What does it mean if my chicken tastes like fish?
I got the chicken fresh from Smith's, rinsed it, seasoned it, and it didn't smell at all. I put it in my mother-in-law's baking dish, baked it, and it smelled sooo good in the house while baking. I served it only for my husband to spit it out. It tastes 100 percent like fish. Not smell, taste. What could this be from? Does it indicate the chicken was unsafe to eat?
Best Answer
I can think of several things, but it's not the definitive answer (not enough info in the question):
- Oven was used recently for baking fish
- Dish/pot was used recently for baking fish
- Chickens were fed food containing fish. I don't know if this still happens, but in my country (The Netherlands) some 30 years ago, you could buy a 'powdery' chicken food that was some mix of ground-down grains, corn, and fish serving as a cheap protein source. You could definitely taste that in the eggs - I don't remember about the chicken meat itself.
Note that chicken meat is sort of 'lowest on the rung' where quality is concerned, and maybe this was a batch from someone looking for a quick profit.
Note that the smell of fish permeates/overpowers quickly and that taste is very much determined by smell.
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Quick Answer about "What does it mean if my chicken tastes like fish?"
This mostly occurs when chicken is fried in an unwashed skillet or pan, or when oil is reused for cooking multiple times. It is not that the oil or pan taste of fish, but when oil is heated more than once it can start to undergo changes which will taint your chicken with odd flavors.Why do chicken taste like fish?
The reason behind this feeding method is to increase the protein content in the chicken. While this practice isn't very common, it could be one of the reasons your chicken has a fish-like taste and/or smell, regardless of the cooking method you use.Is it OK to eat chicken that smells like fish?
A telltale sign of bad chicken is a foul smell. Raw, fresh chicken will have a very mild smell or none at all. If your chicken has a very apparent smell, such as a sour or sulfur-like smell similar to rotten eggs, throw it out. However, you should never rely on smell alone to determine if chicken is safe to eat.Why does my food taste like fish?
In trimethylaminuria, the body is unable to turn a strong-smelling chemical called trimethylamine \u2013 produced in the gut when bacteria break down certain foods \u2013 into a different chemical that doesn't smell. This means trimethylamine builds up in the body and gets into bodily fluids like sweat.Why does all meat taste like fish?
\u201cAs a result of this metabolic disorder, the breath, sweat and urine have a very strong odor of fish.\u201d If someone has this disorder, and much of the food they eat takes on a fishy flavor, it may be due to their trimethylaminuria \u2013 which they probably have not been diagnosed with, since it's a rare condition.Here's How To Tell If Chicken Has Gone Bad
More answers regarding what does it mean if my chicken tastes like fish?
Answer 2
Fishmeal :( Some farmers feed chickens fishmeal. I assume it provides a better nutrient base, blah, blah. It's gross. I can only buy one brand of chicken now, because most of the local grocery stores sell "fishy" chicken.
Answer 3
In the UK, in the post-war era of the 50's and early 60's, a whole roast chicken was an expensive luxury food. For many British families it offered a rare alternative to the regular Sunday roast "dinner" (lunch) in place of roast beef, pork or lamb, far less expensive to buy for the so called working classes of the time. This was still the age of free-range chickens so quality and taste were excellent. Egg-yolks were rich in color and taste. This all changed from the mid-60's when economies of scale turned the raising of chickens into an unregulated industry, the so called "battery" chicken "produced" on a vast, industrial scale. Millions of chickens flooded the market and the retail cost to the family dropped well below that of meat. But these chickens were raised in appalling conditions and fed the "waste" byproducts of the UK's fishing industry, a dried fish powder or mini fish pellet. The chicken of the late 60's, 70's and early 80's tasted fishy unless bought from upscale poulterers or sourced from known free range outlets. The battery chicken of today has improved with High Street supermarkets using their clout to reject suppliers of fish-fed chucks. Maybe the OP has stumbled on a supplier of foul-tasting fish-fed-fowl.
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