Being a staple dish and a main part of some diets, chicken meat is very well-known and one of the most common types of poultry in the world. A lot of people use chicken breast meat and it is often sliced thinly and marketed as chicken slices. They can be used as an easy filling for sandwiches or simply cook it as a main dish.
To keep it fresh, proper storage must be observed. However, it is inevitable to face issues when storing chicken meats, such as the chicken taste like fish.
Ever wonder why chicken has that fishy smell? What could possibly cause your chicken taste like fish’s taste? Let’s find out more information as you read further.
Why Does Chicken Taste Like Fish
There are few explanations on why you would get fishy taste on your chicken. It could vary depending on the circumstances. It can be due to how they’re fed or what they’ve been fed with. Microbes, handling and serving techniques could also explain why chicken smells like fish.
When a chicken tastes like fish, it could ruin the whole dish that you are cooking. You might also think that you have a bad chicken due to its unpleasant taste. When this thing happens, you might be throwing a lot of food into waste.
It is important to know the cause why you have a foul taste or weird taste on your chicken meat. It is far beyond getting expired chicken or having it unfrozen for a period of time.
Cooking Process
One of the main causes you have funny tastes on your chicken is with the way you cook them. It is normal to reuse cooking utensils when cooking. You also reuse oils to deep fry other meat dishes.
So how does it affect chicken tasting like a fish? Well, you might know the answer already. Using oils to fry chicken where you have cooked fish based food could transfer its taste to the chicken.
The same logic goes to using an unwashed pan, chopping board, or frying pan where you also prepare fish based food could transfer its taste to the chicken.
Not only that, cooking chicken the wrong way could also give it a fishy flavor even if you are using clean utensils and fresh oil. The protein and the lipid oxidation process of polyunsaturated fatty acids could make your chicken taste like fish.
This happens if you shallow fry your chicken where these unsaturated fats produce substances that could affect the chicken and give it a strange taste like fish.
Improper Storage
Aside from getting a spoiled chicken, it is a no-brainer that storing your chicken could affect its gamey taste. Poor quality chicken is a result of not storing the chicken correctly. Microbes and other bacteria could easily penetrate into the chicken meat.
Putting the chicken inside a fridge with fishes would definitely be the main reason why you will have a chicken with fishy odor and taste. Even if you have a vacuum packaged chicken, storing it with other meat, especially fish, would give it a crude fish-like smell and chicken taste like fish.
If you are going to store your chicken in a fridge with other meats, make sure it will not come in contact with them. Use a proper container as it will help prevent getting that foul smell and low quality chicken that would result in a fresh chicken that tastes like fish.
Contamination
Given those circumstances above, contamination is very easy to acquire. From an unwashed skillet to incorrect storage process may contaminate your chicken and would give it a taste like fish.
Meat is a natural place for microorganisms to thrive. If handled incorrectly, they could easily contaminate your chicken and may affect its quality. If you serve cooked chicken, make sure to use properly washed plates.
Preparation utensils, such as knives, should also be cleaned properly before using them. It may help if you use sharp blades that could easily cut the meat as it prevents getting messy results. You can avoid having a cooked chicken with a fishy taste and fishy smell.
Fishmeal
One factor to answer your question on “why does my chicken taste like fish” is how they are fed. There are few raisers that still use fishmeal as their main food supply for their chicken.
They are using this chicken feed to add protein. Thus, giving fish-based food was a thing during the 1960s era.
How To Avoid Getting Chicken Meats With Fishy Taste
When your chicken tastes like fish, you might be thinking of ways to eliminate the problem. It shouldn’t go to waste as there are few options that you can use to get rid of the bad chicken tastes.
Now that you have an idea on how you get that foul smell or fishy smell on your chicken meat occurs, let us check on how to remove that fish taste.
Vinegar
- This ingredient is a life saver if you have chicken meat with a fishy smell and if your chicken taste like fish. Vinegar has already been used to get rid of many foul smells and odors on different meat dishes.
- In a water bowl, add a few tablespoons of vinegar and soak the chicken meat into the mixture. Make sure that the chicken meats are totally covered with the mixture to ensure that you get rid of that fishy smell and fishy taste.
- Let it soak for 15 to minutes and remove it from the mixture. Wash it properly with running water before storing or cooking.
Flour
- Using a batter made with flour and salt mixture can help put off the weird raw chicken smells. It also improves the taste of your chicken.
- Make sure to wash the chicken meat properly under running water. You can do the first recommendation as well. Sprinkle two tablespoons of flour and one tablespoon of salt on the chicken meat after washing.
- Rub the mixture to the chicken meat until it is well-coated and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before washing it again. Get a bowl with full water and add one tablespoon of salt, ½ cup lemon juice, and 1/4 cup white vinegar.
- Soak the chicken meat for 15 to 20 minutes. Wash it again with running water. This might be a long procedure but it definitely gets rid of that chicken taste like fish issue. Baking soda can be an alternative to remove the chicken smells and fishy taste.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes aren’t just a show off ingredient for some chicken dishes. If your chicken tastes funny, prepare this tomato mixture to remove the chicken taste like fish problem.
Combine two soft or crushed tomatoes, one tablespoon of salt, and 1 ½ tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix them well and rub the chicken meat with this mixture. This should remove the fish smell after you wash it with water thoroughly before cooking.
Use Fresh Oil
Before you deep fry your chicken meat, try using new and unused cooking oil. Frying process is one of the factors listed above on why chicken taste like fish, so it is essential to use a new cooking oil for your chicken recipe or when frying chicken meat.
Clean Your Fridge and Utensils
Eating spoiled chicken meat could lead to food poisoning. If your raw chicken smells sour after taking off from the fridge, it may have been contaminated with bacteria due to improper handling and dirty utensils.
The best way to get rid of the weird chicken smells and tastes is to regularly clean the place where you are storing it – the fridge. This will ensure that there are no contaminants and foul smells inside.
It is also important to use clean utensils from the preparation process until you serve cooked chicken. It is indeed more fun to eat chicken using a clean plate, spoon, and fork, isn’t it?
Verdict
There are few reasons to answer your question on “why does my chicken taste like fish”. Chicken smell and taste can be greatly affected based on its surroundings. From the way they are raised to the final stage of serving chicken dishes, they play an important role in how your chicken meat will achieve its quality.
If you encounter this problem, then simply follow the recommended procedures found above. Thank you for reading this post.