Yeah, came here to say this. East Asia has a whole collection of sauces based on fermented fish that taste amazing and have no offensive smell when cooked, but dear God, the smell of the stuff before it's cooked is horrifying.
EDIT: I guess I should clarify, for anyone who hasn't had it. It's not so much that fish sauce itself tastes delicious alone, but it has a ton of umami flavor. Same sort of stuff you get from, say, powdered boletes mushrooms or MSG. It makes savory dishes just taste way better when you add it to them.
I'm guessing oyster sauce is another? I suspect it's one of those magic ingredients that makes restaurant Pad Thai so good, but I've been hesitant to buy a bottle of my own.
The first person to think "hmm couple drops of this fish sauce in what I'm cookin might be good" had to be a little crazy. They were 100% right though lol.
This post brought to you by the acorn squash I just sliced. See also roasted red peppers and cilantro. I don't have the soap thing, but it do be like a stink bug sometimes.
My wife totally has the soap thing, and I must be a carrier for that gene, because I can see where the soapy flavor is coming from, but it doesn't bug me.
For the smell/taste thing, I have the opposite. I love the smell of roasting coffee... can't stand coffee.
My wife totally has the soap thing, and I must be a carrier for that gene, because I can see where the soapy flavor is coming from, but it doesn't bug me.
Perhaps your wife has two copies of the soapy variant of
OR10A2, but you have only one? I.e., your wife has (C;C) at rs72921001, while you have (A;C).
Seems to be certain times of the year here (US South). Sometimes we go months without a bunch that smells like them, and other times it's every bunch for a month (and we almost always have a bunch in the fridge).
Really don’t care for cabbage. My mom always said it smells like pig slop, not that I’ve ever smelled pig slop. But yeah I never liked it and I think that had something to do with it lol.
Personally I love some cabbage and sausage cooked up in a nice fresh chicken broth. But I definitely can see where the smell would be a turn off for a lot of people 🤣
I use it a decent bit and have rice, cider, malt, coconut, and balsamic and think they all smell pretty good. It may be my brain just associating the smell with the finished product though.
White vinegar I only use for cleaning, so I still think that is nasty smelling.
I don't know about universal. My partner hates it but I don't, and I don't think anyone in my family does either. It's a sharp scent for sure, but I adapt to it pretty quickly.
Butterfish
It is delicious but smells so bad that nobody in my family wants to cook it at their house so we would go to our grandparents’. The aroma lingers for more than a day if you don’t properly aerate the place. Febreeze, candles and other air fresheners do not work.
Bagoóng
It is a Filipino condiment made of shrimp paste. There are other variations but still stinky.
Durian
@DisOne@lemmy.zip is right about the heavenly durian milkshakes! My siblings and I would eat them outside — we weren’t allowed to bring them inside the house.
I don’t eat meat anymore, but when I did the smell of bacon frying would literally make me sick. Came very close to hurling once just from frying bacon in a pan. I still liked the bacon itself though.
Stinky cheeses are all I can think of that fit the bill. Limberger is really good, but smells like dirty feet. Though, it's nowhere near the pungency cartoons always made it seem like as a kid.
Mostly, tho, smell highly influences the taste. If it smells bad, it usually tastes bad too.
Anything with black salt in it. Eggs don't bother me, but the extra sulfurous scent in black salt is so off-putting to me. Tasty when used right, tho!
Used to be able to say natto, but it's so tasty, cheap and nutritious that I've overcome my aversion and now it smells good to me.
Honorary mention to Swedish cod roe paste (Kalles). I, personally, didn't mind the smell, but my roommate would call it "pussy paste". She was more nose sensitive, it seemed, though, as she was the only roommate who very politely asked me to wait until she'd eaten before I prepared the natto.
Tum mak hoong, in a way. To anyone not from SEA, it can be quite off putting. Being formerly married to a Laotian woman, I got used to the smells pretty quick. Now all of that fermented stuff smells good to me.
Some of the ingredients, on their own, have very powerful aromas. Fish sauce is the one people would know off hand. Also used is shrimp paste and crab paste, which are very pungent.
However, when combined with the rest of the ingredients, it creates this awesome papaya salad. Depending upon how many peppers you put in, the heat level can be insane.
My then-MIL originally taught me to make it with fish sauce, crab paste, and shrimp paste. Another family member taught me to make it with Padaek, which is an ingredient that you store in a bag, in a bag. It is some gnarly stuff, with chunks of fermented fish mixed in it, so you know it’s good. Kidding aside, it provides some truly amazing flavors. But dear lord, it is pretty rank.
Highly recommend trying Tum Mak Hoong! Laotian food is so good. When you order the papaya salad, make sure you order Laap to go with it.
61 Comments
hdsrob@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 312d
Fish Sauce.
Love the flavor that it brings to dishes, even to uncooked sauces, but holy crap the smell.
tal@olio.cafe · 13 pts · 312d
Yeah, came here to say this. East Asia has a whole collection of sauces based on fermented fish that taste amazing and have no offensive smell when cooked, but dear God, the smell of the stuff before it's cooked is horrifying.
EDIT: I guess I should clarify, for anyone who hasn't had it. It's not so much that fish sauce itself tastes delicious alone, but it has a ton of umami flavor. Same sort of stuff you get from, say, powdered boletes mushrooms or MSG. It makes savory dishes just taste way better when you add it to them.
Deconceptualist@leminal.space · 2 pts · 312d
I'm guessing oyster sauce is another? I suspect it's one of those magic ingredients that makes restaurant Pad Thai so good, but I've been hesitant to buy a bottle of my own.
tal@olio.cafe · 1 pts · 311d
Could be, but I haven't tried that one myself.
turkalino@lemmy.yachts · 6 pts · 312d
We call it feet sauce in my house
OneOverZero@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 312d
The first person to think "hmm couple drops of this fish sauce in what I'm cookin might be good" had to be a little crazy. They were 100% right though lol.
RBWells@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 312d
Eggs smell so bad cooking but taste so good.
Broccoli too.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 312d
Yeah why does eggs cooking smell like wet, microwaved dogs?
tal@olio.cafe · 3 pts · 311d
Honestly, that's not helping me much as a reference point.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 311d
Imagine wet dog smell but warmer
klugerama@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 311d
Yeah that smells different
Okokimup@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 312d
This post brought to you by the acorn squash I just sliced. See also roasted red peppers and cilantro. I don't have the soap thing, but it do be like a stink bug sometimes.
jordanlund@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 312d
My wife totally has the soap thing, and I must be a carrier for that gene, because I can see where the soapy flavor is coming from, but it doesn't bug me.
For the smell/taste thing, I have the opposite. I love the smell of roasting coffee... can't stand coffee.
Ditto unsmoked tobacco, smells amazing, cannot tolerate smoking.
hdsrob@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 312d
Agree completely on this. Pipe tobacco in particular always smells great (but can't stand the smell of smoke).
spittingimage@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 311d
It's one of life's little injustices that coffee never tastes as good as it smells.
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 46d
Perhaps your wife has two copies of the soapy variant of OR10A2, but you have only one? I.e., your wife has (C;C) at rs72921001, while you have (A;C).
jordanlund@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 46d
That seems likely!
hdsrob@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 312d
Seems to be certain times of the year here (US South). Sometimes we go months without a bunch that smells like them, and other times it's every bunch for a month (and we almost always have a bunch in the fridge).
0ops@piefed.zip · 14 pts · 312d
Why does pesto smell like feet yet taste so delicious?
Brokkr@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 312d
Probably the cheese (depending on the recipe). Parmesan has aroma compounds also found in other less desirable substances.
evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 310d
Yup. Butyric acid, it's what makes parm and Hershey's chocolate taste like they do, but its also what makes vomit smell like it does.
Goun@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 312d
It smells like feet but tastes terrible
MelonYellow@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 312d
Really don’t care for cabbage. My mom always said it smells like pig slop, not that I’ve ever smelled pig slop. But yeah I never liked it and I think that had something to do with it lol.
anon6789@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 312d
I came to vote for cooked cabbage. Love it in lots of things, but hate the cabbage stink and that keeps me from making it more often.
Cannot confirm nor deny it smelling like pig slop. 😁
OneOverZero@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 312d
Personally I love some cabbage and sausage cooked up in a nice fresh chicken broth. But I definitely can see where the smell would be a turn off for a lot of people 🤣
Lazerouselaseras@startrek.website · 14 pts · 312d
Lentils. May be a combo of being sick/smelling them all the time but I literally have to open all the windows when I boil them
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 312d
Vinegar is pretty universally hated a scent. Most foods wouldn't be the same without it.
Hobo@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 312d
I like the smell of most vinegars. Maybe I'm just weird though. Especially the smell of vinegar on fried foods.
OneOverZero@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 312d
Doesn't bother me either. Just reminds me of food and salad dressing.
BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 311d
Gonna need a source on that universal hate.
anon6789@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 312d
All vinegars or just white vinegar?
I use it a decent bit and have rice, cider, malt, coconut, and balsamic and think they all smell pretty good. It may be my brain just associating the smell with the finished product though.
White vinegar I only use for cleaning, so I still think that is nasty smelling.
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 312d
All vinegar smell seems to be universally hated. It does add the right acidity when needed and you don't have citrus around though.
Deconceptualist@leminal.space · 2 pts · 312d
I don't know about universal. My partner hates it but I don't, and I don't think anyone in my family does either. It's a sharp scent for sure, but I adapt to it pretty quickly.
Substance_P@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 312d
Any kind of fermented or pickled radish or daikon, smells like a fart, tastes like heaven.
LemmyThinkAboutThat@lemmy.myserv.one · 10 pts · 312d
Butterfish It is delicious but smells so bad that nobody in my family wants to cook it at their house so we would go to our grandparents’. The aroma lingers for more than a day if you don’t properly aerate the place. Febreeze, candles and other air fresheners do not work.
Bagoóng It is a Filipino condiment made of shrimp paste. There are other variations but still stinky.
Durian @DisOne@lemmy.zip is right about the heavenly durian milkshakes! My siblings and I would eat them outside — we weren’t allowed to bring them inside the house.
krooklochurm@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 311d
There were signs all over my hotel in Thailand prohibiting the consumption of durian on the premises.
LemmyThinkAboutThat@lemmy.myserv.one · 4 pts · 311d
LOL, yes! And in buses as well.
hansolo@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 312d
Overly ripe papayas.
Always smell like rot. Taste like magic.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 311d
I could never eat papaya at any stage of ripeness without a generous squeeze of lime, it's just so bad.
Goun@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 312d
What do regular papayas taste like?
hansolo@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 312d
If they're not as ripe, less magic.
Trebuchet@europe.pub · 8 pts · 312d
Pate. The smell of chicken liver is awful.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 312d
Did you know KFC used to sell deep fried chicken liver in some areas? My mom was crazy for it 🫣
Trebuchet@europe.pub · 4 pts · 312d
I can imagine that it melts in the mouth, but i feel sorry for anybody in the vicinity when they were cooking it!
DisOne@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 312d
Durian smells so bad, but durian milkshake is just heaven
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 312d
This is exactly what I came here to say. Put a lid on that milkshake and I will scarf it down.
TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 309d
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 312d
I don’t eat meat anymore, but when I did the smell of bacon frying would literally make me sick. Came very close to hurling once just from frying bacon in a pan. I still liked the bacon itself though.
dadarobot@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 312d
I think pig generally smells pretty bad while cooking.
knobbysideup@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 312d
I heard it's because pigs are genetically similar to us.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 6 pts · 312d
Stinky cheeses are all I can think of that fit the bill. Limberger is really good, but smells like dirty feet. Though, it's nowhere near the pungency cartoons always made it seem like as a kid.
Mostly, tho, smell highly influences the taste. If it smells bad, it usually tastes bad too.
ladytaters@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 311d
Tripe. I can't stand the smell while menudo is cooking but it's so damn tasty!
drre@feddit.org · 3 pts · 311d
i love andouillette but this is definitely something to cook leewards.
TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 312d
Anything with black salt in it. Eggs don't bother me, but the extra sulfurous scent in black salt is so off-putting to me. Tasty when used right, tho!
Used to be able to say natto, but it's so tasty, cheap and nutritious that I've overcome my aversion and now it smells good to me.
Honorary mention to Swedish cod roe paste (Kalles). I, personally, didn't mind the smell, but my roommate would call it "pussy paste". She was more nose sensitive, it seemed, though, as she was the only roommate who very politely asked me to wait until she'd eaten before I prepared the natto.
RebekahWSD@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 312d
I like eating the candied jalapeños. They also smell fine once canned.
Cooking them is bad as it's vinegar, more vinegar, a lot of vinegar, and hot vinegar and turmeric and jalapeños makes the kitchen feel deadly lmao.
SayJess@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 312d
Tum mak hoong, in a way. To anyone not from SEA, it can be quite off putting. Being formerly married to a Laotian woman, I got used to the smells pretty quick. Now all of that fermented stuff smells good to me.
Some of the ingredients, on their own, have very powerful aromas. Fish sauce is the one people would know off hand. Also used is shrimp paste and crab paste, which are very pungent.
However, when combined with the rest of the ingredients, it creates this awesome papaya salad. Depending upon how many peppers you put in, the heat level can be insane.
My then-MIL originally taught me to make it with fish sauce, crab paste, and shrimp paste. Another family member taught me to make it with Padaek, which is an ingredient that you store in a bag, in a bag. It is some gnarly stuff, with chunks of fermented fish mixed in it, so you know it’s good. Kidding aside, it provides some truly amazing flavors. But dear lord, it is pretty rank.
Highly recommend trying Tum Mak Hoong! Laotian food is so good. When you order the papaya salad, make sure you order Laap to go with it.
lowspeedchase@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 311d
Personally I love the smell, but whenever I eat Natto everyone in the house is upset.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 311d
I have to remember the smell of chicken broth is just part of the process to get to chicken and dumplings.
Maeve@kbin.earth · 3 pts · 312d
Any kind of greens.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 312d
The smell of peanut butter is terrible, but I love eating it.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 3 pts · 312d
I don't think I have any. Im pretty picky and is something smells bad I can't move on to eat it.
scytale@piefed.zip · 2 pts · 312d
Pure, concentrated cinnamon powder. Put the right amount into recipes and it's amazing.