What Daphne Oz Wants You To Know About Overcooking Fish

Daphne Oz is always serving up the latest tricks and tips to help us eat healthy. We love when she gets together with her famous culinary friends on "Dish on Oz" to share the latest trends — especially when it features her former colleagues from "The Chew," who join Oz on the series which started as a simple cooking segment on "Dr. Oz." But when the cookbook author isn't chit-chatting with her celebrity chef posse, fans can find her on TikTok educating her followers and passing along her cooking savoir faire so they can enjoy healthy and delicious foods. 

Recently, Oz took to the video-driven social media platform to help her fans understand what's really happening when you overcook your fish. Most of us know firsthand that the rubbery, tough, and dry texture that happens as a result of overcooked fish is anything but appetizing, but according to Oz there is more that's going on as your favorite halibut or cod cooks past the point of no return. Why do we tend to overcook fish? Oz shares that most of us do this in an effort to get rid of the fishiness of fish. Now, the foodie is sharing her rule to help us better understand fish, labeling her TikTok explanation as: "My general rule of thumb when cooking fish to help it taste less 'fishy.'"

The daughter of the famed Dr. Oz began her TikTok video by explaining, "You assume that when you cook fish, like you are going to cook away the fishy flavor." But Daphne Oz says that is a wrong assumption. She continues by describing what is happening to the fish, offering, "When you overcook fish which, imagine on salmon those sort of white and kind of creamy looking things that come to the surface. Those are the fats that have solidified and overcooked and they are coming out of the fish and that actually gives it a way fishier flavor." Oz ends the video encouraging her viewers to cook their fish less, saying, "The less you cook fish, the more it will taste like the ocean it was bathing in. So, try it. You might like it."

Exploratorium concurs. Per the website, because fish is a "fragile" meat, it does not take much to mess it up. They go on to share that when your fish has been overcooked, it will shrink and lose moisture, leaving the consumer with a fish that is less than edible. Instead, to prevent your fishy filets from drying out, you should cook them at a high temperature for a shorter time. They go on to suggest following the 10 minutes per inch of thickness rule, bearing in mind the type of fish and the manner in which you intend to cook it.