Reducing the Smell of a Dish
 

I recently cooked a beef dish and I used cinnamon which gives the dish a certain kick but which also gives it a horribly repulsive smell. It isn't that it smells bad so much as it smells weird, which turns one off, you just wouldn't expect this dish to smell like it does. My question is what ingredients can I put in to nullify the smell without changing the taste appreciably.

The ingredients in the dish are as follows, i'm approximating because I cook by sight, not by measurements

~1 lb beef
4 potatoes
~4-5 Tablespoons of Red Chilli Peppers
~2 Tbsp Salt
~1Tbsp Black Pepper
~1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice
5-7 tomatoes
~1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (*almost forgot to add this*)


i've thought of using cilantro or saffron, but I don't know. It tastes so good though i really don't want to alter the taste at all. My other option will be to serve it cold which kills the smell, but I dunno if people will handle that.

That sounds like a really wierd recipie...

Are you sure it's the cinnamon that gives it a wierd smell? Was the cinnamon fresh? Did you burn anything/ spill anything on the burner? There really isn't a taste subsitute for cinnamon... my suggestion would be making it again, only with fresh ground cinnamon and seeing how that goes :)

I've had a beef stew with cinammon in it before so I know what you're talking about. It's really quite yummy in a surprising way. I can see how the smell would put some people off but I think it's quite nice because it's so different. Perhaps what's giving your recipe the nasty smell isn't the cinammon but rather the combinatio of ingredients...if you change something else in the recipe and keep the cinammon, then maybe it'll work. Sorry I can't help more.

I love the smell of cinnamon so ican't imagine it ever smelling repulsive, but Iwonder if the acidity of the lemon juice is causing a strange reaction...

I love cinnamon in savory dishes- it gives it just a nice 'warmth' to them...

You haven't said much about what you do with those ingredients. Could it be that you're burning the cinnamon? Burnt cinnamon doesn't smell very nice.

If you wanted a substitution.. saffron is generally used more for color than taste... tumeric probably has a better taste for the same color... Cilantro has a very very different taste than cinnamon - you're going from warmth to cilantro being very green and fresh...

the only other substition i could think of would be cumin-- it's got the warmth of cinnamon but it's smokier... and it would go well with the peppers

Most of my recipes are weird, i love experimenting. i'm positive it's the Cinnamon, cinnamon has a very distinctive smell. The Cinnamon came from a bottle, very unfresh. I'm fairly certain I didn't burn anything and positive that I didn't spill anything. I wasn't looking for a substitute ingredient, I was looking for an additional ingredient that would nullify the smell of the cinnamon.

That warmth is what I was looking for. See, the smell isn't so bad in itself, for me it's simply that i don't expect a dish to smell so strongly of cinnamon. I associate cinnamon most strongly with tea, b/c I put cinnamon in my tea, so when I'm smelling it in my dish, it's very offputting. It's like seeing a dog walk on two feet, nothing is really wrong with it, it just messes with my mind a bit.

I hadn't thought about hwo the ingredients are acting together like how you and little_tippler said...I might have to experiment with this somehow because the smell did seem especially strong for the amount of cinnamon I put into it, I'm going to look into that.

Well I just through everything in a big ol pot and let it stew at medium heat for about twenty minutes with occasional stirring. I dunno if that burnt the cinnamon or not, I may try adding the cinnamon in later after most of hte cooking is done. another excuse to cook :D

I guess I wasn't being to clear, I want to add something to the dish I currently have that would provide smell without taste to hopefully mask the cinnamon. You know how if you put too much salt in something you can add lemon to hide it? I'm looking for something like that. Although cumin is an interesting idea...I usually only use cumin when I have onions, I'd like to see how it does by itself.

or even try just a little less cinnamon... the flavor will still be there- but it'd be subtle... kinda like nutmeg being added to cream sauces- you are barely using any - but the subtle flavor is there- any more than a dash or so and it'd change it...

I knew what you were asking for to begin with- I don't know of anything that masks the cinnamon taste..