Siren.Kalilla said: »
Also, for anyone who thinks fish smell bad...
If the fish you're smelling smells, it's not fresh. After the fish dies, 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.
So restaurants use lemon to hide the fact that their fish is old and wasn't handled properly >_>
Also, if you buy your own fish and it smells, then it wasn't handled properly by the store and you shouldn't buy fish from there ever again! or you just didn't handle it properly after purchasing it :x
If the fish you're smelling smells, it's not fresh. After the fish dies, 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.
So restaurants use lemon to hide the fact that their fish is old and wasn't handled properly >_>
Also, if you buy your own fish and it smells, then it wasn't handled properly by the store and you shouldn't buy fish from there ever again! or you just didn't handle it properly after purchasing it :x
