Purchasing live fish is the best option. Please take heed of the following when purchasing d3ad fish:
Tips to buy delicious fishes
- Examine the fish’s exterior; if it is still slimy, its eyes are still clear, its scales are still in place, its gills are still pink, and it sinks when submerged in water, it is fresh.
- The fish is ruined if it has a sticky substance on the outside, sunken eyes, scales that are easy to remove, a pale color, meat that is no longer elastic, enlarged belly and anus, and floats when submerged in water.
- Meat from white or yellow fish is wonderful. Typically found in ditches and ponds, black fish have poor meat quality.
- Don’t be scared to get your hands dirty while purchasing fish because you’ll likely end up with a nasty one. Examine the fish’s gills. The fish is fresh if its gills are still red; if they are brown or pale, it is rotten.
Before marinating, you need to pay attention to cleaning the fish:Â Â
- Fresh sea fish with crimson gills, clear eyes, and a solid, elastic body are the best to choose. Before chopping and marinating, you should wash the fish in salt water, remove all of the gills, and remove any fish blood.
- Along with the fishy scent of the fish, river fish also have a fishy smell of the mud. The fish won’t smell fishy after processing if you wash it in salt water or apply salt on it.
- Scales and skin must be removed from snakehead fish. Keep an eye out for the two fishy scales close to the fish’s head; you need to remove them together with the fishy vein close to the fish’s spine.
Tips to marinate fishes
- Depending on the dish, when marinating fish, you can marinate it with a few drops of lemon to help remove the fishy smell.
- Ginger can help eliminate the fishy scent when making some fried foods with fish sauce or sweet and sour sauce (such as fish porridge, fried mackerel with sweet and sour sauce, and fried catfish with ginger fish sauce).
- When preparing braised fish meals, be sure to marinate the fish in caramel and spices so that the flavor can seep into the fish. Don’t stir or mix too much when you first start braise, and don’t let the fish braising liquid boil too much because that can easily break the fish apart.
- As soon as the fish is cooked, remove it from the pot and serve it hot, whether it is boiled or steamed. The fish will crumble and the meat will get dry and lose its taste if you steam or boil it too much.
