fish with Boiling Water
It is crucial to use boiling water when making fish soup. Using cold water will cause the fishy taste to dissolve into the water, making the soup more pungent. By adding the fish to already boiling water, the heat immediately causes the flesh to contract, sealing in the blood and slime, and preventing them from dissolving into the broth.
This method of cooking fish with boiling water is suitable for soups like sour fish soup or banana flower fish soup. For dishes like braised fish that require less water, you can add the fish to the pot at the beginning and cook it together with the other ingredients.
If your soup has insufficient water, always add boiling water to prevent a fishy taste.
Ultimate Tip #4: Use the Right Combination of Ingredients and Spices
To neutralize the fishy odor, it is essential to combine the fish with specific ingredients and spices.
Typically, fish soups are prepared with sour ingredients such as tamarind, sour bamboo shoots, vinegar, sour jujube, Indian lilac, wood apple, star fruit, or tomatoes. These ingredients not only enhance the flavor of the dish but also help eliminate the fishy smell. Sour ingredients often contain acids that can react with trimethylamine, the compound responsible for the fishy odor, forming soluble salts and effectively removing the unwanted scent.
Additionally, using pungent spices like chili peppers, pepper, ginger, onion, and garlic can further enhance the flavor and reduce the fishy odor.
Herbs such as scallions and dill are essential components of a fish soup. Their distinctive aromas not only make the soup more delicious but also help mask any remaining fishy smell.
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