A long time ago, when I worked retail, I managed a small store and for some odd reason, one employee kept microwaving fish. I complained and begged her to stop and to prepare something else. She ignored me and continued to cook fish.
It got so bad that customers started complaining even though we had a separate break room. The stench was making its way into the main customer area. At that point, I had to put my foot down and make it a fully enforced policy. No more cooking of foods containing fish allowed – but if they wanted to cook it at home and bring it in, that was okay.
I was not always a vegetarian. Even when I did eat some dead animals, I assure you the meal did not contain fish.
I used to have a small coffee roaster that worked like a hot-air popcorn popper. Roasting coffee indoors made my house smell like I had the worst oven spill ever. I switched to using it on the screen porch even in the dead of winter.
@Cerridwyn A bad odor and taste caused by oxidation of the unsaturation in cooking oils mostly. Oils that have been used for cooking and thus have been heated in the presence of moisture are more susceptible to accelerated rancidity.
Oxygen from the air will attack unsaturated oils to form first, hydroperoxides, which will further degrade to low molecular weight aldehydes and ketones. This happens in all meats for example from the moment of slaughter to consumption whether or not fresh or frozen as well as expressed unsaturated oils from seeds or grains. Holding keeping the oil at low temperature, and away from light slows but does not stop the reaction.
We just threw away a couple of bags of pretzels which had been in the cupboard a wee bit too long and had become rancid. This is a food not noted for its oil content and which was stored in a dark place at ambient, but too long (who knows how long it had been on the grocer’s shelf and in a warehouse before that?). Anyway, neither the birds nor the squirrels would touch these pieces, when offered to them.
We couldn’t eat them either, so they were consigned to the garbage. I hate when that happens.
@lonocat Cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables release small amounts of H2S and mercaptans (especially methanethiol (methyl mercaptan) and dimethyl sulfide), if overcooked.
Most people are incredibly sensitive to these compounds, and are able to detect them in the ppb (parts per billion) range. They are part of the mixture of mercaptans added to natural gas (methane, CH4), which is odorless to make a release more detectable.
These odoriferous moieties are steam distilled as the cabbage cooks. The trick is to cut the cabbage into smaller pieces, which cook more quickly, and don’t overcook it!!! Add a bit of acid, viz., vinegar, lime or lemon helps to keep the smell down. When cooking, let it wilt, but leave it al dente as the Italians would say.
@werehatrack I consider a tin of sardines along with soda crackers, onion, ginger, wasabi, and a cold beer to be a real epicurean treat.
My wife not so much.
She hates to confront a greasy mt sardine tin in the sink in the morning. So I have learned over the decades to deodorize and clean after myself when eating this delight.
@Kyeh@tweezak Nope. Drinking with a group of friends and they found out I used to work at Pizza Hut. In the middle of answering yet another question about toppings and prep I had to stop and ask the host if he took the frozen pizza out of the box before putting it in the oven. The ink on the box smells really bad when it starts to smolder.
The plausibility is questionable, but if one stops reading at that point, the tale is more than adequately entertaining. Sometimes, excessive analysis ruins everything. (I am a recognized expert when it comes to over-analyzing things, trust me on this.)
@Star2236@werehatrack I trust your analysis because I too am an analysis enthusiast. In fact, I’ve not yet wrapped up this case but have gathered enough data points to lean toward plausibility of curtain rods going in the moving truck. There is still doubt though because I’m a dude who would definitely take the curtains and rods with me with no thoughts or regard of the colors and styles at the new house. Others, with an eye for interior design, would undoubtedly leave the curtains and rods all the while knowing they would want to create a themed aesthetic at the new house.
@accelerator@werehatrack
Yeah, as a female I would definitely leave them bc they were probably specific with the house. That guy was probably being spiteful and just taking everything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor. Now their new house now stinks too
@yakkoTDI all of it triggers me. I don’t know why but even the slightest smell of it makes me feel incredibly nauseous. The real stuff more than the fake stuff.
@OnionSoup@yakkoTDI I will assume that you avoid IHOP, then. Actually, avoiding IHOP is a good idea IMO anyway, because of how everything on their menu tastes like pancakes except the pancakes, which have no detectable flavor at all.
The smell of stale deep frying oil. I used to work at a chain resto as a server, and would shower every time I could when I got off a shift so I didn’t smell like fry oil. My work shirts always stank.
I now do all my cooking/ grilling of Fish, Chicken, Hamburgers on my Mini George Forman grill, It cooks/ grill them better than the Microwave can, all it can do it turn it mushy
Fish in the microwave at the office.
@yakkoTDI I came to say this too,
A long time ago, when I worked retail, I managed a small store and for some odd reason, one employee kept microwaving fish. I complained and begged her to stop and to prepare something else. She ignored me and continued to cook fish.
It got so bad that customers started complaining even though we had a separate break room. The stench was making its way into the main customer area. At that point, I had to put my foot down and make it a fully enforced policy. No more cooking of foods containing fish allowed – but if they wanted to cook it at home and bring it in, that was okay.
I was not always a vegetarian. Even when I did eat some dead animals, I assure you the meal did not contain fish.
Chitlins (or if you’re a Yankee…chitterlings)
The forgotten tupperware with 3 month old leftovers.
I used to have a small coffee roaster that worked like a hot-air popcorn popper. Roasting coffee indoors made my house smell like I had the worst oven spill ever. I switched to using it on the screen porch even in the dead of winter.
@ItalianScallion When I worked a previous job the drive home took me past a small coffee roaster. That is a horrible smell.
Rancid oil
@Cerridwyn A bad odor and taste caused by oxidation of the unsaturation in cooking oils mostly. Oils that have been used for cooking and thus have been heated in the presence of moisture are more susceptible to accelerated rancidity.
Oxygen from the air will attack unsaturated oils to form first, hydroperoxides, which will further degrade to low molecular weight aldehydes and ketones. This happens in all meats for example from the moment of slaughter to consumption whether or not fresh or frozen as well as expressed unsaturated oils from seeds or grains. Holding keeping the oil at low temperature, and away from light slows but does not stop the reaction.
We just threw away a couple of bags of pretzels which had been in the cupboard a wee bit too long and had become rancid. This is a food not noted for its oil content and which was stored in a dark place at ambient, but too long (who knows how long it had been on the grocer’s shelf and in a warehouse before that?). Anyway, neither the birds nor the squirrels would touch these pieces, when offered to them.
We couldn’t eat them either, so they were consigned to the garbage. I hate when that happens.
@Cerridwyn @Jackinga
TL;DR get that rancid stank outtahere!
Fish. Hands down fish
@ragingredd I won’t cook it in the house. BBQ only. And generally, I only eat it at restaurants.
Cabbage cooking
@lonocat Cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables release small amounts of H2S and mercaptans (especially methanethiol (methyl mercaptan) and dimethyl sulfide), if overcooked.
Most people are incredibly sensitive to these compounds, and are able to detect them in the ppb (parts per billion) range. They are part of the mixture of mercaptans added to natural gas (methane, CH4), which is odorless to make a release more detectable.
These odoriferous moieties are steam distilled as the cabbage cooks. The trick is to cut the cabbage into smaller pieces, which cook more quickly, and don’t overcook it!!! Add a bit of acid, viz., vinegar, lime or lemon helps to keep the smell down. When cooking, let it wilt, but leave it al dente as the Italians would say.
Those flat tins of sardines
@werehatrack I consider a tin of sardines along with soda crackers, onion, ginger, wasabi, and a cold beer to be a real epicurean treat.
My wife not so much.
She hates to confront a greasy mt sardine tin in the sink in the morning. So I have learned over the decades to deodorize and clean after myself when eating this delight.
YMMV
Growing up, my parents loved frying slices of their homegrown parsnip. Almost 6 decades later, I still retch slightly at the now-distant memory!
Burnt popcorn
@hchavers We had a possibly expired bag of microwave popcorn several years ago and attempted to use it. We had to throw away the microwave.
@hchavers @mschuette threw it away in an iRK?
@hchavers @phendrick This was during my Woot days, actually.
Washed rind cheeses, such as those imported wedges and wheels used for raclette can be pretty offensive and off-putting, if one went by smell alone.
But when melted and smeared on boiled potatoes, bread and meats, they are delightful.
@Jackinga I love me a good taleggio!
Preheating the oven to 420 for a pizza having forgotten that you stored a bunch of plastic containers there.
@tweezak I think this wins
@Kyeh @tweezak Nope. Drinking with a group of friends and they found out I used to work at Pizza Hut. In the middle of answering yet another question about toppings and prep I had to stop and ask the host if he took the frozen pizza out of the box before putting it in the oven. The ink on the box smells really bad when it starts to smolder.
@Kyeh @tweezak @yakkoTDI left it in the box? Was this person a visitor from another planet?
@jitc @Kyeh @tweezak He may have had a few beverages by the time he decided to cook.
Salmon the day after …
Garlic powder generously added to chili, minestrone, chicken noodle, ramen etc etc
@hchavers One of the biggest falsehoods in American cooking: There’s no such thing as too much garlic.
Worst is when my evil coworkers MICROWAVE FISH in our break room
@reidk5307 the same for me.
Somebody reheating two day old baked fish in the company microwave. You just beat me to it.
When my roommate burns the garlic and the smokes gets through the gap in the top of my kitchen adjacent bedroom door.
Chocolate meat. Every step of the process.
And, no. It’s not a joke. It’s Filipino. And seriously gross to me.
Dinuguan.
@sarahsandroid I shouldn’t have looked up the recipe just after eating breakfast.
@ItalianScallion @sarahsandroid
Looks like barf or what come out in the toilet
Boiled cabbage.
Bad meat
Brussel sprouts. I love eating them, but the smell just stinks.
@jeffguay Don’t like eating them or smelling them.
@jeffguay
Bad one’s smell even worse
@jeffguay with you. do you think they smell bad when you roast them, too? or only when boiling
That one time I tried grilling Impossible Meat burgers. It smelled bad raw. It smelled bad cooking. It stank up the whole house.
@sjk3
Way better on the grill. Don’t smell it before you eat it. Taste delicious.
@sjk3 @Star2236 Yeah, even though they taste good when they’re done, that smell keeps me from getting them again, plus they’re expensive.
The smell of any cooked food still lingering days later. Makes you question the flow of air in the house…
When you can’t have it due to Doctors orders & banned from Hospitals. Yes it is, Popcorn.
Yes Fish is right up there.
/showme a cat trying to cook Fish & Popcorn in a Microwave.
@mycya4me
@mycya4me This popcorn and fish are trying to cook the cat. Stupid AI…
@mycya4me @norb It’s a really cute cat though.
@mycya4me @norb
/showme a cat cooking a penguin and popcorn in a microwave.
@norb I agree, It put the Cat in the Wrong position, Bit at least the Door is not closed!
@mediocrebot So you will put a Stuffed Toy in a Microwave! hehehe
@mycya4me AI will put them in other appliances too
/showme a cat chef placing a penguin into the oven
@mycya4me
/showme a cat chef about to put a penguin into a deep fryer
@mycya4me @norb due to the ambiguities of english, i think the request could be interpreted the way the ai bot did, with the cat et al. in the oven.
Pan cooked mushrooms
@ebatch
Why?
My wife hates cooking fish
Nuff said
@user90444575 yep
Anything burnt!
Shrimp in the curtain rod.
https://www.trinitycoatesville.org/sermons/shrimp-in-the-curtain-rods-2/#:~:text=On the third day%2C she,for the first few days.
@accelerator
Best story I’ve read
@accelerator @Star2236 “…including the curtain rods.”
The plausibility is questionable, but if one stops reading at that point, the tale is more than adequately entertaining. Sometimes, excessive analysis ruins everything. (I am a recognized expert when it comes to over-analyzing things, trust me on this.)
@Star2236 @werehatrack I trust your analysis because I too am an analysis enthusiast. In fact, I’ve not yet wrapped up this case but have gathered enough data points to lean toward plausibility of curtain rods going in the moving truck. There is still doubt though because I’m a dude who would definitely take the curtains and rods with me with no thoughts or regard of the colors and styles at the new house. Others, with an eye for interior design, would undoubtedly leave the curtains and rods all the while knowing they would want to create a themed aesthetic at the new house.
@accelerator @werehatrack
Yeah, as a female I would definitely leave them bc they were probably specific with the house. That guy was probably being spiteful and just taking everything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor. Now their new house now stinks too
I was going to say eggs in the microwave but then I remembered some people microwave fish
Maple Syrup.
I can’t stand being within 5 miles of someone eating maple syrup.
@OnionSoup All maple syrup or just the coloured sugar goo that gets called maple syrup?
@OnionSoup @yakkoTDI
@yakkoTDI all of it triggers me. I don’t know why but even the slightest smell of it makes me feel incredibly nauseous. The real stuff more than the fake stuff.
@OnionSoup @yakkoTDI I will assume that you avoid IHOP, then. Actually, avoiding IHOP is a good idea IMO anyway, because of how everything on their menu tastes like pancakes except the pancakes, which have no detectable flavor at all.
@OnionSoup what about onion soup?
I think it’s ok
@candelabra @OnionSoup
/showme onion soup that’s just ok
@werehatrack @yakkoTDI I very rarely go to IHOP for that very reason… Same with any pancake places.
@candelabra onion soup was a name chosen at random… I’m not actually a huge onion soup fan, although, like you, I think it’s OK. I’ll eat it.
Rotting potatoes that a roommate forgot about in an inconvenient to reach cupboard and then moved out
@guyfromhawthorn oh em gee. it’s the WORST
The smell of stale deep frying oil. I used to work at a chain resto as a server, and would shower every time I could when I got off a shift so I didn’t smell like fry oil. My work shirts always stank.
Burnt Popcorn.
Fish cooked inside, it should be banned
I now do all my cooking/ grilling of Fish, Chicken, Hamburgers on my Mini George Forman grill, It cooks/ grill them better than the Microwave can, all it can do it turn it mushy
Saurkraut on a grill
FISH!!
Pigs’ Feet
Flame burnt cholesterol, meaning shrimp, squid, chicken skin etc cooked on a flame. Smells like burning hair
@candelabra Wouldn’t that be keratin?
How did microwave broccoli make the short list? That stuff is awesome!
POKER! JOKER! NOT MEDIOCRE! AWESOME!