I'm curious about the upsurge of using cilatro as an ingredient or garnish. Over the past 10 -12 years, it's become the new parsley, with all the celebrity chefs as well as "everyday" restaurant chefs using it in abundance; although, some of them are beginning to acknowledge that there are those who don't actually worship it as do others.
Personally, I cannot abide it - the taste or even moreso, the aroma. Am I that much in the minority?
I HATE it!! Have tried it over and over, both at home, in restaurants, and in Mexico, Spain,and Morocco. Just can not abide it. Don't get its popularity.
I hate it. I think we are missing an enzyme so it tastes gross. I've heard that at least, might not be true.
You are not in the minority at all. There is even a site I think it's call Ihatecilantro.com or something like that.
I cannot get cilantro in my little hick town and a lot of recipes called for it. I didn't even know what it was.
My darling daughter sent me up some seeds and I grew my own.
After they got big enough, I tasted a leaf. OMG Sunlight dishwashing soap. It took hours and hours and a mickey of rye to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
I committed herbacide on that devil's weed.
Edit. Just checked on that site http://www.ihatecilantro.com/
I love it. But I know that many people can't abide it. Too bad. Lots of Asian and Latin American dishes would taste quite inauthentic without it.
To you, that is. That must depend on when you were born. It very much was never traditional or authentic in Mexico or many other “Latin” American areas before it’s unfortunate promotion/introduction in the US to Latin and every other type of food on the planet. Another “herb” that was pushed in the US around the same time, but never took off (for good reason) was Epizotte. My housekeeper, who grew up in Mexico, told me it was traditional all right. It was used all the time - as a wormer. Not in food.
It's probably over-used by Americans who think that adding it automatically gives a "Mexican flavor" (just as some think adding "soy sauce" makes things "taste Chinese or Japanese", or using fish sauce and chiles makes something taste "Thai"). And I'm sure there are Mexicans - and certainly Latin Americans in some countries more influenced by their 19th century European immigrants and/or with relatively little latter-day influence of their native inhabitants - that abhor coriander/cilantro.
But it's nonsense to say that it was "never traditional or authentic" "in Mexico". It's equally ridiculous to suggest the same thing about epazote, which is more widely used in some parts of Mexico than in others, but is very definitely "traditional and authentic". Probably mostly when cooking beans - especially black beans, but not exclusively... (And while I don't recall ever seeing it "pushed" particularly hard here, it _is_ sold at every Mexican grocery store in my neighborhood - the sort of places where they're always a little surprised when a customer doesn't speak Spanish to them, along with cilantro, culantro (an herb native to the Americas that has a similar flavor but even stronger than the Eurasian coriander/cilantro, pepicha (another one that tastes a lot like strong coriander), and papalo (which is very pungent and not uniformly loved even in by Mexicans, and which would probably make the average American gag...)
I think “traditional”, “authentic”, “classic” and similar words mean different things to different people, so aren’t very accurate at best and meaningless at worst, and if I had to go back I wouldn’t have used them. Maybe “in use” would be more accurate. I was picking up on previous posts insisting on how long cilantro has been used in Mexican cooking. Without a time-frame reference it’s impossible to tell if anyone was even born before it’s use became common by 1990s, or lived through it’s sudden introduction across all food types in the US in the 1980s. So I appreciate your giving a time frame. I don’t doubt your experience or find it ridiculous at all. It’s just different from mine and others who lived in Texas and Southern California, and travelled extensively and had long stays in Mexico from late 1960s to present. My experience does not extend South of Mexico. Along the border, it’s limited in El Paso, Juarez, and part of Arizona border. Cilantro and other herbs like epazotte are sold in Mexican markets everywhere in Texas too. Have been since late 80s-90s. Coriander seed spice, on the other hand, has been used in Mexico, and no doubt Central and South America, for as long as it has in the US, since it’s introduction by European colonists. I love it and use it all the time in certain recipes myself.
People seem to have gotten the impression that a strong dislike of cilantro, the leafy green part of coriander plant, means a like aversion to coriander seed spice. This is a misperception. The flavor and aroma of the seeds is very different from the leaves. That hasn’t been studied as far as I can tell, the studies seem to have been focused on leaves only. But I haven’t met any Mexicans, and only a few Americans, who dislike the spice, even if they hate cilantro. So far. It smells very different, nothing like cilantro, which does not smell soapy at all, to me at least, but like something dead or very off. Very acrid and pungeant. I understand that others perceive it differently.
Have replaced every parsley recipe with cilantro, love it. When plating soups and pastas that have cilantro, use uncooked as base and the cooked on top, cannot get enough.
Yes, you are in the minority. A small percent of the population perceives a soapy taste with cilantro but they tend to be vocal but obviously it is much less then 25% so you are in the minority.
"Obviously". 25% is the rough estimation I've seen for years - while it's a minority, of course....
And the best replacement for cilantro is celery leaves.
Ah, I like the celery leaf idea. Although I rarely have celery :)
I've never been able to find a credible source for the percentage of people who have this aversion to cilantro so I just made up the number. I'm pretty certain it's lower than 25%. If you can cite something solid I'd love to see it.
So, you don't know it's smaller than 25% - obviously, either. I read this estimate back in the pre-Internet days in cooking literature, but I have no citations to offer.
I don't. My number is completely anecdotal.
So it's not obviously lower than 25%
You honestly believe more than one in four has this aversion?
1 in five or 1 in four easily - it's hardly an uncommon aversion.
As others have also pointed out, it's cultural and therefore locational. Maybe in the US (or even Europe) the dislike of cilantro is 1 in 4 or 5.
In Mexico, Latin / South America, and Asia, it might be one in I-don't-know-how-many-thousand.
And all you people who don't like cilantro, no doubt you inhale blissfully on stinky cheese?
Stinky cheese is different from cilantro - different palate enzyme issue. It's not the issue of smell.
The palate enzyme may be different, but how can you say it's not the issue of smell?
The stuff reeks, and I sense that through my nose as well as via my mouth.
Unless you are saying cilantro is not sensed through the nose, which a lot of people here seem to be experiencing.
Well, smell and taste are related, but the primary issue of cilantro for many that I know is what it does on the tongue and palate - mere smell alone is not the primary problem, though smell can remind people viscerally of what they experience in their mouth.
{for some reason, a reply of mine to another comment appeared here in error.)
No way the number is that high. No chef or restaurant owner would serve food that 25% of their customers couldn't eat. This is common sense. In fact, a server at a Mexican or Asian restaurant could probably give us a better idea of how many people request their food without it, or send their food back because it tastes like soap. Anyone?
I don't think the server would have a very accurate estimate either. The people who have this aversion may just ignore the cuisines they know contain cilantro or they have ordering strategies for dishes they know do not contain cilantro.
You are right about that! I can’t tell you how many people I know who have virtually stopped eating in Mexican food restaurants, formerly a favorite, since cilantro has become impossible to avoid. Is now added to every single thing on every menu. I have found that true for half or more. You won’t get any accurate statistics from people who go - you would need a count of the people who stay away now.
Yes, but that's not a statistic that's reliable. You would need to look at the general population. People who go to those restaurants like the food; that's why they go.
It's also worth noting that in many restaurants serving dishes in which cilantro is a part, the cilantro is often more of a garnish or late-cooking-stage add-in, chopped up and thrown on top just before the dish comes out of the kitchen. It is usually not a problem to ask the server to "hold the cilantro", as I have had to do for my husband--actually, that's usually "please put the cilantro on the side", as I do enjoy it.
In Toronto, where I live, there are many restaurants where more than 25% of Torontonians wouldn't eat. Not just because of ingredients, but price (too high or too low), and other factors. However, restaurants continue to do well, since they can't accommodate anywhere near this percent of the population. What percentage of people do you think are attracted to vegetarian restaurants? Yet, Toronto has quite a few, and they can do very well.
That said, this writer says that food scientists put the number at 15%. Don't know where she got that information.
http://www.tripmastermonkey.com/archi...
A possible genetic link to the unpleasantness?
"The investigators found that identical twins almost always had the same degree of pleasant/unpleasant perception of cilantro. However, there was very little agreement among fraternal twins. Wysocki says since identical twins share the same genes and fraternal twins share about 50 percent of their genes, the findings strongly suggest a genetic link to how a person perceives the smell of cilantro. Next, the researchers would like to obtain DNA samples from the twins to look for specific genes that may be responsible for like or dislike of cilantro."
http://www.wtvq.com/health/599-soapy-...
The reason that percentage number can’t be verified is that there has never been any such verifiable statistical polling. It’s based on nothing more than what various cilantro proponents have decided they want people to believe. Knowing as many people as I do who find it inedible, it’s more like the reverse, at least in my area, hard to find anyone who does like it. This may be more so in Texas where a huge number of people feel that traditional regional Mexican food has been virtually destroyed by the lockstep universal addition of cilantro to every single item on menus of every single Latin American restaurant in the country. I think the problem is that the people who can’t stand cilantro are less vocal than it’s proponents. By far. Not the other way around, another invention of enthusiasts.
To me, cilantro is marginally soapy, though it doesn't bother me enough to make me not want to eat it; in fact, I like cilantro where appropriate. My husband, on the other hand, perceives a strong metallic taste with cilantro, and I can't even sneak it, finely chopped, into dishes. It is frustrating having a spouse who cannot abide an ingredient that is so common, and adds so much distinctive flavour to healthy recipes I want to make!!!!
Really? I have never met anyone who does not hate Cilantro. In fact, everyone I know will never go back to any restaurant who pours it all over everything. I have never seen any convincing evidence of this so-called scientific genetic study. All seems to be unverified. Looks an awful lot like another viral internet hoax. Too many people, myself included, find Cilantro richly redolent of dead bodies, with other nasty overtones. I find the gentic story a little suspect.
Many people, myself included, who do not like cilantro, don’t perceive a soapy flavor or smell. I’ve heard many variations on what it’s like. To me it smells intensely of a rotting corpse, something very spoiled, so acrid it burns and causes instant nausea. I’ve met some who agree with that, others say dirt, green grass juice, vomit, all kinds of things. There were apparently two original “studies”. Both focused on just the people who detected a soapy flavor. They were web-based, self-reported surveys, then blood work drawn from that particular group. They weren’t controlled experiments, nor representive of population overall, and didn’t include all the people who dislike cilantro for other reasons. That statistic you keep hearing is a rough estimate, just of the percentage of the participants in those two studies. It’s sometimes repeated erroneosly.
This was posted here in error
Many people, myself included, who do not like cilantro, don’t perceive a soapy flavor or smell. I’ve heard many variations. To me it smells intensely of a rotting corpse, something very spoiled, so acrid it burns and causes instant nausea. Some agree with that, others say dirt, green grass juice, vomit, all kinds of things. There were apparently two “studies”. Both focused on just people who detected a soapy flavor. They were web-based, self-reported surveys, then blood work drawn from that particular group. They weren’t controlled experiments, nor representive of population overall, and didn’t include all the people who dislike cilantro for other reasons. That statistic you keep hearing doesn’t match any actual arrived at number I can find. Results shown were based on the percentage of participants in those two studies. It wasn’t a specific number but a range of “anywhere from - to”. It’s not possible to state any scientifically validated statistic.
i do know some of the people to whom it tastes funny but i feel bad for them. :) it is my FAVORITE. that and ginger. i mean i could probably just eat a handful of it. and i love the smell. ina garten (whose one of my favorites because her recipes actually turn out great for me) hates it though. and says so unabashedly. so her recipes never have it.
I have heard that there are 'cilantro cultures' vs 'parsley cultures'; i.c. cuisines that rely on one vs. the other. There are a few foodways (not too many) that use both.
I know that in non-cilantro cultures there are a small percentage of people who find the taste objectionable because of their genetics; and yes, they are a vocal minority.
I've never come across their counterparts in cilantro cultures (e.g. know any Thai, Mexican, or Indian people who hate cilantro?).
Count me in as one who loves the fresh herbal taste and aroma of cilantro. I like to mince together cilantro, basil, and mint and sprinkle on lots of items. I love to float sprigs of cilantro on soup and breathe in the released fragrance.
It took me a while to appreciate parsley (too bland), until I had good tabbouleh. I like basil better than parsley; also chiffonaded and sprinkled on hot soup. But I don't have and never had any active dislike of parsley.
Yes, I know many Mexican people who dislike cilantro. My daughter-in-law and her whole extended family, for example, many other Mexican friends, including two long-time restaurant owners who bemoan feeling cilantro has to be added to everything now, all despise cilantro, which is neither native nor traditional In Mexico, nor in Mexican Food in US border states, was never used prior to 1990s. Mexico has never been a cilantro “culture”. As far as we can tell, its use began with a prediction of American tourist demand.
You're just making this up. Cilantro has been used in Mexico for a very long time and I first tasted it in Mexican food in the 1970's visiting family in El Paso and Nogales. The Spanish introduced cilantro to Central America centuries ago.
I won't argue that it was not an everyday ingredient in much of the USA until the 80's/90's, but in communities with a concentration of Mexican immigrants it was readily available.
Her loss. :)
And cilantro is not a hallmark of French cuisine, so she could get away disliking it.
But you couldn't do without it in Indian, Thai, Mexican, and many other cuisines. French cuisine is not the be-all and end-all of great food.
but the french think so. ;-).
We did without it in Mexican and American food for a very long time, much to our preference. It is not traditional at all in Mexico, never has been. And plenty of Mexican people hate it and find it disgusting, in fact have only started adding it in response to American tourism and chic trendy promotion from the US.
I love it...but I love parsley too. I have not switched out cilantro for parsley in all of my recipes, either. Parsley <I believe> packs a better nutritional punch than cilantro which is important to me and I use it almost like a lettuce now in my salads, love it dipped in hummus. Cilantro is more of garnish for certain dishes, but I use it abundantly in those dishes because I do love the flavor.
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=...
I love cilantro and parsley also. Wouldn't even consider switching them out as the flavors are totally different. Totally. If I didn't have one in the house, I wouldn't use the other.
Hate it.......No matter what you have to eat, if it has cilatro on it, that is all I can taste..Much too strong. The first time I tried it was a genuine Mexican taco. They put cilantro on it and that is all I could taste. I gave it a fair shake and tried it again, and again,. Same results. Too overpowering of an herb.
Cilantro is a distinct taste by far CO. I hate to say one sub one for another but when calling for cilantro in most cases you should use cilantro but for less flavor you could get away with parsley. But if it calls for parsley, DON"T use cilantro.
Just my opinion.
I keep dried parsley as a back up. Usually my dried fresh parsley, so I feel a little better about it.
HONESTLY, I couldn't live without either. I LOVE cilantro and use it all the time. I grow all fresh herbs in my garden.
I love cilantro too!
Except for the time, I mistakingly bought it rather than flat leaf parsley ... (Hey I must've had a cold ?)
I got quite the shock when I took a hearty bite of my prepared dish!
Ughh - it wasn't good!
It was quite a shocking taste when you are expecting the delicate taste of parsley!
Started by hating the taste years ago. Soapy, you bet. Now I love it. Couldn't live without it. Mexican, Thai, as part of a paste for meat, a garnish/flavour enhancer for salads... all sorts of uses in the kitchen. House just wouldn't be a home without it. Swap it for parsley? I don't think so.
it's interesting. i DON'T like parsley much. i like it in cooked dishes (love ina's spaghetti and meatballs - from rao's - for one) but not that much in raw applications. i love a lot of middle eastern cuisine but i don't really love any tabbouleh. even those others think are good. to me - IT is too strong. way stronger than cilantro. interesting how everyone's taste buds are a bit different.
Googs, same with me. I thought it was nasty the first few times and now I can't get enough! Too bad my husband HATES it.
You and I are in the same boat with our husbands!!! ARGH
My DH hates oregano. But he will eat pizza or pasta when we eat out. I tell him they put it in their sauces all the time. If I try to sneak it into my sauce at home, he can tell it and doesn't like it. Go figure.
I have no idea when the use of the green parts of the plant, cilantro, began south of Mexico, nor in areas of Mexico I have not spent time in, mainly Southern, and Eastern Mexico, and obviously Juarez. All I can verify is that, in the areas described above, the use of coriander seed spice was common and dates very far back, and that the use of cilantro leaves was non-existant, in my lifetime before late 1980s, and grew to be universal by late 1990s. Could there have been other areas where it was in use? Could there have been groups in small villages or in other small communities proximate to areas I know using cilantro since Ponce de Leon? Anything is possible. Were there South Asian immigrants using cilantro, which is a normal addition in their native countries, at home and serving it in restaurants in the US way back in the 1970s? Of course. But that is not relevant to this discussion, which I thought was about when cilantro exploded across all food types where it had not been used previously.
I think the website put my response to another post here in error. Sorry!
Is there anyone else out there that once hated it but grew accustomed to it and now enjoys it? That's my story. First ate it in food a Thai nurse brought into the hospital where I worked, and had to be polite but was miserable. Same thing when a friend cooked a huge batch of oysters an hour out of the water and grabbed cilantro instead of Italian parsley to go with them. But that was years ago, and just like coconut, I have come to love it.
I don't mean to sidetrack, but I was this way with celery. Hated it first few times: strong and unfamiliar taste. Then over time I have grown to like it a lot.
Olives too, disliked them the first few times; now am totally addicted to them.
Must try that. I will try to get used to the flavour by munching on a bar of ivory soap every day :-)
bb, I'm right there with you on this one. The mere smell reminds me of something akin to a soured dish cloth. There is no way I could ever get past that - and the foul oder (to my olfactory senses) does preclude any chance of good flavor. :/
I hated it as a kid and would try to pick it out of salsa. Sometime in college I started to find it less objectionable but preferred it wasn't in my food. I like it now. I didn't try to overcome it, btw. It just happened at some point.
I was the same way, hated cilantro when I was young (pre-teen), but somehow came to enjoy it. We'd go to a local mexican place and I'd always order the carne asada, which had cilantro. I think I'd ask them to leave it out, but it was premade or something and would always have flecks in it. So I spent most of my time removing miniscule bits of cilantro. I think I finally got tired of the intricate surgery I had to perform on my dinner (we ate there A LOT), and just started eating it. I enjoy it now as much as any other herb, but it's not my favorite so much so that I seek out recipes with it (that would be basil). So yeah, I overcame it naturally.
I'm the same as you and several others on this thread. I hated cilantro when I was a kid (and I wasn't a very picky eater)--the taste seemed to travel through my mouth and up my nose and overwhelm everything. Now I can't imagine a bahn mi without it.
Just have to say that when I first glanced at your screen name I read it as "pickledinger." WAY more fun that way :)
Haha, that _is_ great. I was hoping for a relatively foolproof screen name, but your way of reading it makes me smile.
yeah, pickledinger sounds like a game we might play out in the back yard in the huge brand-new frigidaire delivery box. ah, the first taste of privacy! you show me your pickledinger? ;-).
I'm like Googs: hated it years ago.
I remember my first exposure to it. We were at an ubiquitous Vietnamese restaurant and each ordered dinner # such and such (soup, spring roll, grilled chicken or beef or shrimp or combination thereof).
I asked the waiter to substitute a small tonkinese soup over the included house soup and pay whatever difference (i hadn't had a Tonkinese soup up to that point). My buddy said yeah, me too, and so did his girlfriend.
"And you, ma'am" the waiter asked my girlfriend (now wife)
"No, not me, I'll stick to the house soup".
So we're thinking we're cutting edge, trying new and exciting, etc etc.
The waiter brings our 3 tonkinese and 1 house soup.
We all dive in.
We look at each other, and same as billieboy, think we're slurping dishwater.
"Yechhhh"
The wife had the last laugh that night as she really enjoyed the cilantro-less house soup.
That was maybe 20 years and over 7000 meals ago.
I've come to really appreciate and like cilantro. And yeah, many dishes just wouldn't be the same without.
Parsley....maybe not so much.
The thing I have found is that the dislike of cilantro is not like other food dislikes. I am not a picky eater by any means. Just a couple of things I don't like but don't make a big deal about it. But people who don't like cilantro absolutely HATE it and are very vocal about it.
Funny
hi there,
there's a great article titled, "Getting to the Root of the Great Cilantro Divide," that indicates that perhaps the reason many people don't like cilantro is because they are "non-tasters," as opposed to "super-tasters." Check it out:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
As for me, can't get enough!
Re: being very vocal about disliking cilantro: I think it's an attempt to stake out a cultural space.
For e.g., people who dislike stinky cheese are frequently criticized as not being widely exposed to gourmet food, unappreciative of the finer things of life, etc.
Cilantro haters don't want to be seen that way, so they try to be the first to make a loud noise about it.
Cilantro is a wonderful flavour and an essential element in so many world cuisines, but not in mainstream US. It's hardly a passing fad.
Disliking cilantro may be genetic, but it ultimately is personal. There's nothing objectionable about cilantro itself, and disliking it makes as much sense as disliking garlic.
Disliking garlic used to be common in Anglo-based cultures until after WW-II. Garlic was seen as stinky, characteristic of "lower classes" or "undesirable immigrants" (i.e. from non-Anglo backgrounds, usually Mediterranean, Eastern European, etc.). You come across so many references to this in period novels, for e.g.
Fresh basil used to be seen as pretty unusual too (e.g. that movie IIRC called "First Night")
Now garlic and basil are seen as pretty mainstream. And cilantro will get that way too. And I bet that as the numbers of people who have exposure and get used to it goes up, the numbers of people who find it "genetically" soapy-tasting will go way down.
Actually, I think it has more to do with the the fact that people who like cilantro tend to luuuuuv it, and are rather imperialistic about favoring it in cooking. The cilantro haters have to articulate stronger boundaries in order to be heard, as it were.
Also, the dislike of cilantro by many appears to have a physiological rather than psychological root (an enzyme issue in the palate), so don't expect commonality to make this issue disappear.
I think most people who grew up with it use cilantro judiciously. Those who see it as a trendy or fancy ingredient might over use it just like they do any other "hot" ingredient like balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes or truffle oil.
It's not that cilantro is fancy. Rather, it's a bold flavoring. And American palates coarsened by decades of processed foods tend to relish MORE! BIGGER! BOLDER! FLAVORS! Our foods tend to be overseasoned in the past half generation. Cilantro, like capsaicin, is one of the crutches for that.
I don't find cilantro more bold than say, dill, basil or flat leaf parsley.
It's interesting that you perceive that American palates have been "coarsened by decades of processed foods", and that's why they want bigger ... bolder etc. flavours.
I saw it more as American palates are opening up to more world cuisines which tend to be bolder and use spices more.
There is asian ( don't know which country, maybe VietNam) that makes a side dish/condiment of almost pureed french shallots and cilantro, equal amounts of each with just a little salt and lime juice. Killer, killer kick ass delicious. Love cilantro!
That sounds great. How do French shallots differ from "regular"?
That sounds really good, and like a first-cousin to the Indian green chutney (chutney made of pureed cilantro + a little onion, ginger, green chillies, salt, lemon juice, smidgen of sugar). Sometimes yogurt / buttermilk is added.
It morphs into mint chutney when a little mint is added to the puree.
It's your basic dip for pakoras, samosas, found in every Indian restaurant, and it's sprinkled on chaat, etc.
and i could also eat that with a spoon! but i HATE the tamarind one. i just think it's all personal and while i agree that it is a value to learn to live with things, i just think that the whole idea that it makes you better or worse than someone else (based on palate) if you like something is silly. and Rasam - that's to the thread as a whole. obviously you're not saying that!
I'm a hater, but I don't think it tastes like soap. On the contrary, it tastes like the world's worst BO.
I thought cilantro had its fifteen minutes about ten or fifteen years ago. For awhile it seemed like no pasta dish was safe. The stinkweed scourge seems to have subsided in recent years. It's still in many Asian dishes but I just pick it out.
You are in the minority, but you are absolutely not alone, not even here. I Loathe the stuff. So do the folks at www.ihatecilantro.com
Tastes like somebody soaked pennies in dishwashing liquid, AFAIC.
I think it's a cultural and cuisine thing. If you grow up with it, it's usually less of an issue. The popularity of it with chefs is the influence of Asian and Latin cuisines. It really depends on how you use it. As a straight garnish...frankly who eats it? As a not so well thought out element in a non-traditional way, it can stand out.
I have no problem, wouldn't think of many things w/o it. I'm wondering if people notice it first after tasting it alone, then notice every time after that when it's used as an element, like in guac?
Side question to all: Anyone that hates it, do you like stinky cheeses as well?
It could also have to do with the freshness of cilantro. At my local Asian market, I always see miraculously tender and sweet cilantro leaves that people buy the bunch, but outside at some restaurants, I see some really old, rough cilantro that tastes incredibly sour and bad. And I love cilantro! It might have to do with the general quality and how prevalent it is in some areas.
The regularity with which this topic comes up on CH, and the many responses it STILL elicits, is fascinating.
Maybe I'm just such a super-person overall, but I used to hate, hate, hate that stuff. Went to Thailand and ordered everything without. Now I like it, especially in dishes from Asia or Latin/South America where it is called for. Without it, the dish would just not be the same.
But I still don't LOVE it. I don't sprinkle it on everything that holds still '-D
Cilantro? Love at first bite. The latest New Mexico magazine has a recipe for lovely light green cilantro crepes filled w/ fried shrimp for artsy tacos. Yum. A taco w/out cilantro is not a taco. My science wonk SIL says the dislike of cilantro is a genetic defect. Sorry bad cilantro dudes; you lose.
Is that taco recipe available? That sounds like a fun artys-fartsy dish, doesn't it?
Dunno, I get the mag. If its not on line, let me know and I'll post it.
I have a great seafood shrimp taco with avacado, onion, roasted tomatoes, a lime cilantro and some fresh mango. I can look it up when I get home. Still at work.
I love cilantro and it was love at first bite. I grow it and about 25 other herbs in my organic garden. Could not cook without any of them. Each has its place in whatever cuisine you're cooking, and each contributes its own particular flavor to the dish.
Ya gotta edumacate yer palates, people.
I've grown cilantro easily but it bolts so easily. I just seems easier for me to buy it. But rosemary??? It grows into shrubs. I've been know to take it as a hostess gift. I go at it with the pruning shears - sometimes even the loppers :)
There is a recent cilantro variety that is more resistant to bolting than the traditional plants.
Cilantro is about as noticeable as tan walls and carpet. I love coriander, garlic and ginger, but cilantro doesn't taste like anything to me.
weird since coriander is the same plant. funny how taste buds are. it is strong to me - but not overly so like it can be in a bad way to people. literally i love the smell, i could add it to anything (ok well not anything) and have been that way for years and years.
but i can't seem to grow it - will have to check out the new variety.
easy to start new rosemary plants to give as hostess gifts. just get little pots and stick a little branch in potting soil in each one. they'll "take" and then you have easy, cute hostess gifts, wrapped with a little raffia ribbon, or french ribbon, for da "fancy" ladies.... ;-).
Rosemary overwintering indoors. Not quite hearty enough to be in ground in southern Connecticut. Very fragrant if you brush against it!
I'm about to put it out...
Hate it...even the smallest amount of it can ruin an otherwise amazing dish for me. Particularly detest it in my fresh salsa...kills it for me!
I love it so much I even stop by the veggie section at the store just to smell it! (no worries..I don't sneeze on it..lol)
I never heard of cilantro until I worked in Arizona for a while 30 years ago. I like it in Mexican dishes, but don't use it in most other cuisines.
Question for those who know:
Cilantro is the leaf of the coriander plant. It's also called coriander leaf.
Coriander *seed* is also a spice. The leaf and the seed have completely different taste profiles and can not be substituted for each other.
Is the same true of parsley, rosemary, other herbs? Is there a use for the seeds? Do they taste different from the leaf?
I know basil seeds are used in one or two Indian dishes (desserts).
Cilantro is delicious.
VERY true, Scargod; the topic makes as much sense as "I love/hate garlic" or "coffee" or "sugar" or similar.
I've yakked an incredible amount on this thread, but it is really a nutty one :)
It's odd that this one ingredient seems to provoke chatter, while other equally bold tasting ingredients don't.
I too will bow out now.
I don't see why it should upset anyone that some people don't like cilantro. It isn't like secondhand smoke...if you want to put a mound of it on your taco, go for it, doesn't bother me.
In an earlier post I said I hated it. I can clarify that by saying that I hate it when it overtakes a dish. I actually have some fresh cilantro in my fridge for two recipes I'm making this week. But I will use it in a subtle, not overpowering way. I prefer to taste the dish as a whole rather than ewwwww cilantro (or any one ingredient really). And I do not think it's cultural; I am the unpickie-est person I know, raised on a variety of foods.
Hate it.
Scargod, this truly is any innocent post/question - at least on my part - and I see it as a very appropriate topic. I hate cilantro – that is a very true statement. I hold nothing personal against the little plant, just the manner in use abundance. It keeps showing up in foods where it has no business. Last week, I was at a small, local Italian restaurant and it was used in the alfredo sauce! Having eaten a couple of very good meals there before, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that whoever did the shopping that morning intended to pick up parsley and grabbed a bunch of cilantro in error.
That said, I was curious to know if people (and I understand this is a world-wide board) in VAST majority like cilantro to the degree that it is being used as some would use salt and/or pepper.
While seemingly not in an overwhelming majority, one thing is clearly obvious as evidenced in this thread. There are people who are passionately in "love" with the little green leaf.
Using cilantro like salt and pepper makes little sense. You wouldn't use thyme, parsley or other herbs like that, except in some situations. In Asian and Latin cooking cilantro is never the feature but rather a compliment or element. However like so many trends in the U.S., it's often over done at first and with little sense of proportion or traditional use. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't use it like this but a little restraint and caution isn't a bad thing. Going for the pop and boldness can become trendy...nothing wrong with this but it sort of points to flavor of the month. Personally I think balance is the key.
That would makes sense if this were, say, 1995, when cilantro was well into the trendy phase. Now it's just become a crutch or the many addicts just overuse it. We are *well* past the trendy stage with this ingredient.
I guess as someone who grew up with it, I never saw the trendiness come in 1995 or go. Out in California I've never noticed it or seen it listed as an ingredient on high end, low end or cutting edge places, from 1995 onward. Or perhaps I just wasn't paying attention.
Frankly the idea that it's new, weird or different is fascinating since to me it's basically parsley. From my perspective if you're over-using it, it's still trendy or a bit odd. Maybe "trendy" isn't the right term so I'll just over-used, non-traditional, out of place or balance. I do get what you're saying about crutch.
I'd apply the same criteria to any herb, technique, etc. I mean hell when people start putting lemon grass on everything, including drinks, you have to wonder. Nothing wrong with new uses but at a certain point you roll your eyes and frankly I'm rolling my eyes a bit with this whole discussion.
Well, I think these conversations in the context of restaurants will become more pointed in the near time as a greater proportion of diners who bother to eat out may not want to risk $$ on the chef's judgment on the use of such crutch ingredients.
OH, LORD!
"There's no liking the taste of cilantro".
"It keeps showing up in foods where it has no business."
People, there are LOTS of folks that like cilantro. It's no NEW FAD to me.
I grow it. I don't mistake it for parsley, like what seems to have happened at a restaurant that was mentioned. Shame on the cook (or Chef) that did not taste what they were preparing!
It has a faint reminiscence of soap.... My mom (once), washed my mouth with soap, for cursing. Damn that woman! I miss her so!
Embrace cilantro. It is so good with the right food! I want a lingua taco so bad!
If it calls for cilantro you could use parsley ... if it calls for parsley don't use cilantro. It isn't a sub but on the right dish it is excellent.
Not sure where you're coming from but coriander aka cilantro is aka as Chinese parsley.
Did you read all of the other ca. dozen or so threads on this exact same question? Do a search on it, and you 'll have an abundance of input.
One of the very popular local dishes at night markets in Taiwan is a sort of ice cream burrito. Made of a thin wheat crepe, shaved peanut candy, ice cream, and cilantro.
http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com/20...
Yeah, sometimes even locals ask for it without the cilantro.
Good npr link upthread. (The gas chromatograph can't lie.) Those of us who like cilantro and find it exquisitely, elusively savory -- as truffles, or garlic, are savory -- must remember that some people truly are not tasting the same thing we are. This doesn't seem to extend to the seed (coriander), used in lots of cooking and seldom controversial.
I don't know about "trendy." Cilantro is ancient, in cooking of several regions long popular in the US, and lately US cooks experiment with everything. To the comment "at a small, local Italian restaurant [cilantro] was used in the alfredo sauce!" note that "Alfredo sauce" is a US invention, not too old either -- I remember before it. It certainly was unknown to the actual Alfredo de Lellio, whose "Fettuccine al Triplo Burro Maestose" dressed the noodles first with heart of best Parmesan, then a special triple butter, and salt. (According to Accademia Italiana della Cucina.) No cream, no "sauce." Alfredo in turn was just making a fine version of classic Roman Fettuccine al Burro.
Re your first paragraph, I used to actually like the smell of skunk!!! And I read an article years ago in the WSJ or NYT or some such that there are a small minority who like the skunk smell. I got over that when one of my dogs got sprayed bigtime :) So there's not liking the taste of cilantro as someone can not like the taste of anything. And then there are those who aren't tasting the same thing that we are.
A whiff of skunk through an open car window in the country, nice. A skunked German Shepherd (poor boy!) trying to get into your bedroom for reassurance, not nice at all. That being said, it was love at first bite for cilantro and me. No such thing as too much, at least raw (it can be a bit overpowering cooked). Favorite potato dish: boiled potatoes dressed in butter, lemon juice, a bit of the zest, and cilantro leaves stirred in at the last minute. Have 2 good friends who can't abide it so don't cook with it for them.
c oliver: reformed skunk lover! LOL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew
~~~~~~
query, will tomato and cilantro bath remove the skunk-stink?
Always disliked it and think it tastes like soap
I love it, it smells great and have a very fresh taste.
LOVE IT!
In my family, the women, including me, love cilantro, and all the guys hate it! To me it is the most delicious, fresh-tasting addition to soups, salads, etc.
love it
I recognize the soapiness of cilantro, but I love it anyway. Asian food and Mexican food are just empty without that extra dimension. The aroma is just heavenly.
I love cilantro but my dad hates it. I always have to forego the cilantro dishes if we're dining out together.
I LOVE cilantro, my parents love cilantro, and apparently, that's very unusual for Korean people. Koreans love pho, but mostly hate cilantro, so you'll see Koreanized pho joints occasionally. I guess my parents have some recessive gene or strange enzyme that makes us freaks of Korean nature.
Please add me to the top of your "HATE IT" list. I can't even associate the flavor of cilantro with something as clean as soap. Truthfully, some variety of really nasty filth would better fit my description of it. I readily acknowledge that a lot of people must like it; but, chefs, please take note, whenever you add fresh cilantro to anything on the table, you are instantly ruining the dining experience for a lot of us. I suggest that fresh cilantro be offered as an optional condiment (since it's when it is served fresh or not thoroughly cooked that it usually retains it's offensive flavor). That should be a quick and simple solution to the whole problem.
Here's another note to chefs: If you are truly wanting to create and present authentic, full-flavored Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine, adding cilantro throws you way off course. The coriander plant is not even native to the Western Hemisphere. In my region (Texas) it starting showing up in salsas about 25 or 30 years ago. Cooking shows were beginning to fill the airwaves. Then, a new generation of (perhaps well-meaning but pitifully misguided) chefs got the idea it was fashionable to garnish everything with cilantro. For me, and many others, it was (still is) a very bad and entirely foul-tasting decision. Now we have a whole gereration of both cooks and diners who (thanks to TV celebrity chefs who live a long way from Mexico) think cilantro has always been an essential ingredient in Mexican-type dishes. It even started showing up in Mexican markets and restaurants to serve the tastes of some American tourists. This seemed to validate the notion that cilantro is an authentic ingredient in Mexican food. Frankly, I wonder how often cilantro is used to mask the flavor of poorly prepared or otherwise inferior food. For certain, it's addition ruins what might have been some really delicious food. Regardless, no cilantro for me, please!
Cilantro is used in authentic Mexican dishes. Guacamole is a prime example. Of course you could leave it out to your taste, but just because it isn't native to the New World doesn't mean it's not authentic. That would be like saying tomatoes and polenta are not authentic to Italian food, or hot chiles are not authentic to Thai or Indian food. That said, I understand that the scope of the sense of taste is, at least to some extent, genetic. So some may love cilantro and others hate it. I'm in between: started out hating it and now love it.
"""Guacamole is a prime example. """
~~~~~~~
wow, PAO, you'd better duck after invoking the "g word"! ;-)).
I was taught by my New Mexican in-laws to add ground up, not powdered, celantro seeds to guacamole. I thought everyone did until I moved out of NM. I have a good Texas chow friend, Dogracs, who never uses celantro sed in his Tem/Mex food. I was very surprised that he had no celantro seed at all in his kitchen. I use a lot of it. I just made a green chile tomatillo soup w/ both celantro seeds and fresh celantro.
My sense is that cilantro is a reletively recent south-of-the-border incursion. It is certainly not part of the traditional Tex-Mex I grew up on.
I suspect it is far more traditional in Indian food than Tex-Mex.
Funny, I was taught to add celantro seed to guacamole and some red chiles sauces by my in-law very old New Mexican family. I'm aware of the food migrations of cilantro (taco al pastor being a Lebenese influence on Mexican food for example) but still associate it w/ New Mex food, use it and enjoy the flavor.
Food is very personal and w/ lots of associations. for the life of me I can't remember black beans or poblano chiles in NW New Mexico in the 60's and 70's!
Yeah, black beans are another parvenu. Seemed to arrive in Texas coterminously with cilantro. Now, cilantro seed (coriander seed?) I know nothing about in the context of Southwestern cookin'. May well be a Mex/New Mex staple of long root. But again, coriander seed is something that you see frequently in Indian food, usually in tandem with ground cumin.
Yup, basic ingredients in Indian curry. Without the Moorish influences on the Spanish, we wouldn't have Mexican cooking as we know it.
Heading to Huntington Beach and San Diego in Feb for a refresher on So Co Mexican food. I will be interested to see how much celantro is used.
Say hi to Nancy Griffith for me.
Not in re guacamole, but coriander seeds or ground coriander are really good in mushroom preparations.
I’m just wondering, what year were you born?
My daughters & I love it. My husband and mom hate it. They say it has a soapy taste. So I leave it out and the girls and I add is separately to our dishes.
Funny story: When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, they were going around the class naming their favorited green food. She says proudly "Cilantro!", the other kids just looked at and were like what is that? She loved it from first bite.
I can't live without it! The more the better! But then, I'm from Texas. We're not to bright.
My first real taste of it many years ago turned me off it - the taste and aroma got to me. As I've gotten older, I can handle it in small moderation, especially in soups or stews. Preferably chopped up finely. :)
Love it, love it, love it. I can graze on it like a cow, and eat the stems when DH cuts them off to chop (I leave the stems on).
I lean toward hate. I can tolerate cilantro in small quantities, but it easily overpowers other flavors, and cilantro has a flavor with which I do not want to be overpowered. Cilantro should play a bit part in the concerto; it should never play a cadenza.
Love it. It should not, however, be sprinkled about in any old dish, for any whimsical reason, any more than anything else should. It's a powerful flavor and aroma, and needs to work in concert with other flavors to work to its best advantage.
But yes: I'm a fan of the stuff, especially in Asian and Mexican foods.
Love & hate. Slivers in rice, well made pico, cilantro pesto with lime on tender grilled chicken great- but overdone amts., mushy, inappropriate sub for say basil leaves or parsley...yuck.
No, you are not in the minority. Just about everyone I know has stopped eating Mexican food, because it has been ruined by the NON traditional addition of this nasty “herb”. My take is that it was the brainchild of American chefs who pushed it as chic and trendy. In my experience, which is fairly extensive, it was NEVER added to anything I ate anywhere in Mexico or the US before it took off suddenly and started being promoted in recipes as “classic” and or “traditional”. Neither of which it had ever been until this time. Oh, and there are plenty of people who think it tastes like dead bodies, not soap, so I think the gene story is bull. Cilantro is nauseating enough to be hated on it’s own. No genetic disability necessary.
Coriander, both leaf and seed, are both classic and traditional inclusions in South Asian food. Coriander leaf would be generally used as a garnish, much as parsley might be in northern Europe - the "curry cafes" in my nearby city always have a bowl of chopped coriander on the serving counter for you to sprinkle over your food.
Hi, thank you. I did know Coriander is native to Asia and southern Europe, and that both leaf and seed have long been used in various parts of Asia. In other areas, just coriander spice, the seeds, but not leaves and stems, have also been used for a long time, particularly in Europe. Coriander is not native to the Americas. The plant was brought to North America by colonists, and goes way back. However, for the same thing it was used for in Europe, the seeds, not the leaves and stems. Of note is that it is false that people who dislike cilantro, will also automatically hate coriander spice. A lot of people who abhor cilantro, myself included, have always liked and used coriander spice in certain recipes. My take is that, historically, at least in Europe, the West, and even some parts of Asia, using the leaves and stems was never even considered. As with other things, some parts of edible plants were long considered overbearingly strong, bitter, and or just plain bad tasting, even (sometimes mistakenly) poisonous. At least some of which is certainly true of cilantro, particularly burying or neutralizing the taste of all other ingredients in any recipe that includes it. All arguments to the contrary, this is so whether you like it or don’t.
It’s use (in the West) only began in the 1980’s, when it was introduced and heavily promoted by American “avant garde” chefs looking for something new, rhapsidizing about their own creations. The thing that made it even more objectionable to the great number of people who did not want to jump on this bandwagon is that it was pushed as THE chic, trendy, exclusive thing, and anyone not liking it was a gross haute cuisine faux pas. It was pushed down people’s throats. Including some chefs, who were afraid of being left behind. Those who didn’t kowtow, such as Julia Childes, were insulted and painted as unsophisticated fools. This continues even to this day, with all kinds of false claims added as it rolls along. It pissed off a lot of people who lived through it for life. I don’t know if the same thing happened in Europe or if they were just following the American trend, but it was about the same time, and I suspect both.
My experience does not extend much further South, but that is definitely also true of Mexico. Mexico, not Asia, is where I was pointing out cilantro is not traditional. Maybe I missed some areas, but none of the regional cooking I had, and I have eaten quite a lot of it, in Central, West coast, and Northern Mexico ever contained cilantro leaves and stems prior to about 1990s. It was also never used in Mexican restaurants or cooking in the US border states. I assume most people who insist cilantro is authentic or traditional in Latin American cooking were born after this period and have believed this myth from birth.
"It’s use (in the West) only began in the 1980’s, when it was introduced and heavily promoted by American “avant garde” chefs "
That may be the case in the part of "the West" where you are (which I assume is America). But it is not the case where I am in the West. The use in the UK relates to influences from South Asia, as I suggested in my earlier reply. That goes back many decades with the colonial influence and, more significantly from the 1970s when South Asian immigration started to have an impact on British cuisine.
I really don’t know nor meant to imply that I know much about the history of coriander leaf use in the UK. I assume, as it is very much a part of traditional South Asian cuisine, cilantro leaf was being used in South Asian restaurants in the US as well, which as I recall were becoming more popular In the early 70s. I do remember people either liking or not. And now that I think of it, there was an unusually sharp divide on that preference. I wonder if cilantro may have had anything to do with that? Food for thought!
What I intended to be commenting on was the explosion of widespread popular use of coriander leaf across all food categories, all restaurant types, in recipes, like a monoculture or movement, which didn’t happen before sometime in the 1980s in the US. I had just thought, but don’t actually know, if this trend also happened around the same time in Europe? Is that not correct? My personal experience when living in Europe was a long time ago, pre 80s and from a juvenile aspect, but I just don’t remember sitting down in any mainstream upscale restaurants in London and finding cilantro added to everything from steak to desserts, which could and did become a not uncommon hazard in the US post 80s. Also heard from friends that they had begun to have similar experiences in UK and in Europe around the same time or a little later. I am very interested in what your experience was. You are correct that I don’t have the whole picture in perspective, some of what I was commenting on in relation to Europe was at least partly best educated guess!
I love it in its proper place, like a nice bright salsa casera, on tacos al pastor, or with black beans and onions.
Pineapple is a traditional accompaniment to a gammon steak in the UK. At home I put on a spin on it, by making a pineapple, red onion, coriander &chilli salsa. Works really well, I think.
That sounds so good. We generally cannot find gammon steaks here. Your treatment sounds superb. I know the flavor combination well. Tacos al pastor in Austin are usually pork done in small pieces, fried like carnitas but with the addition of chilis and pineapple, served on corn tortillas with a squeeze of fresh lime and topped with cilantro and diced white onion. I think using gammon would kick it up nicely.
As a friend likes to say about cilantro - looks like parsley, tastes like sh*t!
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