What It Means When Your Steak Tastes Fishy

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What It Means When Your Steak Tastes Fishy By Rolland Judd Aug. 9, 2025 4:00 pm EST

The last word folks think of when visualizing an immaculately prepared steak is "fishy." I suppose you could call it an unfortunate form of surf and turf; the "surf" and the "turf" should be entirely separate entities that complement each other, not two dishes rolled into one. Whether a steak is cooked in the oven , grilled to perfection, or country-fried, something has gone horribly awry if it tastes like it came from the sea.

Erica Holland-Toll is the culinary director at The Culinary Edge , and she dropped some knowledge on us about why beef occasionally takes on notes of ocean fare. "A fishy flavor in steak is almost always a sign of oxidation," she said. "As beef fat breaks