Cilantro: yay, or nay?

[Conager]

I consider cilantro essential for Mexican cooking.

Apparently, a small percentage of the population taste cilantro as soapy.

What say you?

 

[PleasePeesMe]

I know a couple of people who do. I feel very sorry for them. Hard to enjoy life without coriander (I'm English).

 

[SpeareChucker]

I can take it or leave it...



:shrug:

 

[Conager]

I know a couple of people who do. I feel very sorry for them. Hard to enjoy life without coriander (I'm English).

Good aside!

You see, I only call it coriander when I'm talking about the dried seeds of the cilantro plant. It was only after I really got into the taste of cilantro because I was trying to make my green chili taste better and more authentically Mexican when I came to even recognize that those have similar flavor notes. I can now taste the cilantro in coriander seeds when I couldn't before.

And I seriously for years thought those were two completely different plants.

The last batch of cilantro that I bought is really strange it's somewhere between cilantro and flat leaf Italian parsley. It tastes like cilantro and it seems to be wilting in the fridge nicer than regular cilantro did and it had really tiny underdeveloped leaves. I don't know if it was just picked early or what.

 

[Conager]

My folks are both Arizona natives. The Mexican food restaurant that they used to go on dates to 60 years ago is still there. They used to talk fondly of it and Mom's State Fair Red Salsa is based on that place. Tomato sauce, lots of garlic powder, crushed red chillies. No cilantro.

We used to fly in from time to time to visit grandparents and we always went to this really marginal Mexican food restaurant called Panchos. The hook there was they have these little Mexican flags on the table and after you went through the line cafeteria style and got your original five items you could summon endless additional free items by running up the little Mexican flag on the table. We kids thought that that was a hoot so we always ask to go to Pancho's.

My parents are always made guacamole at home so I was quite familiar with it. Although my mom adds a small dab of mayonnaise partly as a preservative and although I kind of have a nostalgic feeling about that from time to time I'll add a dab, but it's completely wrong. Pancho's Waka moly (hey, I'm leaving that in) had this back note that I associated with the fact that this was a big dark, cavernous restaurant with a non-isolated, somewhat fungible smoking section. These days, you can't even legally smoke in a bar but back then the smoke was fairly heavy in this place which was unusual because most of the places that I went with my parents didn't have much of a bar let alone a strong smoking section like that. So I thought that somehow the guacamole was picking up the smoke because there was this unfamiliar note in that walk amole. In hindsight it was cilantro.

 

[Rightguide]

I consider cilantro essential for Mexican cooking.

Apparently, a small percentage of the population taste cilantro as soapy.

What say you?

They don't know their soap.

 

[dolf]

Dolf loves coriander.

 

[Conager]

Until it was pointed out earlier in the thread it didn't even occur to me to subtitle it for the English.

I don't think it's even necessarily English usually an American recipes it's usually rest listed as coriander I think it's just listed as cilantro here in the southwest because it's used in so much Mexican cooking. Most people have a bunch of it in their refrigerator in if you have only one fresh Herb in your fridge that would be it.

At the moment I have that and fresh dill that I forgot was in there and haven't done anything with which fortunately still looks pretty good because I grabbed it from the back of the packs of Dill that it just been stocked.

Whenever I make a batch of Tzatziki I use it on everything. I use it on sandwiches I'll put it over a baked potato, I'll use it as a dip I'll put it in a burrito.

 

[Ann_Tagonist]

Seelantro is disgusting.

 

[jaF0]

I consider a microwave essential to cooking. Open it, nuke it, eat it.

 

[doowdniw]

Cilantro has come up in our back flower bed every spring for about the last decade. We never planted any, but I let a couple of plants go to seed every year just to keep the cycle going. It ain't guac or pico without fresh cilantro.

 

[Liar]

Cilantro's in Mexican fud? I always thought of it as a Thai, possibly Indonesian thing.

 

[FukLuk]

Cilantro's in Mexican fud? I always thought of it as a Thai, possibly Indonesian thing.

It's a staple of every Mexican dish here. Whether it's onions and cilantro or pico with it.

 

[Conager]

Cilantro's in Mexican fud? I always thought of it as a Thai, possibly Indonesian thing.

Vietnamese use it liberally, too.

 

[Liar]

It's a staple of every Mexican dish here. Whether it's onions and cilantro or pico with it.

Huh. I guess I haven't really contemplated what's actually hidden inside the burrito.

 

[Conager]

Huh. I guess I haven't really contemplated what's actually hidden inside the burrito.

That's how I discovered cilantro: taking apart a burrito and reverse engineering it trying to get the taste right. That was also when I discovered tomatillos.

 

[Amanda330]

Yes!! I looove it! It makes everything taste so fresh!

 

[lilmissdarling]

I love cilantro! But I think I am the only one in my family.

 

[Hal9000_]

I love cilantro! But I think I am the only one in my family.

A must in pico or salsa.

 

[Aglaopheme]

Cilantro has come up in our back flower bed every spring for about the last decade. We never planted any, but I let a couple of plants go to seed every year just to keep the cycle going. It ain't guac or pico without fresh cilantro.

Nice. I’ve never cooked with cilantro roots which are often used in Thai dishes. Have you used the roots?

 

[doowdniw]

Nice. I’ve never cooked with cilantro roots which are often used in Thai dishes. Have you used the roots?

I have not, but now you've got me curious.

 

[Jada59]

I LOVE it!

 

[Conager]

I don't like Cilantro, it overpowers everything else in my opinion.

It can be very prominent. As I cohe to like it more, I am likely getting carried away. My last batch of tomatillo salsa had what I think most people would consider way too much lunch online but I really liked it that way both lying and the cilantro give it a nice bright note.

Yes!! I looove it! It makes everything taste so fresh!

It does. All that matters chlorophyll.

I love cilantro! But I think I am the only one in my family.

Sneak a little in at a time and slowly increase it until you win them over! Stealthilantro.

I LOVE it!

This is the correct answer.

Nice. I’ve never cooked with cilantro roots which are often used in Thai dishes. Have you used the roots?

I had never heard that. Do they have tubers, or is it mire like carrots? So-called. "Jerusalem Artichokes" which are 5he tubers under sunflowers was s tasty discovery in a produce department. I had no idea what they were when I bought them and had to Google to find out where they come from and how to cook them.

Makes me wonder what else we don't utilize. I read an article yesterday about seeds from melons cucumbers and squash, being all from the same family. The guy sautes them in a pan until they get a bit crispy and then Pat them dry on a paper towel and salts them. I could see honeydew and cantaloupe but it would never have occurred to me to try watermelon seeds. Apparently it's common in Asian cultures.

 

[Saint Peter]

I use and abuse cilantro.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

I got nothing against it but don't care if it's used either. The only essential spices are salt, pepper and garlic.