How to make fish not fishy?

So my family has made the switch to eating a lot healthier, part of this includes getting more Omega-3s and eating more fish, which up to this point was pretty much zero except for Tuna.

We have started buying tilapia as we heard it is less fishy, the reason we don't really eat fish.
We have had success grilling it with lemon and Italian seasoning on it, but that's about it.
I tried making fish tacos yesterday and did pretty much the same thing I would do with chicken, except to get rid of the fish taste I figured I'd marinate it for a few hours. I defrosted it and stuck it in a bowl of lime juice mixed with taco seasoning and let it sit for about 4 hours.
Afterwards I put the fish and the marinade in a pan, added some fresh cilantro leaves and let it broast and get soft and broke it up with a spatula. After the lime juice was evaporated and absorbed I put on more taco seasoning and put it aside in a storage container in the fridge until it was ready to serve for dinner within that hour.

They tasted ridiculously fishy. I couldn't even eat two tacos. I thought all the lime juice and taco seasoning and cilantro would kill any fish taste, but it seemed to make it more noticeable.

Any ideas on next time, or even how to take that taste out of the left over fish taco meat we now have?

I'm also open for ideas on how to use it otherwise besides grilling it or any other fish recommendations. FYI, it is boneless, skinless frozen tilapia fillets we're buying.

Good & the right kind of fish - is not fishy at all.
Buy some mahi, ahi, snapper, ono, sea bass. Just salt & pepper, a lil lemon, a few dots of hot sauce(if you want some bite to it) & grill.
That's it.
White, flacky & not fishy at all.

If you want to throw it in the oven in either a pyrex or wrap it in some tinfoil - I usually do the same as above, but instead of squeezing the lemon on it, I cut slices of lemon and lay them directly on the fish, along with some onion & a lil white wine. Done.

ALWAYS BUY FRESH - not frozen

Migs has it nailed. My wife calls me a fish snob because if I didnt catch or one of my friends then i aint eating it. Luckily i live in SW Florida and my friends are charter captains.
Follow Migs' menu to the T and you will be fine. Never buy frozen and I do not care for tilapia either.

Walleye

Surprised you think tilapia is fishy. It's a pretty safe bet. We just bake ours in olive oil and lemons, maybe some capers.

Swai is really good and healthy.

You can make salmon cakes with sautéed baby bok choy.

I've heard vinegar based marinades do a better job removing fishy vs oil based.

+1 for the lemon slices in the fish. Fishy smell is fish decay, i think, but idk, im wrong alot, and people tell me I dont know anything, which is kinda true.

Tilapia-
In a non stick skilltet

Thaw tilapia out
sprinkle low sodium blackening seasoning on both sides.

Get the skillet hot and add a spray of non stick cooking spray. cook on each side about 2 minutes.

things turn out great

Tilapia isn't a very fishy tasting fish. And it's not a good choice for getting Omega 3 oils. I think that fish like Salmon are your best bet. But the highest Omega 3's come in fish that are very fishy in taste. I heard you can thaw them in milk to reduce the fishiness, but never tried it.

Im not sure on Tilapia but we have alot of crappie & catfish on our lake. Both fish have a heavy fish tast to them. I soak mine in buttermik before cooking and it seems to take most of the fishy tast out. I agree on fresh fish, frozen just isnt the same.

Migs is right.

The reason most people don't like fish is because they have never had it fresh. If it smells like fish it ain't fresh.

I'm also like baitkiller. I grew up and still fish on the west coast of BC here where you can catch and eat a salmon within an hour or later that day. Doesn't get any better. I will not eat fish in restaurants and hate it when I am served farm salmon in a sushi joint. If a sushi restaurant wants to make a name for themselves they shouldn't serve farm. I don't care if its cheaper....it's gross. The farm salmon would be white if they didn't dye the food that they give them to make it that orange color. Farm also has a lot more fat than wild. Just look at how thick the white lines are on farm. Also no taste.

Also need to be careful with Tilapia. Quite a bit of it comes in from guess where.....China.

Originally Posted by migs

ALWAYS BUY FRESH - not frozen

^^This is the key. Our family likes most all seafood but try Hailbut, Mahi-Mahi, or Swordfish for milder flavor. Get thick steak like cuts and grill. Johnnys makes some dill (used to be called fish season) seasoning that is the best i've had. Be sure to remove the skin too (it comes off easier after cooking) as it has alot of the fishy flavor you are talking about. Tilapia will almost always have been previously frozen if it is store bought.

you get what you pay for with fish...and don't trust restaurants to serve what they claim it is. even grocery stores can 'make mistakes'. there have been investigative reports done by reliable sources showing stores and restaurants serving/selling types of fisher other than what it's labeled as. it could be intentional or their supplier screwed them. once fish is fileted some types closely resemble others.

tilapia is mostly farm raised, no thanks. add the china factor and it's not a good choice, imo.

fresh fish will smell like the ocean if it's a salt water species or won't smell much at all if fresh water.

buy it fresh from a good source and eat it soon (that night or the next). it will cost more than frozen tilapia but it will be good for you and taste great.

to compare, go get some fresh amberjack and season it lightly. cook on the grill if you have a basket, won't take long. great for tacos.

"if I didnt catch or one of my friends then i aint eating it"
what ^^^
the Byerly retrospect, " ... I can catch catfish til dusk to dawn ... a country boy can survive.. "
Grocery stores have plenty of good fish options. Good ways to learning how to cook fish (if it is not a family tradition) include CreateTV (and other like channels), or, a cookbook!

Originally Posted by john211

"if I didnt catch or one of my friends then i aint eating it"
what ^^^
the Byerly retrospect, " ... I can catch catfish til dusk to dawn ... a country boy can survive.. "
Grocery stores have plenty of good fish options. Good ways to learning how to cook fish (if it is not a family tradition) include CreateTV (and other like channels), or, a cookbook!

If I nor one one of my esteemed colleagues did not personally harvest said fish, it would then be unlikely that (I) would be found consuming said fish.

You don't speak Budweiser? Idiot

avoid farm raised, and pretty much anything from asia. heck, even wild caught in our own waters is getting tougher and tougher to find good fish. if youre in WA, you should have no problem finding fresh fish on a regular basis.

Petrale Sole fish tacos from last night. yummm.
Got the Sole fresh at whole foods, spent $11 for 1 huge filet, that fed 3 adults.

Get a TRAEGER - Thrown any fish on cedar plank and you are done!

to surf addict.

once you master fish, try tackle duck!

there's a tired joke about recipe for duck. i can't recall it exactly so i'll improvise.

take one duck, and fire up a hot outdoor grill. season duck. place on a cedar plank. put cedar plank and duck on the hot grill. cook to taste. when done, take off grill.

throw away duck. eat plank.

My latest that taste's great - Swai or Snapper, flour salt and pepper in a big ziploc, throw the fish in and shake it up until it's all well coated. In a pan med-high, some butter and olive oil mixed. Fry on each side 2 to 3 minutes. Pull the fish out and throw some white wine or sherry in the pan and reduce for a minute or two (might take off heat while dumping in sherry to prevent fire). Add some lemon juice and thyme, and pour that thin sauce over the fish. I like the swai best like this. It's easy to vary this a bit with different fish, spices, etc.

mustard in your marinade or wet dredge can cut the fish taste

I cook salmon regularly and it is so good in my opinion that I won't order it at a restaurant because I will be disappointed. I put it on the grill skin side down with Old Bay seasoning on top along with some garlic powder. Once the skin begins to get crisply I flip the fish and use grill tongues to pull the crispy skin off. If you time it right the whole skin comes off in one piece easily. Then I season the second side. After grill marks form on side two I flip it to "side 3" as I call it so I can put grill marks on the side that had the skin on it. At this point the salmon should be cooked through. There is a recipe on the food and cooking channel website for a creamy dill sauce for salmon that involves sour cream, dill, and capers along with some other spices. Not necessary but a nice addition.