Why does tilapia and swai fish taste like catfish?
I have been cooking fish for over 40 years. Catfish is a fish I can not stand. My family buys and loves tilapia and swai and no matter how I cook, grill, bake, fry, season, marinate, flour it, breadcrumb it, and use panko and even try to make fish fingers, it still tastes like catfish. I bought farm raised and wild USA and outside. Lemon, soy, different vinegars and spices from all over the world and marinated overnite and even fried like fish and chips with a beer batter. The only thing I did not do is put bar-b-que sauce on it and ketchup. My family and friends love it whatever I do to it but it still tastes like catfish to me. I love fish but this is really terrible and no matter how it is brought to me, I recognize these two fishes by raw filet sight and it never has a fishy smell. Are these two fishes in the catfish family?
Best Answer
Swai and catfish are biologically related, but Tilapia is a Cyclid and as such quite far removed. I think the biological relation is not all that critical to their similar taste which you dislike though.
The taste of fish relies on a few factors such as:
- Their living environment (Fresh, brackish, salt water)
- The type of soil on the water bottom (silt, sand)
- The diet of the species (other fish, water based plankton or bottom dwellers)
Catfish is a bottom feeding freshwater species and likely to have a relatively similar taste to other species that share their living environment and diet. As such I'm willing to bet you also don't like the taste of Carp very much.
Perhaps the solution lies in finding a fish that has a similar texture to Catfish but is a sea dwelling fish eater. That way you might get the appreciation from your eaters while being able to enjoy your own dishes more.
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Quick Answer about "Why does tilapia and swai fish taste like catfish?"
Swai and catfish are biologically related, but Tilapia is a Cyclid and as such quite far removed. I think the biological relation is not all that critical to their similar taste which you dislike though. The taste of fish relies on a few factors such as: Their living environment (Fresh, brackish, salt water)Does swai fish taste like catfish?
Just like its smell, swai's flavor is more on the bland side; the meat itself isn't as flavorful as catfish, so swai takes on the flavors of the seasonings used to prepare it. Most people will argue that swai has a cleaner taste than catfish.Does tilapia taste like catfish?
Catfish. Catfish has firm texture and mild flavor \u2014 just like tilapia. In terms of sustainability, it's best to avoid imported catfish and opt for U.S. farmed or wild. Farm-raised tends to have a cleaner, less fishy flavor, similar to that of tilapia.Does swai fish taste like tilapia?
Swai Fish vs. Tilapia tends to be fattier than swai, and can have darker bits to the flesh. If shopping in North America, one can find fresh tilapia, but swai will always be found frozen. Taste and texture-wise there's not a huge difference, especially when the sauce is the star of the dish.What is the difference between swai fish and catfish?
So here's how to tell the two apart. Swai appears stiff and may curl at the ends. Its meat looks mushier and does not have the stringy meat that catfish does. Catfish is fluffier and has several ridges in the meat when fried.Top 3 Best Fish vs. Worst Fish to Eat: Thomas DeLauer
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Answer 2
My dad really hates catfish, especially after seeing them cannibalize off each other and eat feces while living in the septic tank when he was a kid.
But he loves tilapia.
I think that coming from other peoples' reviews about catfish, and how tilapia tastes, your problem might be the tilapia's mild flavor.
Tilapia is less watery than catfish. I personally eaten tilapia before and seen how it's prepared.
First of all you need to prepare it correctly. Defrost it in warm water if it's frozen, for a couple of hours. It might be better to purchase fish whole, because you have to make sure to clean out the underbelly thoroughly, without bursting any of the guts. Every time, use a lot of vinegar, just to make sure that it's clean.
Sprinkling some salt on the tilapia would make the fish have a nice, juicy texture. This would be nice when you pan-fry it, as you get a nice crispy skin with a juicy, meaty texture for a fish.
If there's some off-taste after you tried all of that, then you got bad fish.
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