Hi!
So my husband (american) and I (german) were just talking about salmon (lol). He mentioned how he didn‘t like any german fish that he ate so far because they tasted so fishy. He said they are like licking the bottom of a pond, and he has never had fish taste so off.
I personally don‘t eat fish so I can‘t voice any opinion.
Any of you noticed something similar or even the complete opposite?
Kinda invested now lol
44 comments
Really depends on the fish, where it comes from and how it’s prepared. Salmon can be very fishy depending on the variety and the preparation. Atlantic and Pacific Salmon don’t taste the same, Coho and Chinook don’t taste the same, farm raised vs wild caught, frozen vs fresh, blackened, baked, broiled fried sushi. Really need you to narrow it down lol
I’m Alaskan, and growing up the only salmon I ate was caught out of a river by myself or family friends, my first time having salmon in the rest of the United States I was shocked and appalled by how bland it was, so I could see how someone could think salmon was plain or not fishy
All fish tastes fishy to me. Many times in my life I have told people I don’t like fish, and they insist I’ve just never had good fish, so I should taste what they are eating because “it isn’t fishy at all”, and it is ALWAYS fishy. I don’t know what fishy means to them because it all tastes fishy. It’s fish. It’s gross. Now I don’t try it. People cannot be trusted.
It’s a hard question to answer based on your info. Salmon for sure can be fishy but can also be fresh and delicious.
Has he ever had fresh halibut? Fresh Chilean sea bass? Even haddock and cod won’t be fishy if they’re cooked by a non idiot
I had a German ex-boyfriend, and I had to make him the strangest, fishiest, thing ever. Kippered herrings on dry rye toast. The whole house stunk.
I’m from New Bedford, Massachusetts. The largest fishing port on the east coast. If it tastes fishy, it’s not fresh fish. What you’re smelling and tasting is Trimethylamine, a chemical produced when fish decays. It’s a derivative of ammonia.
Salmon is another thing entirely. Atlantic salmon and pacific salmon are completely different fish. Almost all Atlantic salmon is farmed. It’s milder and because it’s farmed, the flesh is soft rather than firm. Farmed salmon is cheaper so frozen farmed Atlantic salmon is what most people are eating. Atlantic salmon has more Trimethylamine N-oxide in it. That’s what bacteria convert into ammonia-smelling Trimethylamine as the fish decays. Trimethylamine N-oxide protects fish against pressure and cold. Old Pacific salmon smells and tastes less fishy than old Atlantic salmon.
If you eat a non-oily fish caught that afternoon, it hasn’t decayed at all and has no fishy smell or taste at all.
I’m Japanese American so I eat a lot of fish as part of my regular diet and I’ve also traveled to Germany a few times and eaten fish dishes there.
Honestly, don’t take this the wrong way, but the thing I remember most about the German food I ate in Germany was it not having much flavor in the first place 😅 So, it at least didn’t taste fishy to me as far as I recall, but I didn’t have salmon there. All the fish I had was white fish.
Quality sashimi does not taste fishy at all.
Entirely depends on the fish and the preparation.
Take catfish for example. It has a strong fishy taste if you just pan sear it. But if you season it and fry it you lose that “fishy” taste.
Also there is a big difference between the flavor of salmon and say cod even if you prep them the same way.
Live in Maine. Never ate much fish until I moved here 35years ago. Now I try to eat it 3x a week. Never tastes off or fishy. Some of my favorites are tuna, halibut, cod,
sol, flounder,salmon and shellfish such as crab, scallops, lobster, mussles, clams, etc.Only buy at fresh seafood markets.
Europe and the Eastern US has Atlantic salmon, which are often farmed but sometimes wild caught. The Eastern Pacific has 5 species of salmon plus a salmon-like trout (steelhead) which are more closely related to all of each other than the other salmon. For the most part people can’t pick them apart definitively, but Atlantic is usually considered inferior to at least 3/5 Pacific salmon (Chinook/King, Sockeye/Red/Kokanee, and Coho/Silver).
For fish in general, carp is much, much less preferred here compared to Central Europe. Muddy and bony is the standard complaint.
Fresh fish usually is not “fishy” like that to me but when I have prepared some fish, salmon in particular, that I felt was a *little* on that spectrum, I would quickly blanch the fish in boiling water before then patting dry and continue to sauté or bake or grill or whatever. I feel that it instantly gets rid of any “fishy” smell or taste. My little trick.
Note: of course, not advocating this with outright spoiled seafood.
When we went to Spain, we tried paella three to Mrs but couldn’t get past the off-putting taste of the prawns. They tasted like shrimp gone bad
Sounds like what he had wasn’t too fresh
I’ve lived in Germany. Unless I was in the north (Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or Hamburg), or eating at Nordsee, the fish they serve in most of the country is pretty awful. Trout seemed to be the only decent fish you can get in the south.
I’ve never understood this. I like fish. I expect it to taste like fish.
My fish doesn’t taste “fishy” but my intake is mostly sushi.
If your sushi tastes fishy, you need to find a better gas station.
Fortunately with everything flash-frozen on the boat, you can get good, safe sushi pretty much anywhere now.
I am an American living in Berlin, I eat grocery store Sushi all the time. I vehemently disagree with your husband’s opinion. Lachs tastes great here, and I hate the super “fishy” taste.
Fish tastes fishy.
The strength of the taste will be a result of what the fish has eaten, and therefore where the fish has been caught.
Saying that fish tastes fishy because it isn’t fresh is total bollocks.
It’s probably just the type of fish. Americans eat a lot of white fish which is just a general term for fish that is mild in flavor and white when cooked. Cod, tilapia, haddock. Salmon isn’t white but is usually pretty mild
I think there’s more variety in Europe and it’s more common than it is here to serve fishes with more pungent flavors. If you’re used to white fish this can give the impression of fish that has gone bad
Salmon has a pretty distinctive taste. Does he like smoked salmon? Some people like that but not regular salmon. Some types of white fish (haddock, halibut) don’t have a pronounced fishy flavour, which is why they are used in things like fish sticks. He may not be used to ocean fish that is fresh (and therefore not especially fishy-tasting) since much of Germany is not near the coast.
The taste of fish can vary quite a bit, even if they come from the same species. Differences in their diet, whether the were farmed or caught in the wild, the way they are prepared, and other factors can make a difference. For example, the wild catfish in my area taste a lot more “fishy” than the farmed ones you get in restaurants, even if they are prepared the same way. Some people don’t mind a “fishy” taste, while others have a hard time with it.
Fresh water fish is more “fishy” than saltwater fish, in general.
I remember visiting relatives in Oregon (from the Midwest) and we ate at a restaurant on the Pacific coast. Clam chowder was one of their specialties, and for the 1st time in my life I realized that fresh clams could be very tender and have no fishy taste.
It’s not just fish that are like that. Fresh grapefruit are also less bitter and more flavorful, etc.
I usually soak my fish in either milk or sprite to remove some of the fish flavor.
Try a white flakey fish like cod , perch, catfish. They are less fishy.
The type of fish he’s eating would be helpful. Some oily fish like mackerel will definitely have a stronger taste than what’s typically eaten in the US. People here tend to like super mild whitefish
To me fishy-ness depends on freshness unless you are eater fish that are primarily bottom feeders like catfish and some carp.
Then size /age matters. Younger and smaller better.
I grew up on the California coast with ocean and lake recreational fishing.
Same day is the best. Everything else is gross.
If I eat fish I prefer commercial raised frozen if it’s not fresh of the boat. Anything else is fishy.
Curious about where he is from in America and what kind of fish you’re eating. I find that lake fish v seafood fish have a really different taste.
When my husband and I were in Germany we ate a fish called zander several times- it was not fishy at all- very mild and delicious. Its translation is pike/perch, which is probably a relative of Northern pike in North America. I have never seen it at the market here sadly.
Whitefish and cod are both very mild flavored fish that would be good to try for him. I usually roast it lightly coated with panko, butter and dill, with a bit of salt.
The nearer I am to the ocean, the less fishy it tastes.
I live where the salmon spawn in California and there is a massive difference between a fresh pacific salmon and something from a farm. It might as well be a different food completely.
Americans can be annoying AF when it comes to fish. So many Americans don’t like “fishy tasting fish”, probably because so many are landlocked and the US simply doesn’t have a strong fish eating culture. Fishy tasting fish are usually the oily types, like sardines, mackerel, herring, etc. Those kinds of fish are heavily used in German, Nordic, Polish, and Russian cuisines. They are excellent for your health. I love oily and super fishy tasting fish. But many Americans don’t because they’re super picky with bland taste buds and will probably only eat salmon, tuna steaks, flounder or catfish.
The idea that fishy tasting fish isn’t entirely true….oily fishes are going to be way more pungent even when they’re super fresh. It is just the way they are. Bad fish gives off a strong chemical smell due to ammonia and triethyl amine. There’s a difference.
Wow. Reading this thread…I think I’ve actually never had fresh fish in my life. This is mind blowing.
Depends on where he is from and the kind of fish. A lot of the US tend to eat very neutral flavored seafood, relatively speaking. Growing up, I pretty much at fried catfish, crappie, bluegill, and the like which are very, very mild. The only other seafood I ate was pretty much crawfish and shrimp. Other people ate oysters, but I couldn’t stomach them besides charbroiled from one restaurant.
If you hand me salmon, trout, and pretty much anything from saltwater, I’m turning it away.
My husband is from a German family and adores stinky fish! lol
But fish like Flounder and Tilapia are know for their mild flavor.
Fresh fish will not taste fishy at all, it’s kind of a mind blowing experience when you try fresh fish for the first time if you’re used to the fishy taste, and it’ll be hard to go back especially if you’re not in an area with consistently fresh fish.
I never understood fish tasting fishy. No one says, “Chicken is too birdy!” Or “This burger is too cowie.” Or “This venison is a bit antlery, Chad.”
If you grew up eating fresh fish, you unconsciously become a seafood snob (for instance, I grew up near a bunch of fishing ports in Rhode Island.) Fish that isn’t fresh will never do after that.
I should also add that some fish have a much stronger flavor than others, even fresh. For instance, fresh cod is light and fluffy and has a subtle taste, but even fresh bluefish has a much stronger “fish” taste.
Probably oily versus white fish. Most likely he’s only used to eating white fish
How does the German fish get to you? Where my family lives in Germany, by the Baltic, there are little seaside fish markets that sell catch or the day type fish. They aren’t really careful to keep the fish cold from catch to sale. They also sell some smoked stuff that’s actually fermented. If they’re selling Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon, it might be out for a while because everyone sort of expects that.
On the other hand, good wild Alaskan salmon, and most of the farmed Atlantic salmon sold in the US are kept cold and usually frozen from the time they leave the water until the time they’re sold. Especially with wild salmon, virtually all of it, including virtually all of the fresh stuff under the counter, even at high end markets and stuff, even when labeled fresh, has been frozen.
Freezing preserves the fish extremely well without degrading it.
So, the difference is that the German fish may be a different variety of salmon, and the German fish has more out time at higher temperatures, so its more degraded. Many if the culinary and handling customs predate refrigeration.
Americans, or the other hand, and especially in Salmon specifically, are masters of Freezing and ice, with a long and entrenched history and custom of using lots of ice, Freezing, and refrigeration.
I eat fish 2x a week…..but not fishy fish. Big eeew.
“Fishy” taste comes from not being fresh, or from being frozen for a long time.