WWTBAM Bored

Had some friends over and I made what i thought was a yummy enchilada casserole. The recipe didn't call for cilantro, but since i love it I added it, somewhat generously. Most loved the dish, but I got a couple of comments that cilantro is evil and that it tastes soapy, and like shoe. I don't get that at all... ?

Second Chance wrote:Had some friends over and I made what i thought was a yummy enchilada casserole. The recipe didn't call for cilantro, but since i love it I added it, somewhat generously. Most loved the dish, but I got a couple of comments that cilantro is evil and that it tastes soapy, and like shoe. I don't get that at all... ?

You shouldn't have used that old hiking boot for seasoning.

It is a very polarizing herb. If you love it, you love it. If you don't, well, you know.

I am sure I would have loved the dish. Oddly enough, Mom1111, an excelent chef with a great palette, would not have cared for it.

ulysses5019 wrote: You shouldn't have used that old hiking boot for seasoning.

I believe in the usefulness of old boots

Second Chance wrote:

ulysses5019 wrote: You shouldn't have used that old hiking boot for seasoning.

I believe in the usefulness of old boots

Old boots are useful in beaning old coots.

I love cilantro. Your enchiladas sound deliciosos.

I don't get the "old boot" thing at all. Cilantro is a strong spice which I do like, but it gives me heartburn almost instantly. I rarely have heartburn, so I think I'm justified in blaming it on cilantro.

I hope it wasn't your dinner guests using the old boot verbage at the table. I was taught if you couldn't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I like cilantro, but I know that some people do not care for it.

Second Chance wrote:Had some friends over and I made what i thought was a yummy enchilada casserole. The recipe didn't call for cilantro, but since i love it I added it, somewhat generously. Most loved the dish, but I got a couple of comments that cilantro is evil and that it tastes soapy, and like shoe. I don't get that at all... ?

Cilantro---if served I will eat it. If I have a choice-nope.

Cilantro must be a Californian acquired taste. My wife and her family all love it.

Second Chance wrote:Had some friends over and I made what i thought was a yummy enchilada casserole. The recipe didn't call for cilantro, but since i love it I added it, somewhat generously. Most loved the dish, but I got a couple of comments that cilantro is evil and that it tastes soapy, and like shoe. I don't get that at all... ?

I get the soapy taste when it's used pretty heavily and added fresh into a dish rather than cooked. I like it, but in moderation. Most people either really love it or really hate it, I think.

I was at Chipotle the other day and the two people ahead of me were having a cilantro discussion. One wanted to make sure that no cilantro got anywhere near her burrito and the other person wanted extra cilantro if possible.


I'll have to say that if there is very much of it I come down on the tastes like soap side of the scale.

I think that Chipotle spices are being done to death. I think that even McDonald's has a Chipotle shake or burrito or something.

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I think that Chipotle spices are being done to death. I think that even McDonald's has a Chipotle shake or burrito or something.

The chipotle-possum strips are delish.

I can't hear cilantro with thinking of coriander because of a WWTBAM question years ago.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I can't hear cilantro with thinking of coriander because of a WWTBAM question years ago.

It was also an answer during the mock game I played for Jeopardy a few years back. Chinese parsley

They did not call me, the bastiges.

christie1111 wrote:It is a very polarizing herb. If you love it, you love it.

Bob Dole can tell you all about the polerizing herb.

Beebs52 wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I can't hear cilantro with thinking of coriander because of a WWTBAM question years ago.

It was also an answer during the mock game I played for Jeopardy a few years back. Chinese parsley

They did not call me, the bastiges.

And you got it right? They are bastiges.

Dear General,

This is to notify you that the NSAS is opening an investigation of you based on the photograph you are exhibiting which appears to be some sort in sick sado-masochistic torture of one of our fine furry friends. You may wish to retain counsel.

Your unamused friends,

NSAS

One of those things I often hear is that the taste of cilantro is a genetic thing (like that PT paper crap they make everyone taste in 3rd grade), that to most people it tastes like, will, cilantro, but if you have the right/wrong gene, it tastes like soap.

NSAS wrote:Dear General,

This is to notify you that the NSAS is opening an investigation of you based on the photograph you are exhibiting which appears to be some sort in sick sado-masochistic torture of one of our fine furry friends. You may wish to retain counsel.

Your unamused friends,

NSAS

I think he is enjoying it. And don't knock it until you've tried it.

I have a friend who won't eat onions & a whole host of other yummy stuff (green peppers are definitely included). Cilantro turns out to be on their "won't eat" list. Makes life hard, because they're always ordering stuff & telling the waitstaff, who often do not speak enough comprehensible English, to tell the chef/cook to leave the stuff they won't eat out. Often, these pleas go unheeded. I don't know why people to whom certain stuff tastes bad just don't bite the bullet (which also wouldn't taste very good to them) & not order stuff they know from previous reading of recipes, the menu descriptions, etc is likely to have this stuff in it.

Its definitely genetic, from what I've heard/read. They're not making the dislike up just to be ornery. But when a group of people get together, one who doesn't eat onions, green peppers & cilantro, & one who doesn't eat walnuts (these don't taste bad to the person, but make them dizzy or whatever; its not a complete allergic reaction, but they steer clear), its kind of hard to keep track of what to cook. I speak from experience.


My sister also, surprisingly, because she's an herb maven, doesn't much like cilantro either, but she doesn't say she hates it. She gets a real bad taste from both saccharine & aspartame & I think sucralose too. She tried stevia, & found it overwhelming, though not in the same bad-taste class as the other 3 artificial sweeteners.

Its funny; my Dad always said he wouldn't drink diet pop because of the bad taste; I could understand that in the saccharine era, but once they went to aspartame I thought he was just missing his sugar rush. However, my sister has the same set of "bad taste reaction to artificial sweeteners", so it must be genetic after all.

ghostjmf wrote:I have a friend who won't eat onions & a whole host of other yummy stuff (green peppers are definitely included). Cilantro turns out to be on their "won't eat" list. Makes life hard, because they're always ordering stuff & telling the waitstaff, who often do not speak enough comprehensible English, to tell the chef/cook to leave the stuff they won't eat out. Often, these pleas go unheeded. I don't know why people to whom certain stuff tastes bad just don't bite the bullet (which also wouldn't taste very good to them) & not order stuff they know from previous reading of recipes, the menu descriptions, etc is likely to have this stuff in it.

My sister won't eat onions. She loves tons of onion powder and garlic powder in stuff, she just gets icky about the texture, I guess. But she insists on ordering stuff with onions on it and having to do a special order (which we hated because it held up everything at the drive thru). She orders onion rings, but just eats the outside. Ha!

So when the kids were little, she automatically held up the drive thru by ordering all of their hamburgers plain (meat, bun, that's it). Didn't even give them a chance to like stuff dressed.

Now they both eat onions all the time. I was cooking onions for steak sandwiches once and my sister came down with a case of the vapours when she saw my nephew eating carmelized onions right off of the platter.

ghostjmf wrote: My sister also, surprisingly, because she's an herb maven, doesn't much like cilantro either, but she doesn't say she hates it. She gets a real bad taste from both saccharine & aspartame & I think sucralose too. She tried stevia, & found it overwhelming, though not in the same bad-taste class as the other 3 artificial sweeteners.

Stevia isn't artificial, it's a naturally sweet plant. You have use it very sparingly, because it's several hundred times sweeter than sugar.

http://www.ihatecilantro.com

Seriously. They even have haikus.

O soapy green leaves,
once again I extract you
from my burrito

No cilantro leaves,
So why is this sauce horrid?
Yikes! Coriander!!!

out of cilantro?
no prob that's what the restroom
soap dispenser's for

if all that's left is
cilantro or starvation
hello seppuku!

Messed up my haiku
Made it Seven Five Seven
I blame cilantro!

Title: Genetic Analysis of PTC and Cilantro Taste Preferences
Author(s): Heather Noxon and Alex Meyer
Abstract: The ability to taste certain chemicals has been studied thoroughly and in some cases shown to be inherited. The best example of this work is illustrated by the inheritance of the ability to taste the chemical phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Because the herb cilantro invokes generally strong preference for or against its flavor it seemed that this polarity suggested an inherited tasting preference. We designed this research project in an attempt to uncover a linkage between the ability to taste PTC and a preference for or against cilantro flavor. In addition, we aimed to observe possible genetic frequencies and inheritance mechanisms for cilantro. Research subjects completed surveys while participating in taste tests of PTC and fresh cilantro. The survey included questions concerning several factors, including the ability to taste PTC and cilantro, taste preferences, sense of smell, etc. Approximately 200 individuals were tested randomly to be included in general population statistics. In addition, another set of participants were members of one of two families studied for pedigrees analysis. Contrary to our hypothesis there does not seem to be a strong polarity in cilantro taste preference. And while the pedigrees do not illustrate a clear genetic mechanism to tasting cilantro they do show that attributing a bitter flavor to cilantro seems directly inherited.

Source: http://www.doane.edu/Dept_pages/phy/min ... ts2004.htm

I know stevia is a natural plant. I just threw it in there (rhetorically speaking) for comparison. My reaction to stevia is much like hers; its so strong its hard to control. And I think it tastes a little weird too. But not yecchy bad.