Chicken – What does it mean if the chicken tastes like fish

chickenfish

I got the chicken fresh from Smith's, rinsed it, seasoned it, and it didn't smell at all. I put it in my mother-in-law's baking dish, baked it, and it smelled sooo good in the house while baking. I served it only for my husband to spit it out. It tastes 100 percent like fish. Not smell, taste. What could this be from? Does it indicate the chicken was unsafe to eat?

Best Answer

I can think of several things, but it's not the definitive answer (not enough info in the question):

  • Oven was used recently for baking fish
  • Dish/pot was used recently for baking fish
  • Chickens were fed food containing fish. I don't know if this still happens, but in my country (The Netherlands) some 30 years ago, you could buy a 'powdery' chicken food that was some mix of ground-down grains, corn, and fish serving as a cheap protein source. You could definitely taste that in the eggs - I don't remember about the chicken meat itself.
    Note that chicken meat is sort of 'lowest on the rung' where quality is concerned, and maybe this was a batch from someone looking for a quick profit.

Note that the smell of fish permeates/overpowers quickly and that taste is very much determined by smell.