Marinated Milkfish's (Bangus) TOP Secret

My husband and I love Vinegar Marinated Milkfish. We order it from fastfood’s breakfast meal menu,I have tried cooking it at home but shy to admit, I failed. It took me three more years to find out why the Milkfish I am cooking does not taste that good despite of choosing the freshest Milkfish, putting iodized salt, pepper and the tastiest Pinoy garlic variety. I put a lot of salt and vinegar submerging the fish) but still it taste saltless and the vinegar, seemed nowhere. I thought it was MSG, I am missing but still the taste is bland, I was not able to decipher the secret behind the tasty Bangus Fry not until I met this Aling Anna, a Milkfish vendor in Silang Market in the year 2007. She is selling very fresh Bangus from Panggasinan  (the well-known source of Dagupan Bangus – the meat is a bit tangy and tasteful not like the once I have tasted before that is tasteless, you will get what I mean when you taste it) as well as deboning and marinating some of it for selling too. Many times I bought the marinated ones. But when I started to learn deboning Milkfish ( I want my family to enjoy eating without the frightening fish bones), my desire to know the secret  behind her tasty Bangus, I end-up asking Aling Anna one market day. She is hesitant to share it, maybe because of the other vendors around, since we somehow became friends, me being her frequent buyer – I told her too that I am not going to sell and be her competition, it is just for home use; she gave in. And you know what?!  I did not miss any ingredient.  It is just the TECHNIQUE that made the big difference on taste. Here are the tips she shared and I hope it will be of BIG help to you too.

The Secrets Revealed:

1. After deboning and washing the Milkfish, salt it back and front.  Let the salt be ABSORBED for around 30 minutes or more.  Usual Ingredients:

Milkfish (Bangus)

salt

ground black pepper

MSG

vinegar

2. DO NOT PUT THE VINEGAR YET until the salt is absorbed. I noticed that when the salt sinked in, the fish’s meat becomes a bit slimy seems that the salt were all dissolved.

3. ONLY when after the SALT is absorbed is the TIME TO PUT VINEGAR. You can also add ground black pepper on it as well as crushed-minced garlic and MSG or vetsin by now.

4. Aling Anna also said that when marinating in vinegar, wait till the MEAT TURNS WHITE, immediately remove from the marinade (vinegar mixture) Why? Because vinegar cooks it more with the acid content and when you fry the fish it becomes so soft that you can not turn/flip it on the other side wholly and you can not  get it in ONE PIECE when cooked.

My technique before is putting the vinegar right after I put salt that is why even I put a handful of salt it tastes LIKE I did NOT PUT any, and the vinegar did not give its flavor too no matter how  many cups I put.

I hope I have given you the gift of cooking Milkfish the BEST way.  If you happen to like this post, FEEL free to re-share this POST on Google+, Twitter and Fb. Don't forget to give it a plus and if you have not recommended me yet on Google, you can do so by clicking the G+ button on top-left side of the HOME page. Thanks for joining the hundred plus people who recommended this blog. Your comments will be heartily appreciated. Have a great day! Happy meal time to you and your family.