Know how fishy your hands can get after handling seafood? If you’re not aware, a stainless steel “soap bar” can remove fishy odors (and others) from your hands in a near “magical” way. It seems hard to believe, but this works so well it’s a crime I didn’t know or own one until about 15 years ago. I truly hope I’m the last to know – but if not – get yourself one if you handle a lot of seafood!
by jebbanagea
10 Comments
There are garlic ones too. Or both just have the metal react with various chemicals to eliminate smell
I had always heard if you were cutting garlic or onions, you could rub your fingers and hands on your sink if it was stainless.
It does work!
Then I can’t smell my hands and think of her ;-(
there is nothing about this announcement that is a public service
I rub my sink lol.
Doesn’t work. It has never been verified in a double blind experiment. Also. Logically. If stainless steel removes odors then cooking in stainless steel pans and cutting with stainless steel knives would render your food tasteless.
edit: Every time I make a statement to this effect I get downvoted. I encourage anyone to look into this matter, and sift the science from the anticdotes and pseudoscience
Vinegar works pretty well
Pro tip: lemon juice also works. The fishy scent comes from Trimethylamine Oxide that is present in the muscles of the fish. As a fish breaks down after death, that chemical compound releases the fishy scent. This is why the longer a fish is left after death, the more fishy it smells. Likewise, fresher fish typically smell less fishy.
Acidic things like lemon juice and vinegar neutralize this chemical, reducing or eliminating the fishy scent and flavor. You can actually do a quick test… Take any seafood that has a fishy scent, and drop it into a bowl of lemon juice for a few minutes, ensuring the lemon juice coats all sides. After a few minutes, pull the seafood out and pat it dry. You’ll notice the scent is either almost or completely gone. Likewise, you’ll notice when you eat the seafood, you get a lot more of the natural flavor from the meat, and a lot less of that fishy punch some seafood has. The only thing you need to be careful of is not to leave the seafood in the lemon juice, vinegar, etc for too long or the acid will start to cook the seafood.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. After working with seafood, dip your hands in lemon juice and you can neutralize the smell, then wash as you normally would. You can do the same with vinegar, but lemon juice means you don’t have to then deal with the smell of vinegar on your hands. This method also has the added bonus of letting you know if you have any cuts on your hands.
Me: it’s a lighter.
What? Soap and water work just fine for me. This is unnecessary.