Pork puzzle

June 13, 2019 3:08 PM

I love pulled pork, pork chops, bacon, etc. But three times in the last year, I’ve had pork that tasted and smelled really horrible to me, even when others couldn’t detect an issue.

Two times, it was a cheap pork shoulder I was making into pulled pork in a slow cooker. Just now, it was a pork belly with crispy skin served at a fancy farm-to-table restaurant. I’ve read about boar taint, but the description of it sounds different than what I’m experiencing. And why is it that I’ve only experienced this in the last year? Is there another possible explanation?

I would describe the taste/smell as medicinal, with an undercurrent of musty, dank bathroom smell. Like mildew mixed with the chemicals they use when you get anesthetized for a surgical procedure.

posted by lieber hair to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

It may be a spice used. I know anise is in a lot of spice rubs, thats the only "mediciney" smell I could imagine on pork.
posted by sanka at 3:30 PM on June 13, 2019

Response by poster: Aha! I made the pork the first two times, so I can tell you exactly what was in the rub on those occasions.

Datapoint. I’ve made this recipe before and it DID NOT taste like mildew medicine to me. Also I actually love anise. But I didn’t use it these times.

I used:
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Brown Sugar
Ground Mustard
Apple Cider Vinegar
Paprika
Pineapple
Garlic

Not sure what they used in this pork belly that grossed me out.
posted by lieber hair at 3:38 PM on June 13, 2019

Boar taint smells like farts. I 've come across it a couple times, buying chops on sale. It's supposedly harmless but the smell is so rank that it's put me off pork.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:50 PM on June 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

I have experienced exactly the same smell / taste as you, on more than one occasion. Once home cooked, once at a restaurant. The sense memory is very strong. It's not the only reason, but I've just basically stopped eating pork of any kind except for the occasional bacon, or pepperoni pizza.
posted by dbx at 3:56 PM on June 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

“Hazelnut-Finished Pork”, where the pigs are fed hazelnuts to improve the flavor of their meat, is a thing evidently. So maybe the opposite is possible as well and you got pork from pigs that ate skunk cabbage or something odoriferous like that.
posted by XMLicious at 4:04 PM on June 13, 2019

> Pineapple

Cooking pork with pineapple can lead to the worst-smelling leftovers ever in the history of leftovers, but it happens overnight (in my experience). Did this happen with freshly cooked meals?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:12 PM on June 13, 2019

Response by poster: Hmm. The pork I made was cooking for many hours in a slow cooker (always at a safe heat), but this pork from tonight was ostensibly cooked “fresh?” It is simply described as “Berkshire Pork Belly.” It was a pretty typical farm-to-table offering with a thick, crispy layer of fat over a square of pork. And as soon as I sliced into it...the SMELL emerged.
posted by lieber hair at 5:11 PM on June 13, 2019

I have had a visceral reaction to some pork when prepared with five spice. I suspect that in my case one of the five spices + pork just does not and will not ever mesh well with my taste buds. One time the pork variety was belly. It's been years since I've ventured close to any foods that might remotely replicate this experience but from what I remember it had that combo of antiseptic and mildew that you describe.

Could five spice (or one therein) be the culprit?
posted by seemoorglass at 5:13 PM on June 13, 2019

Do you know when pork starts to decompose and rot? I would look to the sell by /expiration date and work backwards from there and figure out the math.
posted by MountainDaisy at 7:26 PM on June 13, 2019

Best answer: Not sure exactly *what* it is but your description (noone else picking up on it, etc.) makes me think of the whole cilantro-taster thing. Some people just have different olfactory receptors than others, which means you can literally smell different chemicals. And people who don't have the same olfactory receptors will just look at you like you're asking a color-blind person why two shades seem to clash.

So just to say that probably *most* people won't be able to identify the smell you're referring to, and you may have to do some experimenting or testing with different preparations and such. If you made the pulled pork again but saved aside a bit of the pork shoulder and prepared it more simply, for example, that might help you figure out if it's a reaction with those or simply the meat itself.
posted by Lady Li at 11:57 PM on June 13, 2019

I had the same experience when I bought a frozen pork belly from a local farm. Neither of us could eat it. I was very sad, as it was pretty costly.

I have had pretty good results with pulled pork, but sometimes am put off by other cuts, like cheap pork chops or even pork tenderloin, but my husband loves it all. I tend to use a mustard rub with spices for tenderloin, or lard it with bacon and roast it to about 155 F internal temp (still can't get used to eating pork with a pink middle).
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:22 AM on June 14, 2019

I read somewhere that certain people can smell that icky smell in some pork, while others cannot. I’ve made pork, same recipe as usual (which I’d made dozens of times), and absolutely refused to eat it because of horrible weird smell and taste. My mother agreed with me. My father and others thought we were nuts. <- they didn’t get sick or anything. Their brains just didn’t register the taste & smell like mine did.
posted by Neekee at 5:14 AM on June 14, 2019

Yeah, I've been cooking pork in a usual way for me and when I pulled it out of the oven/instant pot (happened multiple times) the smell then taste was VERY off. It wasn't old pork.

I've eaten some and been fine. I've tossed some (spoiler: I was also fine.)

It is quite a puzzle. I think I've noticed it more when buying cheap cuts of pork.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:24 AM on June 14, 2019

You list garlic. Is that fresh or powder? Garlic powder can singe/burn and end up tasting pretty much exactly like over-sauteed fresh garlic...i.e. nasty and bitter.

Also, you list paprika. Straight or smoked? Some smoked paprikas are, imho, overdone and nasty tasting, too.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:47 AM on June 14, 2019

Response by poster: Fresh garlic, sweet paprika.

Given others’ experiences here, I’m starting to think that it is probably boat taint and my smell receptors just perceive it differently than the descriptions I see elsewhere, which are more like urine, feces, or onions.
posted by lieber hair at 8:57 AM on June 15, 2019