Is it better to add salt to fish before or after stewing? When is the best time to add salt to fish?

We all know that fish is a popular food. It is rich in protein, minerals and other trace elements, has high nutritional value, and can be eaten in a variety of ways. It has good edible value and is well-liked by people. Many people will stew fish at home. So when is the best time to add salt when stewing fish? Let's take a closer look!

When is the best time to add salt to stew fish?

Fish stew

No matter it is stewed fish or braised fish, you need to cut the cleaned fish into pieces, rub salt on the fish to let the saltiness penetrate into the fish meat, then add cooking wine and pepper and marinate for 20 minutes. It goes through the production processes of frying, stir-frying seasonings, stewing, and collecting the juice. Both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce are salty. Add salt in an appropriate amount according to your taste when serving.

Steamed fish

When steaming fish, you don't actually need to add salt. Steaming fish must be done with live fish, clean the fish, drain the water, and do not need to be marinated. Steam the fish directly after the pot is boiled. When serving, drizzle with light soy sauce or steamed fish sauce. Steamed fish sauce has a strong flavor and does not need to be added with salt. Add chopped green onion, red pepper, and coriander, and cook in clear oil.

Fried fish

Small yellow croaker is usually fried and eaten. It can be marinated with cooking wine, pepper and salt for a while, then coated with cornstarch and fried, and eaten with pepper and salt. The taste can be salty or light according to your own habits.

Fish Soup

When making fish soup, do not add salt too early, as this will easily cause the protein on the surface of the fish to coagulate too quickly. Add salt before serving and adjust the taste.

What are the techniques for stewing fish?

1. Live fish processing

Many people think that a lively fish is freshest when it is cooked immediately after being slaughtered and cleaned. In fact, this is wrong. Fish is white meat, and like red meat such as beef, mutton, and pork, it has an acid-discharging process, especially fish meat, which has the most protein. After this stage, the protein in the meat will stabilize, the meat quality will be greatly improved, and the taste will be tender and smooth. The acid-discharging of fish is not the same as that of red meat. After slaughtering and cleaning, let it sit for about 2 hours until the fish body is stiff, and then it can be cooked. When washing fish, you must also do the following: ① Remove the scales and intestines, and do not break the fish gallbladder. In case bile flows out, wipe it clean with white wine in time, and do not remove the green bile; ② Remove the gills, and do not remove the soft meat between the two cheeks, which is the most delicious; ③ The black film in the fish belly must be completely cleaned, and the fish bladder is opened to release air.

⒉Key steps in cooking

① There are two ways to stew fish. One is to stew it in a clear sauce, which requires the soup to be fresh and the meat to be tender, and the soup is the main thing to drink. The other is to stew it in a pan, which requires the soup to be thick and the meat to be mellow, and the meat is the main thing to eat. ② Stewing in a clear sauce requires first sautéing the scallions and ginger in the pot, then adding water to boil and then adding the fish and sweet wine. The amount of water should be about twice that of the fish, then cook over high heat for 30 minutes, add salt and turn off the heat, then add coriander or chopped green onions, a little vinegar and serve; stewing requires first frying the fish until both sides are golden brown, add boiling water just to cover it, add scallion segments, crushed ginger, salt and sweet wine, and cook over high heat for 20 minutes. When the soup is basically dried up, turn off the heat, add chopped green onions and crushed black pepper, and serve.

3. Side dishes

For braised fish and pan-fried fish, the first choice of side dish is tofu, which is usually added halfway through the stewing process. It can be cut into thick square slices or diced. The selection of other side dishes depends on your own preferences, as long as you pay attention to three points: ① The amount of side dishes should be less than half of the fish; ② You can take extreme side dish methods to obtain special flavors. For example, using bacon or pickled vegetables as side dishes, the taste of high-contrast ingredients will be unforgettable. For example, using celery, which has the strongest taste, as a side dish for pan-fried fish is also unforgettable. ③ The fish stew pursues the original flavor, and the seasoning should be kept as basic as possible: "scallions, fresh ginger, sweet wine" and oil and salt.

What fish is not fishy when stewed?

Whether stewed fish has a fishy smell or not depends on many factors. First of all, it has a lot to do with the ingredients you choose. Usually freshwater fish has a stronger earthy smell than saltwater fish, and this is caused by innate factors and cannot be changed. So you have to like eating fish and dislike the earthy smell and choose saltwater fish, such as turbot, toothfish, yellow croaker, etc. These fresh ingredients have almost no earthy smell after steaming. In addition, freshwater bass is also a good choice.