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General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 31/05/2025 00:30:20

Title: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 31/05/2025 00:30:20
If you were to make a tasty "fried" fish without actually frying it because you're watching your caloric intake, how would you go about doing it, or instruct someone to do it?
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: alancalverd on 31/05/2025 08:49:20
The batter around fried fish was not originally intended to be eaten but discarded! The object is to hold the fish together and preserve flavor whilst it steams in its own liquid. Traditional Sabbath fish is cooked the day before and eaten cold, so the batter prevents overnight loss of moisture. So you could get the same flavor of fish by wrapping it in clingfilm and putting it in a microwave oven or a steamer. 

Problem is that folk like the taste of fishy fried batter, or fish baked with butter or oil, so you can't win. Just eat less of it.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: paul cotter on 31/05/2025 11:08:04
Isn't great to have a religious authority figure on the forum, we would be lost otherwise.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/06/2025 07:26:43
Did I really say that?
Technically you wrote that, but yes, you did say that.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 01/06/2025 22:21:42
Barbecue? Blowtorch ?  I think frying is a method of high temperature cooking that transfers heat quickly. Like toasting it caramelises bits of the food, the carbohydrate mainly.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Bored chemist on 02/06/2025 13:33:27
Baked in breadcrumbs isn't a bad option.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: alancalverd on 02/06/2025 17:39:17
Like toasting it caramelises bits of the food, the carbohydrate mainly.

And there's the question. "Fried fish" can mean two very different things: fish placed directly onto an oiled pan, or fish coated with something starchy and immersed in hot oil. In the latter case, none of the fish gets caramelised, just steamed.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 02/06/2025 21:29:04
Like toasting it caramelises bits of the food, the carbohydrate mainly.

And there's the question. "Fried fish" can mean two very different things: fish placed directly onto an oiled pan, or fish coated with something starchy and immersed in hot oil. In the latter case, none of the fish gets caramelised, just steamed.
In that case I'm would say that the oils are kept within the fish along with the moisture.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: alancalverd on 02/06/2025 22:53:48
What oils? The frying oil is on the outside of the batter, not on the fish!
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 03/06/2025 05:47:57
Barbecue? Blowtorch?  I think frying is a method of high-temperature cooking that transfers heat quickly. Like toasting it caramelises bits of the food, the carbohydrate mainly.
In New Zealand and Australia, it's a huge thing to bbq a fish, usually a large snapper or gurnard wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked on the grill. Obviously that isn't mimicking the taste, redolence or structure of fried fish.
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: Bored chemist on 03/06/2025 10:52:50
What oils? The frying oil is on the outside of the batter, not on the fish!
depends what  you are frying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oily_fish
Title: Re: Is it possible to make fish look and taste like it's fried?
Post by: alancalverd on 03/06/2025 15:33:21
Oily? Fishy? This is about food, not politics!