Hey /ck/. I don't usually visit this board, but I have a question that needs answering. Why... why are do all fish recipes involve some kind of lemon or lime? WHY?! It's EVERY RECIPE. Who was the idiot who thought citrus was the best flavor for fish? IT'S NOT. It's always disappointing. Like,
>Boy this fish sure would taste great if it didn't have this taste of FUCKING LEMON RUINING IT.
Can someone please explain what the fish&lemon craze is? Why is it so prevalent, when the two tastes don't go together?
I have some tilapia btw, if you want to throw some recipes at me.
i think it's mostly an english/anglo-saxon custom.
>>7072608
Grill it well done and put some ketchup on it, faggot
>>7072608
Cook tilapia in pan until done. Squeeze several lemons on top. Wa la!
>>7072608
because people use fish for diets and for weightloss a lot and lemon is good for that shit
>>7072611
This
It's no big secret that white people are a disease
>>7072608
the acids can break up an extra fishy taste and add some freshness to it
>>7072608
>tilapia
come back when you buy a fish that isn't canned tuna tier, then you complain about NOT TASTING MUH FISH
>>7072653
I was just given it. I don't usually eat fish. But i at least want to make something that isn't a lemon turd.
>>7072655
tilapia needs a lot of help flavor-wise, it's never a very "fresh" tasting fish even when it is fresh. citrus helps with that. it's often used for tacos and frying. just season it to your liking and pan fry it.
>>7072646
>>7072665
What do you mean by "fresh"? I don't know what fresh tastes like. All lemon does is make the fish taste like lemony. Which is just wrong for fish. Isn't freshness different for every type of food? A fresh fruit is going to have a different freshness than meat, right?
What about "good"? If we're going to talk about vague concepts. How about tell me what makes fish "good". Because I tell ya, lemon ain't it.
I'm not going to defend it but have you ever thought maybe you just don't like lemon?
>>7073079
Fair question. But I do like lemon.
>>7072608
WORD. I always hated that lemon on the fish, what the FUCK. Only thing fish needs is ketchup
>>7073036
fresh flavors are often palate cleansing ones, like cucumber, lemon, light vinegars, pickled ginger, fresh herb garnish, etc.. it's strong flavors that can mask heavy ones, such as cream, fat, umami, spice, etc, and allow you to eat overwhelming flavors in greater amounts without being gagged out
fresh in terms of meat specifically just means that the meat tastes very neutral. usually fresh meat adapts to seasonings and doesn't have strong natural flavor like gamey, that muddy taste tilapia can have, strong fishy taste, or that weird flavor that predator flesh can have
fresh flavor + strong flavors = winning combo. in reverse, a fresh meat such as bland hamburger goes well with strong flavors like spice or heavy gravy. fresh is less a direct taste and more of what the flavor amounts to in the whole of a meal
>>7073211
>umami
uwot
>>7072608
>tilapia
Why would you want to taste wet newspapers instead of lemon?
>>7073213
>being retarded
i fukd urmami
>>7072608
>Hey /ck/. I don't usually visit this board
I am curious about this.
Continue...
>>7072608
I read somewhere that lemon is been used with fish for centuries.
The old believe was that the acid of the lemon could break down fishbones, in case they because stuck in your throat. That why we still use lemon with fish
LEMONS ARE USED WITH FISH BECAUSE SAILORS REALIZED CITRUS STOPS SCURVY, SO YOU WOULD HAVE BOATS FULL OF CITRUS AND SURROUNDED BY FISH. THAT'S WHERE THE IDEA CAME FROM BUT IT IS THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NOW AND NO LINGER NECESSARY.
>>7073309
>necessary
Tastes pretty good though
>>7072608
When fish die, bacteria begin working to liberate amines from the amino acids in the fish's flesh.
An Amine is basically a hydrocarbon attached to an NH2 group (derived from ammonia). Like ammonia, amines are weak bases in water. Most amines are very pungent, and are the source of many of the "rotting" odors we know. In fact, some of the amines in fish are known (scientifically!) as cadaverine (C5 H14 N 2 , produced by the breakdown of lysine), and putriscine (C4 H12 N 2 , which is produced by the breakdown of glutamine).
Since amines are basic, mixing them with an acid results in the formation of an amine salt. And this is where the lemon juice comes in.
Everyone is familiar with the sour taste of a lemon; this taste comes from citric acid (which contains three carboxylic acid groups). When we squeeze that lemon wedge onto our fish platters, we are setting up a reaction that neutralizes the fishy-smelling amines, thus greatly improving the taste of the fish.
>>7073211
I can kind of see what you're saying. But the use of the word "fresh" is throwing me off.
>>7073221
The last time I visited /ck/ was, I don't know, a year ago? I asked a question about hotdogs.
>>7073309
That sounds plausible.
>>7073349
You used enough sciencey sounding words to sound convincing. Except one thing...
>thus greatly improving the taste of the fish.
I can not agree with that. Perhaps there is a modern way to create the reaction you described, without ruining the taste of fish with lemon. Surely lemon can't be the only thing capable of neutralizing the amines, right?
>>7074013
you could go with another acid of course
try bathing your fish in seltzer
>>7072608
Check out fish cuisine from countries that didn't have access to lemons for a good while.
Here in Sweden we do our fish half rotten, bleached, pickled, buried or smoked, all without lemon.
It's really a white people thing.
East Asian fish dishes don't have lemon, but will occasionally use ginger to get rid of the fishyness. However, I stand by the notion that if you don't like the fishyness, you don't like fish and shouldn't eat it.
