Cooked Salmon fishy smell evern after cook!

[Dennis Fraley]

The salmon I bought was just under a pound. I decided I wanted to try the brown sugar rub posted in the cooking topics on the main page.

I did the rub (except for the savory, didn't have any). Let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours. Then rinsed it off with cold water, and let it sit out for another hour. Then applied some ground pepper, and sprinkled some rub on it.

I smoked it for an hour and a half with some apple wood. I let it cool, bagged it and threw it in the fridge. I prefer smoked fish cold and very smokey flavored. I figured letting it sit in the fridge for a day would be better.

I guess what I'm getting at is it's still VERY fishy smelling. I tried some about 3 or 4 hours after I pulled it off. It's very good but smells so fishy it almost turns me off from eating it. I had my brother and his wife try it as well. They all liked it but agreed it was very fishy smelling.

Is it the fish or the way it was cooked? I've searched thru previous threads and found others mention that when they tried the brown sugar recipie it was fishy smelling as well. And when they do it other ways it was not.

Do you think it's the precedure or the fish? I love smoked salmon but I dont care all that much for the fishy smell. Most salmon I've had does not smell like that.

 

[Wesley S]

I'm not a big fan of fish other than fresh tuna. But from the sound of it, it sounds like the rub makes it have that fishy smell. If others have posted about it that would be my "guess" but I really don't know. I do hope someone can shed some light because I know that smell also makes me hurl. The misses make's tuna (from the can) sandwiches on toasted bagles and it makes me sick everytime she makes one.

 

[Jim Minion]

That is normally the case with old fish, fresh fish does not smell as you have discribed. Fish if whole the eyes will be bright, if filleted the color of the flesh will also be bright.
Any that is really smelly is not fresh and if it is as bad as you discribe I would take back or toss.
Jim

 

[Konrad Haskins]

I'm with Jim. The highest grade of fish is Sushi quality. I've even had the treat of eating Salmon sushi at the best place in Stockholm. None of it ever smelled the least bit fishy. I've eaten Cardogs Salmon cooked by the Cardogs many times and it never smelled fishy.
HTH,

 

[Guest]

I agree with the previous two posts. The fishy smell is a result of a fish that has passed its prime. I never buy my fish in a regular grocery store. There's no telling how long the fish has been in the case and with grocery margins so thin, the fish monger is not likely to throw it out when they should.

Find a fish market or a specialty market that either has fresh fish or has fish that was flash frozen on the docks.

 

[Carl F.]

Another trick with salmon is to put it in a glass dish and cover it with milk. Let it sit for a couple hours in the fridge. Then dump milk and cook as planned. Don't know how it works but the milk soak seems to remove any fishy taste/odor.

 

[Doug D]

I've also read that thawing frozen fish in milk helps remove the "freezer" taste, but that, if soaking thawed fish to remove the fishy smell, to not leave fish in the milk bath for longer than an hour, because lactic acid in the milk will break down the connective tissue in the fish and it will tend to fall apart when cooked.

 

[Tony Weisse]

Dennis,

How did the fish smell before prep?

I've sometimes had problems with salmon in general. If there was any of that gray colored meat along the side, then that would really cause a stink. I neglected to remove that flesh once and the resulting fish was absolutely awful.

 

[Guest]

Just a couple of splashes of dry white Vermouth removes all fishy smells.

We have used Martini&Rossi Dry Vermouth and it doesn't seem to leave any taste after cooking.

 

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Travis H:
[qb] Just a couple of splashes of dry white Vermouth removes all fishy smells.

We have used Martini&Rossi Dry Vermouth and it doesn't seem to leave any taste after cooking. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>... and it has so many other uses too /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

My guess is that the salmon was fishy before you started working with it. The milk and the vermouth trick might get rid of the stink but you still have not-to-fresh fish.

Smell before you buy is always a good rule of thumb.

Kevin

 

[Dennis Fraley]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kevin L:
[qb] <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Travis H:
[qb] Just a couple of splashes of dry white Vermouth removes all fishy smells.

We have used Martini&Rossi Dry Vermouth and it doesn't seem to leave any taste after cooking. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>... and it has so many other uses too /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

My guess is that the salmon was fishy before you started working with it. The milk and the vermouth trick might get rid of the stink but you still have not-to-fresh fish.

Smell before you buy is always a good rule of thumb.

Kevin [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yeah, I've pretty well sworn myself to that one now. I'll never buy it from a grocery store again. And i will smell it before I buy it next time.