I was just wondering what those of you who work in sushi bars or just work with a lot of fish do to remove the smell from your knives afterwords. I have tried regular dish soap and a baking soda paste, but although these kind of work you can still quite clearly smell it afterwords. All tips and tricks are welcome!
Tips for removing fishy smell
- Thread starter Mlan
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tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Febreeze everything
Hydrogen peroxide.
haha well in that case what scent do you recommend
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Is the smell on the blade, or in the handle? I've found that fishy smells can soak into the handle, but at least for me they dont linger on the steel itself.
Yeah I find the smell on the blade lasts for maybe two days, but the smell on the handle can sometimes last weeks. It depends on the handle material, but I have found a soft ho wood handle is the biggest offender. Also I really only have this issue with deba's after butchering a fish. Yanagis get a little smelly, but not nearly as bad.
KenHash
Senior Member
Always wet a wa-handle before use to prevent "fish juice soak up syndrome".
Same goes with the cutting board.
Same goes with the cutting board.
I'd be interested in this too. In my experience, it was in fact the blade that has the smell, mainly because I was either using one with a polymer handle or else one that I Tru-Oil'ed the hell out of before its first use.
I wonder if some steels retain the smell worse than others?
Are there any actual sushi chefs here who could chime in?
I wonder if some steels retain the smell worse than others?
Are there any actual sushi chefs here who could chime in?
Be honest with you guys, I have never smell any of my knives… However I wash knives with soap and warm water, and sanitize very good then dry before put them on the knife rack.
What do you do to sanitize them?
I have liquid sink dispenser in my restaurants, and we have to have sanitizer for all stations every shifts.
For the knives and handles:
1. Especially for untreated handles, oil them frequently. Oil will prevent absorption of other stuff.
2. Wet them with clean water before you start. Any dry parts will saturate with water and that will prevent other things from soaking in.
3. Wash them very thoroughly after with soap and water.
4. If there is still smell, use alcohol, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, very diluted bleach. I would try them in that order, more or less. Just remember to neutralize if needed, and wash thoroughly after. Re-oil frequently, especially on untreated handles, as any of these treatments can dry the wood badly.
I cut sashimi on a wood board (Boos maple) with an untreated ho handled yanagi, and neither absorb smells at all following steps 1-3. I've felt obliged once only to go to step four on either: that was before I realized that step 2 was critical; I used very diluted bleach to annihilate the smell.
1. Especially for untreated handles, oil them frequently. Oil will prevent absorption of other stuff.
2. Wet them with clean water before you start. Any dry parts will saturate with water and that will prevent other things from soaking in.
3. Wash them very thoroughly after with soap and water.
4. If there is still smell, use alcohol, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, very diluted bleach. I would try them in that order, more or less. Just remember to neutralize if needed, and wash thoroughly after. Re-oil frequently, especially on untreated handles, as any of these treatments can dry the wood badly.
I cut sashimi on a wood board (Boos maple) with an untreated ho handled yanagi, and neither absorb smells at all following steps 1-3. I've felt obliged once only to go to step four on either: that was before I realized that step 2 was critical; I used very diluted bleach to annihilate the smell.
So that's actually another reason why we tend to have two sets of knives that we rotate. After the shift, you sharpen and let rest for a day. By sharpening you get rid of any fishy smells, but you get iron scents instead. Resting for a day is the way people get rid of any iron smell.
Wiping with a clean towel as you go and working with very fresh fish also go a very long way in preventing smells from coming.
I know in quite a few Japanese videos where they are in restaurants breaking down fish they do that on a plastic cutting boards rather than wood. Thinking about that now I imagine part of it would be to prevent the strong smell of fish blood and guts from getting on the wood service boards? Idk if this is the same way the sushi chefs here do it, but makes sense.
DitmasPork
Senior Member
White sugar and dishwashing liquid mixed into a paste works removing fishy smells from sands, no idea if it works with knives.
This is mostly because of the (proven false, but habits die hard) belief that plastic cutting boards are less likely to absorb pathogens then wood. Thing is, it just isn't true. There is tons of proof of this, many tests showing that wood boards have less living pathogens at the end of a shift or a prep at home than plastic.
OTOH, you can freely use fairly strong bleach on a plastic board to kill everything on it and you won't damage it. You can't say that for wood.
Spoilage starts in the guts, so that's where the smell are the strongest. Also the gills have a strong smell. Another reason plastic boards are used in many places because most chefs do their butchery with a pretty rough hand (not that it's necessarily a good idea, just how it is).
If they use that much force on a wood board during butchery it's get wrecked pretty quickly. So they do the rough work on plastic and the delicate, customer-facing work on nice wooden boards.
