Ancient Chinese Secret: 7 UP makes the best tasting fish!!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

All the talk about recipes lately has me excited. I was really intrigued by the mustard wrap idea and Ritz crackers sound great. But I felt, well, like the Lone Ranger with my suggestion to soak fish in 7UP prior to cooking.

For what its worth, I got a similar reaction at home. No one at my house really fancies freshwater fish - even I'm not a HUGE fan. But the gang thought I had lost my mind when I told them 7UP would make fish taste better. I assured them it was legit, but they looked at me like I had mushrooms growing in my ear. So, today, I did a little blind taste test.

I cooked some fish filets- tilapia - which we had on hand in the freezer. It needed to be eaten, anyway, so I used that.

1. One half of the fish was soaked in WalMart brand lemon-lime soda pop for 12-15 minutes. The other wasn't.

2. Both were dipped in egg wash and rolled in the same meal preparation.

3. Each was cooked in the same oil.

4. Each looked the same when finished.

Then I separated the samples and the volunteers (my sons) tasted some of each. I didn't tell them I had done anything special; as far as anyone knew, it was just fish.

On my part, I noticed an immediate difference in the taste - the soft drink soaked fish was noticeably milder. As I expected.

My sons were surprised, however. They could tell that one was milder than the other; it lacked a "fishy" taste, according to them. I revealed that those were "soda pop fish" - the same stuff they laughed at before.

I just wanted to share this. I'm certain the longer you soak the fish, the greater the effect. That will be the next experiment. This should be just the ticket for gamey, weedy flavored fish like bullheads, large cats, grinnell, summer bass and so on.

[Tony Livingston]

David, we have soaked our rough, or strong fish in 7UP for years. You are correct on the extended soaking time having a greater effect. When I was a kid we would take the biggest river catfish and soak them overnight. Not only did they NOT taste strong, they had very little taste at all. Bland would be an appropriate description.

My family settled on 6 hours as being about right, at least where larger catfish were concerned.

I find that Tilapia has a very mild flavor to begin with.  I'll bet you're right for not soaking it any longer than 15 minutes.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Thanks, Tony.

Im not keen on "fishy" as a taste, and in my experience, freshwater fish always has it to some degree. Even tilapia makes me reach for the hushpuppies after a few bites. Knowing this simple trick has always helped me like fish more, making it a winner in my book. I may have to buy lemon-lime by the case! I wonder how it would work for freezing fish.

That it will work on most any fish - and the longer the better - also pleases me. some would not agree, but bland" as a taste for fish works, IMHO. I'm thinking the mustard wrap might have a similar effect.

Thanks for your reassuring words.

[harald kronemeyer]

I only use 7up for larger strong tasting fish suck as salmon, steelhead and brown trout. I find bluegil, crappie and perch don need to be soaked. But it is very common and works very well. :)

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Interesting you should say that. I have YET to find anyone who has heard of it. So far I get the same reaction my family had....

"Errr, excuse me - are those mushrooms growing from your ear? For a minute, David, it sounded like you said '7UP.'"

I'll try it with everything, this year. We shall see. BTW, where did you learn of it?