Thread: Removing Strong Fishy Taste

Try letting them soak in a malt vinegar or red wine vinegar solution. Just splash a few drops into the plastic bag a fill with water. Or splash a few drops in the bowl you are soaking you fillets in. Let them soak for and hour or so before cooking. You can also splash a few drops into the bags that you freeze your fish in. The vinegar firms up the flesh and removes the strong taste.

My brother in law just got into fishing and the lake we usually fish in has a slot length for bass. 12-15 inches must go back. I told him I released the big ones because the ones I ate tasted like the lake.
He told me a Samoan friend told him they take their fish, keep them alive and put them in fresh water (they use their bath tub) we used a large cooler to let them breath out the lake water, we let it swim around, changing the water occasionally for a few hrs.
I "seemed" to help, the fish was great. We will still experiment with yet a larger one and if it tastes fine, then I will keep more large bass, as the conservation guy here said they would like people keep there limits of legal fish to control the populations.
But I won't keep them if I aint gonna eat'em.

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission had an article recently where they said to soak potentially strong tasting fish in a gallon of water, 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to remove the strong taste. Don't know if it works as I haven't tried it yet, but if I do, I'll give a report.

simple solution ......soak your cat or any other fish in mustard in a small zip lock bag......then into the meal ( in a brown paper bag only) the bag pulls the moisture away from the meal helps cut down on clumping up....

My friend uses 7-Up or Sprite to soak fillets in before frying. It really
works well. Simple, fast and easy to do. Let us know what ya think if
try it.

I have soaked catfish in bowl of saltwater overnight. Zero fishy taste. Bowl of water, some sea salt dissolved, day in the fridge. That simple.

Originally Posted by tommyboyrn

Team M & M,
How long do you let the fish soak in the mountain dew??

Sorry it took so long to reply I had forgotten about this thread. I just put my fish in a big bowl and pour the mountain dew in and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refridgerator overnight. I have needed fish in an emergency when a family member hadn't taken out enough for a fish fry and we soaked them in buttermilk for 4 hours in the fridge and they came out very nice as well.

Mountain dew is just one option and milk works great & several other things too. I also have been known to soak my fish in crystal pepper sauce before battering them. It's like a hotsauce but not as spicy as tobasco. Just gives it a good flavor. You gotta mix it up once in a while so it doesn't get boring. Especially if your eating fish 3 times a week, lol

Most fish though I've learned like everyone else that if you see a dark line or reddish colored line running along the fillet to trim that out and that removes a lot of the bad fishy taste.

I'm going to soak some tonight in the Ark. G. & F. Comm.'s suggestion of 1 gallon of water, 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. I'll let you know how that turns out.

I got this from a cat-fisherman at the cleaning station......... cut off all fat and dark meat. I cut the larger cats into smaller pieces on the bias before soaking. Soak in cold water with salt and vinegar for about 15 or 20 min. I just guess about 2 or 3 T of salt and about 1/4 c of the vinegar. Agitate to dissolve and mix. Do this 3X then soak 3X again in plain water. I use refrigerated water the last time or two to start the cooling process.

I almost all the time soaked my fish in water that been salted with Sea salt. When preparing for frying I used the egg & buttermilk batter. Very seldom there is a fishy taste,just pure old good. Yum!:D
LittleJohn