Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Intense dislike for specific herbs/spices?


Matonski

Recommended Posts

. . . . .

I think liking or disliking cilantro is a genetic thing, however I also beleive that one can develop a taste for it, IF you have it in the right context. 

Not in salsa, to get the best of it, you should combine it with a fatty substance.

A little piece of carnitas or even  just a bit of roast pork, cut thin and put a tiny bit of cilantro and some onion on it, roll up the piece of pork and taste.  I have introduced a lot of people to cilantro this way and usually they find that it tastes a lot different than it does on its own.  You have to use it sparingly, however. 

And never, never, never pair it with fish.  I can't eat it with fish and I love cilantro any other way.

I agree with your approach. It is a salsa where it really gets to me. If it is a minor seasoning note in a curry, stew or something with fat in it I can deal with it or sometimes ignore it. There is this current flurry of grilled fish with some sort of salsa on top with lots of cilantro. I always wonder who thought that was a good idea. :blink:

I am guessing here but I think we call it cilantro in the US because that is what they call it in Mexico. Someone may have a better explanation.

Cilantro can also be called fresh coriander or coriander leaves or leaf coriander to distinguish it from the spice. My wife recalls being introduced to cilantro via Mexican cuisine which was more commonly available in LA before say Thai or Vietnamese pho places started proliferating like rabbits.

EDIT: it's also sold in supermarkets by the name cilantro. And we all know who does alot of the harvesting in California anyway.

Edited by chefzadi (log)

I can be reached via email chefzadi AT gmail DOT com

Dean of Culinary Arts

Ecole de Cuisine: Culinary School Los Angeles

http://ecolecuisine.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cilantro just makes more sense to keep it from getting confused with Coriander seed. Around here it has never been called anything other than Cilantro, at least not that I can recall, so I just stick with that name.

I hated it the first time I had it, when I was around 12, but since then my taste buds have woken up to appreciate the flavor, and now I can't get enough.

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am guessing here but I think we call it cilantro in the US because that is what they call it in Mexico. Someone may have a better explanation.

But forty years ago no one in the US called it cilantro. I'm sure you're right that the term was imported from Mexico, but we really didn't need it. Arugula is another plant with a perfectly good English name, but instead we call it not "rocket", nor even by the standard Italian word (rucola), but by an Italian dialect term. That these are major issues to me demonstrates how smoothly runs my path through life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am guessing here but I think we call it cilantro in the US because that is what they call it in Mexico. Someone may have a better explanation.

But forty years ago no one in the US called it cilantro. I'm sure you're right that the term was imported from Mexico, but we really didn't need it. Arugula is another plant with a perfectly good English name, but instead we call it not "rocket", nor even by the standard Italian word (rucola), but by an Italian dialect term. That these are major issues to me demonstrates how smoothly runs my path through life.

But forty years ago most Americans weren't probably familiar with the herb. It seems Americans would have been familiar with Mexican food and Mexican restaurants before they were with other cuisines that use the herb. It only makes sense that in a Mexican restaurant it would be called cilantro. Also it seems to me that cilantro is more conspicuos in Mexican food. It's used like a condiment of sorts, stocked at the salsa bar.

Also rocket lettuce "the craze" for arugula started off as a trend in Italian restaurants in the states. It only makes sense that the menus at such restaurants would have Italian names.

So we call it by the name we (as a nation) became first familiar with an ingredient?

Does that make sense to anyone? For instance in France Algerian couscous is the most commonly known. Here in the States couscous is almost immediately associated with Morocco (thank you Ms. Wolfert :smile: ).

I can be reached via email chefzadi AT gmail DOT com

Dean of Culinary Arts

Ecole de Cuisine: Culinary School Los Angeles

http://ecolecuisine.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cumin makes me want to hurl. My ex-mother-in-law (from South America) would sprinkle liberal amounts on ANYTHING she cooked, especially her microwaved bowl-o-chicken parts. BLECH.

I can handle cumin in a chili powder blend but that's about it.

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I generally like all herbs or spices, but I do have a problem with it when it is misused and abused. I grew up overseas loving the smell and aroma of cinnamon for example but now I really despise the damn thing because of its almost absurd overabundance in everything that is sweet and baked. The same goes for vanilla extract.

"A chicken is just an egg's way of making another egg." Samuel Butler
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I absolutely cant stand liquoricey type smells and tastes, partly due to some painkillers I take, they're soluble and are strongly liquorice flavoured, they make me gag.

My sister wont eat anything with cinnamon or cloves.

Spam in my pantry at home.

Think of expiration, better read the label now.

Spam breakfast, dinner or lunch.

Think about how it's been pre-cooked, wonder if I'll just eat it cold.

wierd al ~ spam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dry Bay leaves! Bleech! Dusty, flavorless, pretty much pointless. Fresh leaves off my bay tree, on the other hand, are amazing. Hints of spice, vanilla, almost nutmeggy; fresh bay is sweet enough to use in desserts. Mmmmmmm. I wore a sprig of fresh bay in my hair to a recent Saturnalia bash and had people both enchanted and baffled by the smell.

In fact, dried herbs in general leave me wanting. I moved recently and my herb garden is still in another town waiting for spring planting here. I am bereft.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About the cilantro thing being physical/genetic (I've also heard allergy explanations): I wonder how common the alleged physical aversion to cilantro is in parts of the world like southeast Asia where it's an integral part of the indigenous cuisine.

Cilantro/fresh coriander and cardamom were commonly used in our home in India. Growing up, I disliked both enough to fish 'em out when I could, or refuse the dishes if I couldn't. As far as I know, no one else in my family had the problem. The weird thing is that I started tolerating them when I came to US and am well on my way to actually loving them now! I can't explain it 'coz it wasn't as if they were used in profusion back at home; in fact I use them in far greater quantity now.

On the other hand, cinnamon used to be something I was indifferent to, but I've slowly developed an aversion toward it, probably due to similar reasons as stated by zeitoun -- its (over)use in (over)sweet things.

"I look around (the Amazon rainforest) and see a green wall. They (the Machiguenga Indians of Peru) look around and see a supermarket." -Austin Stevens

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with all those who have an aversion to the flavour of black licorice, anise seed or fennel seed. Ack to the nth degree! My teeth are sweating just thinking about it. :blink:

On the other hand, I absolutely love the smell and taste of cilantro. Whenever I buy it, I always take a big whiff before plastic-bagging it. Raw in salads or salsas, cooked in stirfry or in a marinade for fish or chicken. And when eating a restaurant meal that uses a sprig or two as garnish, I always eat it instead of putting it aside. :wub:

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Add me to the 'acquired a taste for cilantro' list. Despised it growing up but love it now (in the right context).

Cloves are my arch nemesis. I can be making 2 pumpkin pies and my smidgeon measuring spoon (1/32 t.) will still be too big for measuring the cloves. Mint is another of those borderline spices/herbs for me.

Out of my list of forbidden foods, though, most of them aren't flavors, they're textures:

Bean sprouts

Shredded coconut (love coconut milk)

Undercooked onions

Raisins in desserts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Texture, did you say?

Hmmm... I like pineapple taste, but I hate the texture.

Peach skin, another no-no.

And the skin of walnuts.

Roasted peanuts. Love them freshly boiled.

The cardamon flavour of Indian sweets - yucch!

The rancidity of flaked coconut.

The harshness of bad quality dried rosemary - love it fresh, though.

Dried mint.

Dried basil.

Dried parsley. Great fresh, all of them.

Etc. etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Add me to the list of Cilantro haters. I just cannot abide the taste of it.

I also dislike some licorice flavored herb they use in the rice at my favorite Thai place. I don't know the name of it, but pick it out of the dish every time.

Sage is one of those herbs that it is very easy to "overdose" a dish with. It is a fine line between just right and overpowering.

If you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen - Calpurnia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also cannot stand fresh cilantro. Around here it's a common salsa fresca ingredient and most people go way overboard when they add it into their recipes - I've had salsa fresca that had more cilantro in it than peppers. There's something about the taste of it that is just unbearable for me. It's gag-inducing. That's the only herb I've run across that does that to me, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...WHY do people think pork needs sweetening?)  It was decades before I decided there is such a thing as good ham, but I haven't forgiven cloves.

It's a yin-yang thing. It's an attempt to provide flavor balance with the saltiness of the cured ham. For most people, it works.

As for cilantro, my mom can't stand the flavor. This means when the "kids" do the cooking, we can't make a lot of mexican dishes that we like in deference to her.

Curry is "iffy" for me. My mom took "How to make Chinese Food" classes back in the '70's and made a curry chicken dish that I swear tasted like she had dumped maple syrup over the entire thing. Ruined curry for me for life.

I like nutmeg but can't stand it in a bechamel sauce. But if you leave it out, you're left with just a white sauce. Such a quandry! :biggrin:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come Listen to a story 'bout a commis named...

Years ago, I was working outside of Detroit at an extremely high end place when I developed a strong dislike for cumin. We had a commis (we will call him John) who was responsible for family meal daily. John would prepare family meal out of what ever trimmings from the day's butchery were available. We went for a solid week eating cumin meat patties or cumin meat balls or cumin fish stew or cumin cream pasta or cumin.... Get the picture?

Any how it has been 15 years and I can still only handle cumin in fairly small doses.

Tobin

It is all about respect; for the ingredient, for the process, for each other, for the profession.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't think of any herbs or spices I don't like, although as a child I hated caraway.

I'm in the camp of cilantro lovers. I ADORE the stuff! The first time I tasted it was 1988 in a Mexican restaurant's salsa. I didn't know what the flavor was but couldn't get enough of it. When I figured out (a couple of years and many tastings later) what the "secret ingredient" was I was overjoyed and have been using it extensively ever since. I have a brother-in-law who detests it, though. I made a big Indian meal the other night and had to serve the cilantro on the side. He actually examined each dish thoroughly just in case some accidentally made it in, he can detect a tiny spec of the stuff. He also says it tastes like soap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

regarding spices.

Freshly ground spices are preferable to preground. The bad experiences with cumin I suspect were liberal addition of ground cumin to dishes. Cumin is a topnot in much of Algerian cooking. I have made many a convert to spices with my tajines. But then again, there are some things that some people will never develop a taste for. Even though Indian cookery uses many of the same spices as Algerian cookery, I don't think that I will ever appreciate the amounts used. Sometimes it seems almost ten times the amount that I'm accustomed to.

Herbs are also much abused in cooking. My French training tells me to use herbs thoughtfully. Tarragon for fish in a beurre blanc. Tarragon vinegar for chicken. Thyme for chicken as well. Herbes de Provence however works well with quatres epices in an Algerian style rataouille.

I suppose my approach to using spices and herbs is too perfume not mask.

I will NEVER like cilantro! My wife on the other hand can eat like a salad almost.

I can be reached via email chefzadi AT gmail DOT com

Dean of Culinary Arts

Ecole de Cuisine: Culinary School Los Angeles

http://ecolecuisine.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand there's a cultural component to what we like or are offended by: If one doesn't grow up with a spice it can be harder to like it later.

Somewhere I read that a law enforcement technology firm was doing international studies on repellent odors, to develop new crowd-control gasses.

In Japan, the scent that was considered most obnoxious? Cinnamon!

I'm a canning clean freak because there's no sorry large enough to cover the, "Oops! I gave you botulism" regrets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm another one in the cannot STAND anything that has that anise/licorice flavor. The smell is one of the few things that can instantly make my stomach turn and ruin my appetite. I can take a few fennel seeds in sausage, but I do mean only a few - too many and there goes the stomach.

I also can't stand tarragon. When I was growing up, tarragon chicken was THE elegant dish served everywhere, and I couldn't wait to grow up and be able to try it. Imagine my disappointment when it tasted nothing like what I imagined it to be like.

Fat Guy's rosemary story is very similar to why I cannot stand the smell of roses. When I was in college, my roommate wore "Tea Rose" scent, which was bad enough, but one day she dropped the bottle. The scent was overpowering, nauseating, and sadly, long lasting. Even now the smell of roses turns my stomach.

Marcia.

Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted...he lived happily ever after. -- Willy Wonka

eGullet foodblog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really dislike heavy-handed cinnamon (cassia).

Which to me is odd...

I love the other cinnamon families (canela/Ceylon/zeylanicum/true) which are rather floral compared to cassia.

AND

I am a unrepentant chili-head! Love the heat and the flavor, and even just heat for heat's sake.

So then, why don't I like our cinnamon?

To me it tastes harsh...yes, one who's favorite salsa is just chopped habaneros, lime juice and salt...who has no issue with Dave's Insanity or Possible Side Effects - - but give me even a stick of Big Red and my tastebuds fold.

I just almost cringe thinking of it in other preparations - don't like the stuff at all.

...I thought I had an appetite for destruction but all I wanted was a club sandwich.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is such an amazing discussion. I never knew how many people can't hack cilantro. I happen to love the stuff. When I was growing up, fresh cilantro was considered quite a delicacy, and I still love it today. I just wish it wouldn't bolt so fast in the garden because then I would have more, more, more.

And, as a fennel/licorice/anise hater...thanks, I feel so validated by the rest of you. I am not alone!!

Oil and potatoes both grow underground so french fries may have eventually invented themselves had they not been invented -- J. Esther
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...