Why certain fish when steamed, the Skin get so tough?

[jianwei85]

Can somebody help me with this? it is not over steamed or under steamed..20 mins steam oso like this...40 mins steam oso still tough..but the meat is cooked..

[mon]

I'm not a clever cook but I've steamed some fish. Normally I would steam a fish for 15 mins max. Using a wok, covered, on big fire. Hehe...
Perhaps your 20 to 40 mins was over-steaming? And you should serve and eat the fish right away. Have tried leaving it for 10 mins after steaming and the cooked fish turned hard. Hope that helps a little.

[PROSKY]

Not only the thick skin is tough but the meat too. This type is good for cooking curry dish leh. Wow, saliva is flowing already.

[Firefly]

How to get rid of the fishy smell? Tried Ginger juice, chopped ginger...don't seem to work. Any other method? Be it steam, fried, curry....why my home cook ones have a fishy smell to it?

[aRwEn]

errr... wat fish iz unca firefly usin ah? :confused:

[Firefly]

Don't fancy fish except canned tuna....But cooking would be anything the Mrs buys home. Don't know one fish from another...hehehehe. only thing is...they have Fins, scales, head, tail...and no legs :D

[jianwei85]

Thanks mon 4 the info...but my fish skin was so tough la (abit like rubber?)...the meat was ok.. steamed another fish (the same type) at the same steaming period..it turned out ok..so, i was wondering y could the fish skin so 'kental' or in cantonese 'ngan pei'...the meat was just nice on both tries..


Don't fancy fish except canned tuna....But cooking would be anything the Mrs buys home. Don't know one fish from another...hehehehe. only thing is...they have Fins, scales, head, tail...and no legs

Actually, my mom steamed the fish la..i oso dunno 1 fish to another..mayb i know bawal la..haha

[siewjang]

Can somebody help me with this? it is not over steamed or under steamed..20 mins steam oso like this...40 mins steam oso still tough..but the meat is cooked..

Not only the thick skin is tough but the meat too. This type is good for cooking curry dish leh. Wow, saliva is flowing already.

This type of fish is dead before caught by the fisherman. Normally it happens to fishes like red snapper. Only expert ppl like fisherman or MY DAD! know how to see. Ini kes sudah kena tipu la. In hockkien we called it ngeh bui (ngeh = harden, bui = tail)

[totoro]

How to get rid of the fishy smell? Tried Ginger juice, chopped ginger...don't seem to work. Any other method? Be it steam, fried, curry....why my home cook ones have a fishy smell to it?
maybe try getting fresher fish?

[Firefly]

Only fish firefly knows are ROUND in a metal skin...:D the rest is mrs's problem.

[jianwei85]

This type of fish is dead before caught by the fisherman. Normally it happens to fishes like red snapper. Only expert ppl like fisherman or MY DAD! know how to see. Ini kes sudah kena tipu la. In hockkien we called it ngeh bui (ngeh = harden, bui = tail)

aiHs..i kena con a...eat hard skin fish... :( must complain LHB liao..HAHAHAHHAA (j/k la)

but how 2 see?

[evecyanide]

How to get rid of the fishy smell? Tried Ginger juice, chopped ginger...don't seem to work. Any other method? Be it steam, fried, curry....why my home cook ones have a fishy smell to it?

Firefly. I asked my hubby and he said you can try lemon/lime juice. Or chopped lemon grass n a bit of limau purut leaf. That'll take away the fishiness ;)

[Firefly]

ok...will try that the next mrs buys fish...:D

[aRwEn]

diz tip i learnt fr my dad last time....

at d market, take a luk at d fish gillz, if they r red, tn it iz fresh n gud 4 steamin, if it iz a dull puplish or greyish color tn it iz nt fresh n wil nt taste gud steamd....

datz y wn eatin fish at a restaurant, he nvr orderd thoze cookd wit saucez like sweet n sour, etc, cuz it maskz d taste of stale fish.... it wuz alwiz steamd or deep fried, cuz cn taste if d fish iz fresh onot....

;)

[kress]

hmmm.. my godsister told me to look at the eyes... if its bloodshot means that it's not fresh... coz the blood seeps into it...

[mon]

Whenever I go shopping for fish, I would normally , if not always, ask some nice auntie or uncle to help me choose. Serious! And whoever they are, they are always eager to help. See, piece of cake. hehe....

[evelynlim]

Steam fish is my regular meal at home, easy, simple, fast & healthy :D
I usually put ginger slice & fresh tomato slice on top of the fish with some sesame oil. Steam for 15 minutes using the electric steamer. If the skin is hard, I think the fish is not so fresh like what Siew jang said is "ngeh bui ". Better don't eat the skin!

[Firefly]

Firefly came up with a nice way to grind young ginger....

Clean and cut ginger into blocks..Using a JUICER, juice the ginger. collect the fibers sort out the big ungrind blocks,discard, mix back with the juice and store in the freezer until needed.

For steaming fish, scoop healthy spoonfulls on to the fish. Everything can be eaten after steaming. :D

[jianwei85]

aiya..i ate wif the skin oso.. :(

[mon]

aiya..i ate wif the skin oso.. :(
My favourite part of a fish, skin. :)

[kokomo]

Hmm .. ok, this is my fav topic. FISH! Haha .. I love fish. Esp the stomach (yu lam) and the head. Hehe .. skin texture of cos have to be there .. crispy preferred.

If steamed fish, have to steam wif ginger & garlic together. Hehe .. then the skin and fish would be nice.

[jianwei85]

ya la..but evelynlim say don't eat the ngeh bui fish skin lo.. :)

fish is good to eat..but some ppl can't stand the smell of fish wo..wonder y..for me even though the smell is not too strong..but the other will smell as if like garbage truck pass over.. :)

[aRwEn]

i lurve fish 2 as most catz do.... n my fav part of d fish iz d tummy.... hehe.... :D

[edwardyap]

First of all make sure the fish is fresh, clear eyes and red gills.
Farmed fishes where the water is not clean will also cause the fishy smell as most farmed fishes are bottom dwellers. Now, don't ask me why they call itfresh water fish.
The ginger really helps but the trick is when steaming, pour out the yucky water or juice that the fish releases after ten minutes and pop it back into the steamer for the remaining time.

[Firefly]

Someone told firefly that..Seems that it helps in removing the fishy smell...But doing that, would it not be throwing all the nutrients out? :eek:

[siewjang]

Have you guys use fish stock from Thailand for steaming fish? One of the brand is Nam pla (something liddat). Very yummy. No need salt or oyster sauce. Just drizzle some Nam pla sauce and steam. If stir fried rice also very yummy.

[jianwei85]

Have you guys use fish stock from Thailand for steaming fish? One of the brand is Nam pla (something liddat). Very yummy. No need salt or oyster sauce. Just drizzle some Nam pla sauce and steam. If stir fried rice also very yummy.

Premix dressing for the fish ?? ohhh..Nam Pla..nvr heard b4 leh..only know Adabi..A1...

but wat if my fish is a tail cut or half a fish cut? then i cant see gills, eyes n etc..how 2 know its fresh?

p/s: dun say poke..i poke b4..almost kena 'sapu' out of the stall..hehe

[evecyanide]

Have you guys use fish stock from Thailand for steaming fish? One of the brand is Nam pla (something liddat). Very yummy. No need salt or oyster sauce. Just drizzle some Nam pla sauce and steam. If stir fried rice also very yummy.

Nam pla is actually fish sauce. My favourite too! I like it cos it's salty. Instead of using soya sauce with my chilli padis, I use fish sauce. Try it guys, it's really out of this world...

[edwardyap]

Steaming Fish:-

The trick to good steam fish is actually not putting any sauce before the fish is cooked. At restaurants, the soya taste so much better is because is preboiled with alot of MSG and sugar.

What you would want to do is clean the fish nicely and pad down the access water with paper kitchen towels.

Steam the fish with just chopped or strips of ginger. You can stuff some ginger into the cavity of the fish too, to get rid of the smell.

After 10 minutes, pour out the juice or water that's been collected on the plate. If possible, trynot to let the fish sit in the juice on the plate. I do this by placing bamboo chopsticks on the plate and placing the fish on the chopsticks.

Then replace the fish for further steaming till done. (Depending on size of the fish)

If steaming with a wok, you can also speed up the steaming process by placing wet towels around the edge of the wok lid to trap the steam inside.

When the fish is done, remove the chopsticks, pour in acouple of table spoons of garlic oil (oil that has been fried with chopped garlic) and for home cooking, i would recommend to use soya sauce for fish or seafood. There are several brands available in the supermarkets but i personally use Lee Kum Kee.

Add some chopped spring onions, the pre-fried chopped garlic and some pepper and you are done. But use white pepper please. You can also add some fried shallots too if you like.

P.S. Try not to use too much fish sauce in your cooking. It's really not that healthy. If you only knew how they make it but I won't spoil your appetite.

Choosing fresh fish:-

Choose fish by the clarity of the eyes. It should be clear and transparent. And the gills should be bright red. Fish the are not fresh (whether from the wet market or cold storage) tend to have cloudy eye as though they have cataractand the gills, dull.

For fish that are already cleaned, de-scaled or choped then there are only two ways to check.

One is to actually smell it. The smell of fresh fish doesn't have much odour. (Though that depends on the sensitivity of the individual)

And second is to press it. Just poke your finger in the flesh with some pressure (Not to hard so that you are poking holes in fishes that you are not going to buy). The flesh of a fresh fish will retain it's shape and elasticity while you will see a slight dent on that particular part if the fish if it is not fresh.

P.S. Now you can all invite me over to your house for dinner when you are making steamed fish.

[jianwei85]

wow! that's really refreshing! nvr knew got so many steps for steaming fish..now i can make real good steamed fish! hehe ..thanks! :)