There’s a science to buying fresh fish but maybe the ‘mistake’ is being made before the produce even gets to the fishmonger. Regardless, there’s one thing you should never do after you take the fish home – apart from leave it in the car of course!
A leading seafood chef says he harps on about this for a good reason – so you can enjoy great-tasting fish.
Josh Niland says: “I sound like I’m beating the same drum everywhere I go.
“And I’m starting to feel like a politician. But don’t wash your fish. It’s as simple as that,” he told Broadsheet.
He says his warning isn’t just for home cooks, but for everyone in the industry. “It’s the most ludicrously stupid thing to do to a fish,” he says.
Once a fish is out of water, its contact with the wet stuff (including ice) should be minimised. Every time a fish is put under the tap, while it may create an “allure of freshness”, it’s in fact having the opposite effect – it’s shortening the shelf life of the fish.
“The rapid nature of how water behaves on fish and the bacteria that it creates, that’s what [washing produces].”
He says it’s also the main reason a fish will smell of ammonia, or what we commonly describe as that ‘fishy’ smell.
“The only way you get the smell of ammonia is through inconsistencies of cold-chain management,” he says.
“If you throw a fish under a 12-degree tap then osmosis says the saltwater of that fish is going to all of a sudden become less salty, then all the cells within the fish are going to fill up with water. They’ll then break down and you’ll have a mushy fillet of fish that’s full of water.”
Enough said. Have you been washing your fish before cooking?
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