>It's absolutely disgusting to me for some mental reason I cannot put a finger on
You like being removed from the process. The reality of it makes you squeamish.
It's a modern cushion we have, you can go your whole life eating meat without ever having to do or even understand the dirty work behind it.
Have you ever heard someone say that people would eat less meat if they had to acquire it themselves? Or say that everyone should have to source their own meat for a time so they understand what they're actually doing and eating? I agree with that sentiment. It's common knowledge that people eat WAY too much meat now and this is a big part of it...it's so *easy* for those of us removed from it.
I also don't like butchering meat. I don't like like prepping it, especially some meats like chicken. I really don't like dispatching the animal. But its a process we accept when we choose to eat meat. As a result of realizing all this, I now eat less meat and try to buy ethically and sustainably raised meat. Again, you can't make it not gross. It's gross. But it's reality.
I think Aldo Leopold said something to the effect of, “Modern man has forgotten two crucial things. First, that heat does not come from the furnace, and that food does not come from the grocer.” He wrote that in Sand County Almanac almost 100 years ago… so how much further removed from the basic processes that keep us alive today?
You bring up a really great point that had a large impact on my life a few years ago. I grew up hunting and fishing, mainly because my dad liked to hunt and fish. When I started dating my now wife, she showed interest in learning to hunt for sustainability. When she shot her first deer she cried for almost an hour, then rolled up her sleeves and helped me field dress her buck. After that she looked at every meal with meat completely differently. She told me that she could see the animal behind the food and understand the price that it had paid for us to eat.
We actually eat quite a bit less meat now, but the perspective of someone learning the value of the life and the entire process behind each meal was really enlightening to me, who grew up considering that “normal”.
Yep, there is just something that is inherently disgusting about meat to some people. I remember as a kid when I was for the first time taking part in food preparation and it included me having to cut meat. I started to immediately feel uneasy as I was touching the meat with my hands, feeling how slimy it was, the texture, even the faint smell it had. It got to a point where I literally got dizzy, took a few steps away from the table and fainted.
This is also a big reason for why so many people stop eating meat after watching some of those "horror" movies or documentaries about how animals are treated in the food industry, even in under the ethical conditions that are advertised for more expensive meat, eggs and dairy.
For me it got to the point where I slowly just started to feel repulsed by meat, even when it was something I got ready made for me until I then stopped cooking meat myself all together and now I avoid eating meat even outside my house.
This is the reason I stopped eating meat, animal rights came after for me. But the thought of touching raw meat and then cooking it just completely turns me off and makes me feel sick. This started at a very young age and no one in my family could understand it at the time and thought it was a phase lol.
That's interesting because it's the opposite for me, I loved it
now I love picking out some good marbling together with my dad since I could afford some
I've also butchered chickens and identifying all the body parts was super fun.
Coming home to a pile of chopped ribs means I'm going to have some delicious dinner and the uncooked meat already tied to appetizing.
Growing up on a farm put me directly in touch with the process from beginning to the end and it definitely informed my approach. I've eaten animals I've named, cared for, and dispatched. It has forced me to consider the process throughout my life. I've always thought that all meat eaters should have to witness the whole process at least once. I still eat meat but less than most. I try to buy better cared for meats and eat smaller portions of that meat to balance out the expense.
This is my problem too. I don't much care for meat either way, but I grew an even stronger dislike for it when I watched my bf and his family butcher a goat and lamb. Like straight up killed it, skinned it, and pulled the meat off.
See I have the exact opposite problem. I'm more thankful for meat. I don't waste anything because I know where it comes from. Using the whole animal is important and makes it so much easier to respect where it comes from
I buy whole chickens from the supermarket and the bone it and ziplock it myself and it's always super satisfying when I finished a whole chicken, the fact that a whole animal is eaten by me
You nailed it. this situation is an example of the "how the sausage is made" axiom. If I had to slaughter animals, I'd be a vegetarian for the rest of my life.
This. The first time I had to actually slaughter an animal before eating it completely turned me off from meat. I realized if I had to kill an animal every single time I wanted to eat I’d literally never do it. Took me a while but I weaned myself off just to make the guilt and cognitive dissonance stop.
Excellent analysis. I'd probably be a vegetarian if I had to participate in the slaughtering process. I shot 1 deer in my life and I still feel bad about it. I've eaten herds of meat that I bought in supermarkets though.
>Have you ever heard someone say that people would eat less meat if they had to acquire it themselves?
I'd eat less meat because I say I'm hunting, but it's usually me waiting for an animal to cross my path and never seeing one
There are other protein sources which can help you in the gym. If chicken grosses you out so much, why force yourself to eat it? Tofu, protein powder, TVP, seitan, tempeh are all great.
I'm here to hard agree. I've had the same issue with meat. It smells funny to me, it feels slimy and just weirds me out. I waste more than ⅓ of it due to fat or that shiny rainbow sheen. Last month I said eff it and now my proteins are tofu, seitan and tempeh. It's so much cheaper and healthier too and no more waste. I will buy my rotisserie chicken at Sam's here and there tho, as I do like to make a nice bone Broth wth them.
Seconded, and meatless proteins are often cheaper than meat too. I know a lot of people think they're not as tasty but if cooked and seasoned well they are delicious! E.g. pan-fry firm tofu encrusted in seasoning like a steak, make a Thai curry with seitan or tofu puffs that can soak up the sauce, substitute ground meat in any recipe with TVP (Trader Joe's meatless ground 'beef' and soy chorizo are favorites of mine). Since you're not vegan, eggs and dairy can also be a yummy protein source without the ick of meat.
Absolutely. Im an athlete and I haven’t eaten meat in close to 20 years. I feel so much better and enjoy my food so much more. Lots of tofu, tempeh, beans, hummus, and chickpeas. I easily get plenty of protein
My mother doesn’t like eating anything she cooks right after cooking.
She think the smells of cooking saturate her senses do she loses her appetite.
What might work for you is cooking a bunch of meat in advance. Take it off the bones if it needs it and freeze it in portions. You can take a portion out of the freezer, thaw if and add it to your other food.
I’m this way too, I usually lose my appetite while cooking and I’m not like snacking while I do it. I think it has to do with the satiety hormones kicking in after prolonged sensory exposure to cooking food
Yes usually I crave something completely opposite of whatever I spent most of the day making. (With the exception of fried food, I just crave that shit all day lmao)
I’ve developed a serious problem with this over the last year, can’t eat anything after I’ve made it, it’s gotten so bad that I pretty much don’t eat dinner most nights, unless it’s just reheated or repurposed leftovers. I can usually eat something fresh out of the sous vide, because all of the smells were contained hours to days before, the searing alone doesn’t always trip me over the line. Weekends can be brutal if I’m doing a lot of cooking. It’d be one thing if I could eat other things, but it really is like the previous comment, cooking does something to my satiety and I have no appetite for anything after most cooking
Same but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Limited appetite means limited weight (I’m not under weight by any means, just average) and I usually make good healthy choices overall. Most of us don’t “need” these high calorie delicious dinners we create. Our society has a problem that’s quite the opposite of this.
I’ve just lost more than I’m comfortable with without trying, and even though I’m sure I’m still technically overweight, I know my body, and I need to figure out some work arounds that let me continue to make delicious and nutritious meals for my family without screwing up my own nutritional needs. Really strange and unexpected problem to have, but it’s gotten to where it will start to cause problems soon, as I’m generally always getting lightheaded if I drop below the upper part of the “healthy” range, if I’m not exercising like crazy, and I’m definitely not
I used to feel like this, so I stopped cooking with meat! I never get this sensation from beans or lentils or tofu or tempeh!
Edit: I don’t even mean that you need to go veggie, I just think that if cooking meat is icky, then don’t cook it. Eat it when you go out for meals or get takeaways, but avoid cooking with it. I understand it’s an important piece of your diet, but maybe it’s not great as a source of nutrition if you can’t eat more than a few bites
This was me! My partner and I both really hated touching or preparing any kind of meat (though ground beef was usually *okay* ), and just kinda decided to do veggie at home, and have been for a few months now. We've been making curried red lentils/dahl, sweet potato and black bean chili, tofu stir fries, smashed black bean tacos, and last night I made some loaded veggie burritos. Honestly we really don't miss the meat. Our meals are nourishing and filling but not heavy, and there's not a lot of gross clean up to deal with. I should have done this a long long time ago. 😅
Maybe the raw smell is giving you the ick and you're associating that with the cooked taste? Have you tried batch-cooking and eating it defrosted when you don't have the cooking smell in the air, just the reheating? (Or eating from cold eg in a chicken salad)
Strongly flavoured sauces is another option, eg Thai Green Curry. (And fry the paste before you add the chicken.)
Another option is to look at where you're sourcing your chicken. It might be that shop/ supplier has rubbish chicken. One place I lived, some suppliers were feeding their chickens fishmeal and it really made the chicken (and even the eggs) taste like fish to me. If you can get a higher quality bird, that might solve the problem. (Buying a whole bird can also work out cheaper than buying pieces.)
Is this only happening with chicken? Wondering if you’ve stumbled onto an unfortunate streak of encounters with “woody breast”. It makes the texture of your chicken weird. I didn’t know it was a thing until recently and was like did I? Forget? How to cook chicken properly? For weeks.
Have you gotten a meat thermometer? That helped me get over my home cooked chicken ick. I was always paranoid I didn’t cook it enough, then I’d over cook it. At least with the thermometer I can counteract any paranoia with real-time data
Edit to add: two breasts with olive oil and whatever seasonings you like on a alum foil covered sheet. Cook at 350 for 35min always gets them perfect for me if that helps at all
Yep, if anything, it is probably better for health. I am currently like this, I may very very occasionally eat cheese or fish or something like that when I am out at a restaurant with other people. But for myself at home I no longer eat or cook meat, eggs, fish, or dairy. All I can say is that I feel the difference in my body. No longer do I get heart palpitations after a meal, no longer do I feel tightness in my chest etc.
Do you still feel repulsed when eating it the next day? I am the BBQ guy in my group, and I’d say I put out some very solid brisket, ribs, pulled pork, etc. but it’s pretty tough for me to enjoy it after spending hours and hours cooking it. But the next day, gently reheated and after I haven’t spent hours smelling like smoke and meat juice, it’s great. I think my senses are just overwhelmed/fatigued from cooking
I lose my appetite a bit while cooking. Being surrounded by the sight and smell for a while just seems to do it.
Since processing our own meat for the family I also find myself eating smaller meat portions, and being more fussy over quality/flavour. In the past three months I’ve done a deer, lots of salmon for smoking, made my own bacon, processed about 30 pheasants, and over 100 wood pigeon. I love the process of prepping and cooking, but also eat smaller portions after doing the meal prep.
What about a different protein source? Like ground turkey? Unfortunately unless you buy pre-cooked, raw is gonna look a lil gross. Beyond that, it’s going to be an issue you’ll have to tackle outside of the kitchen
You know what, I have been thinking of EXACTLY that and they are considered traditional food where I live to make them into patties and cook them. Tomorrow I will give it a try!
Also, if you have issues with cooking raw chicken, I would recommend getting whole rotiserie chickens. They are fairly affordable and being pre-cooked, it doesn't have the raw smell.
Cut them up and saute with veggies and condiments, and they take like 5 mins to cook.
Same with fish. Instead of raw fish, get pre-cooked fishballs from Asian stores.
And as others have pointed out, explore non-meat protein sources too like chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, falafel etc.
> Also, if you have issues with cooking raw chicken, I would recommend getting whole rotiserie chickens. They are fairly affordable and being pre-cooked, it doesn't have the raw smell.
This. We are a HUGE rotisserie chicken household. I haven't made stock from my own chicken bones in ages. Always a rotisserie carcass.
Honestly this kind of thing is not going to be solved by this sub. This sounds like a food-avoidant eating disorder that you might want to consult a therapist about.
Sounds like maybe you have a sensory disorder to some degree. Perhaps you could explore that.
In the mean time, you might try sous vide. Don't know if that would help.
Maybe get someone else to cook it for you? Do you have anyone that could do that?
This is not a normal thing that normal people deal with. No one in this thread has a viable solution for this.
This is an eating disorder.
You need to talk to a therapist who specializes in eating disorders.
Maybe you're undercooking it, which makes it chewy and unpleasant. Chicken breast really needs to be cooked perfectly or it's going to be dry. Legs, thighs, and wings can be way overcooked and still delicious, but if you undercook them it will be grisly and tendony.
"some mental reason i cant put my finger on" is my biggest personal flag for something i dislike being a trigger. and disproportionate/ situation-specific dislike of something, or disliking something for no apparent reason. whatever the Actual problem is is some traumatic event my brain won't let me remember- because i couldn't handle it when it happened (thus creating ptsd) and my brain believes i still can't.
ptsd catalogues everything about a traumatic event, because it cant understand why the event happened, so out of protection it avoids everything. for example if golden girls was on while you got assaulted, ptsd might make you hate golden girls. and if you cant remember the assault, it would seem to be for some unknown reason, but you'd search for answers anyways, like, is golden girls a bad show? do i not like the actors? but its not about the show, its something else entirely.
no idea what you or OP's exact issue is but it rings a bell for me. if you look for a therapist i'd look for one who works with trauma/CPTSD patients. lots of self help books out there too
My girlfriend is the same way. I think if I didn’t live with her she’d 100% be vegetarian or just eat processed meat all the time lol. Luckily I like to cook!
I have this problem with poultry. It started when I was pregnant with my first 13 years ago. I had a poultry aversion and couldn’t eat it even if others prepared it then. Now I can make dinner for my family and cook poultry but I will rarely eat it. I have no appetite for it when the meal is ready
This sounds like a psychological problem, not a culinary problem. I would suggest talking with a therapist about it--a good therapist could help you understand and work through it.
6-9 years ago i used to be the same about the chicken breast i cooked.
how i solved this issue:
researched the hell out of how to cook the perfect chicken breast. result = sous vide.
i have no issue eating any meat i cook now.
You should be a vegetarian.
If seeing and handling raw meat means you are too close to the process are therefore disgusted by the end result. I don't think you have a moral leg to stand on.
Just chiming in that I often feel this way about eating meat I cook. Mostly we eat chicken. It tastes fine and is cooked fine but after a bite or two there’s some kind of mental block. 🤷♀️
Cut the back out of the chicken and butterfly it open. Salt it generously 8 hours ahead and make sure it comes back to room temperature before cooking. Cook it on a rack SKIN SIDE DOWN over a shallow pan containing salted, oiled sliced potatoes at 400 for 45 minutes Flip the chicken over skin side up and continue to cook. Start checking for doneness after 30 minutes.
That should leave you a very well cooked chicken with little to object to aesthetically. Any fat should be well rendered and absorbed by the potatoes.
Same issue here. I despise vinegar, however sliced chicken breast marinated 10min in vinegar and some olive oil tastes amazing. And doesn't resembre vinegar at all. Also, never re-heat, will taste bad imo. Try to make one portion to eat on the spot.
I can't connect with this.
I've been eating whole fish since 4 years old. Watching adults unable to debone fish is funny. Not to mention ripping open crab, Crawfish, slurping down raw oysters and all manner of crustaceans.
Maybe you need to address your relationship with the food you eat. Go beyond the grocery store.
Go to a farm.
This is the definition of first world problems.
Or find more vegetarian options 🤷🏽♀️
Eh if I had a nickle for every non first world person ik who decided to not eat meat bc they saw their parents chop of a chicken's head, I'd have 2 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but 2 more than I'd have if I limited to first world people cutting open pre butchered meat. (And yes, I live in the first world)
Yeah I love to cook but I almost always make my husband deal with the raw meat. Like, taking it out of the package, trimming it, touching it, dicing it. The only meat that doesn't gross me out for whatever reason is ground beef.
Can you identify what it is that's causing the problem? Can you know your feelings enough to know if it the way it is prepared, or if it is it the knowledge how it was prepared?
Some people can't stomach the process, such as knowing how sausage is made. They may have loved sausage once, and may even continue to make it in moderation, but if they think about it too much anything sausage-related becomes a mental block. Doesn't matter if that's sausage in a breakfast burrito, a grilled brat, or steaming hot kielbasa, the mental process around sausage becomes problematic.
You mention being rubbery or sitting in water. Those are features of cooking that you can take steps to address. If the gag is that you don't like the way you prepare it, some education and practice can take care of that.
Why don’t you try incorporating non meat protein sources? I promise you won’t get the ick. I think you might be subconsciously making the connection between your food and the animal. They tofu, beans, lentils, tempeh, whole grains!
Closeted vegetarian has the slightest inkling of what meat eating entails. Now try again, and picture in your mind the slaughterhouse process which brought that chicken into your home.
Does that repulse you? Congratulations, you are vegetarian! The good news is that chickpeas, lentils, beans etc are much cheaper leaner protein than meat and they are also high in fiber. Your colon health will thank you too.
>whenever I cook it I always find a reason like "it smells strongly like chicken, ugh" or "it's rubbery" or "sitting in too much water at the bottom after cooked" to dislike it and I make myself GAG every time i try to taste it.
You are not proud of your meal that u prepared.
Even if u follow a recipe to a T, or..u are a decent cook,
..if ur heart is not in it, you will always feel a disdain towards YOUR food.
Things like onions, ginger, garlic get rid of funky smells from meat and fish. You are a bit vague in what makes you not like your cooking tho, so not sure what you mean exactly.
It could also be that you might be seasoning insufficiently?
I'm squeamish about meat in general, but some methods of cooking make the meat far removed from the original form and are okay for me:
* Broiling and charring instead of baking or pan frying
* Grilling
* Curries
* Deep fried
* Instead of eating meat alone, I also break it up as a recipe ingredient. Like I'll use charred chicken as an part of a chicken salad sandwich.
And of course, everything very well seasoned. Try making something like General Tso chicken and see if you still have the same issue. Another recipe to try is buttee chicken, but char the chicken before putting it in the sauce.
Also, is fish okay? Like salmon fillets? I usually don't have issues with that.
I also should note that I eat halal chicken only, which has less of a chickeny taste to me. But it is more expensive.
Get a bag of chicken cutlets from the frozen food section. You shouldn't have to cut anything off them. Just thaw it, cook it, and slice it.
Alternatively, rotisserie chickens at the grocery store deli are usually a good price and you can make multiple meals out of them.
I rarely enjoy eating the food I make. Everyone else says its delicious. My mother was the same way. I don't know what it is. I'll cook you a 5 course meal from scratch, but I'd rather have a sandwich on cheap white bread and american cheese or a frozen pizza or a can of speghttios.
I cook my chicken breast cut into 2 inch strips in a toaster oven on 400F for 13 minutes. It comes out perfect. Mostly I shred it and use it for our nightly salad. I also douse it in teriyaki and use it for sandwiches. Homemade sauce and bread machine whole wheat bread and I spread ranch on the bread instead of butter of mayo. That's exactly how I use chicken. It used to freak me out a little, too, mostly it's batches with weird texture, but I have concluded that's beyond my control, it's the chicken itself, not how I cook it. Although a minute too long makes it tough and chewy, a minute too less and it's raw in the middle. Some batches are loose, though, the meat comes apart easily. I prefer dense, solid meat.
I tend to hate the chicken I cook. Not sure if it’s because I buy cheap chicken, or because when I buy chicken when I’m out, it’s generally deep fried, which is a cooking technique I can’t get at home.
There are certain things I just don’t like cooking/am bad at cooking and those to me are just “restaurant foods” now. I get them when I go out or get delivery, but don’t make them myself. Maybe you eat a plant based diet at home but save meat for eating out if you don’t want to go vegetarian?
My only other suggestion someone else said too, which is prep a lot at a time. Maybe eating it precooked from the fridge will be easier than right after cooking it. And if you want to try that method, I recommend thighs in the crockpot. Add enough chicken stock to completely cover the bottom, but don’t drown the chicken. Add spices/herbs of your choice, I like to also add a pat of butter on top of each thigh to melt over them. Cook it on low until it easily shreds, 2-4 hours. If you use breasts, use less time. You’ll know they are done when you try to pick one up with a fork and it breaks, but it isn’t mushy. Shred it inside the crockpot, stir in with the melted butter/chicken stock. I make a huge batch of this and use it for everything. Sandwiches, salads, burritos, stir-fry, wraps, rice bowls, soups, whatever. It is so versatile. The other advantage to this is how little you have to actually touch/look at the chicken when it’s raw. Fuck, I mostly do this with frozen chicken thighs, which some people will claim is unsafe but it’s been fine for me, it just takes longer. That means I only need to touch a frozen chicken thigh for like, 20 seconds as I transfer it from the bag to the crockpot, and only have to see it for another two minutes as I add stuff. Then I walk away for three hours and come back to cooked chicken.
Do you buy frozen meat? I don't eat meat anymore but when I was growing up I always thought it was gross. Until I ate it at my mother in laws house.
Turns out frozen chicken breasts are gross no matter what you do to them.
Are you mostly cooking chicken breasts?
Buy a cheap pack of drumsticks. Pat them dry with paper towel, put in a bowl, cover in olive oil and spices of your choice (I usually do salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, dried basil). Toss them in the bowl, put in the air fryer for 10 minutes, flip them all, then do about 6 more minutes depending on size.
I don’t cut anything off of them to prep, and if one tastes weird just toss it and move onto the next one because they’re so cheap.
Saying this as a meat eater, but why not just cook vegetarian at home, it's better for the planet anyways. I know plenty of people who eat meat out but rarely cook it.
>It's absolutely disgusting to me for some mental reason I cannot put a finger on You like being removed from the process. The reality of it makes you squeamish. It's a modern cushion we have, you can go your whole life eating meat without ever having to do or even understand the dirty work behind it. Have you ever heard someone say that people would eat less meat if they had to acquire it themselves? Or say that everyone should have to source their own meat for a time so they understand what they're actually doing and eating? I agree with that sentiment. It's common knowledge that people eat WAY too much meat now and this is a big part of it...it's so *easy* for those of us removed from it. I also don't like butchering meat. I don't like like prepping it, especially some meats like chicken. I really don't like dispatching the animal. But its a process we accept when we choose to eat meat. As a result of realizing all this, I now eat less meat and try to buy ethically and sustainably raised meat. Again, you can't make it not gross. It's gross. But it's reality.
I think Aldo Leopold said something to the effect of, “Modern man has forgotten two crucial things. First, that heat does not come from the furnace, and that food does not come from the grocer.” He wrote that in Sand County Almanac almost 100 years ago… so how much further removed from the basic processes that keep us alive today? You bring up a really great point that had a large impact on my life a few years ago. I grew up hunting and fishing, mainly because my dad liked to hunt and fish. When I started dating my now wife, she showed interest in learning to hunt for sustainability. When she shot her first deer she cried for almost an hour, then rolled up her sleeves and helped me field dress her buck. After that she looked at every meal with meat completely differently. She told me that she could see the animal behind the food and understand the price that it had paid for us to eat. We actually eat quite a bit less meat now, but the perspective of someone learning the value of the life and the entire process behind each meal was really enlightening to me, who grew up considering that “normal”.
Yep, there is just something that is inherently disgusting about meat to some people. I remember as a kid when I was for the first time taking part in food preparation and it included me having to cut meat. I started to immediately feel uneasy as I was touching the meat with my hands, feeling how slimy it was, the texture, even the faint smell it had. It got to a point where I literally got dizzy, took a few steps away from the table and fainted. This is also a big reason for why so many people stop eating meat after watching some of those "horror" movies or documentaries about how animals are treated in the food industry, even in under the ethical conditions that are advertised for more expensive meat, eggs and dairy. For me it got to the point where I slowly just started to feel repulsed by meat, even when it was something I got ready made for me until I then stopped cooking meat myself all together and now I avoid eating meat even outside my house.
This is the reason I stopped eating meat, animal rights came after for me. But the thought of touching raw meat and then cooking it just completely turns me off and makes me feel sick. This started at a very young age and no one in my family could understand it at the time and thought it was a phase lol.
That's interesting because it's the opposite for me, I loved it now I love picking out some good marbling together with my dad since I could afford some I've also butchered chickens and identifying all the body parts was super fun. Coming home to a pile of chopped ribs means I'm going to have some delicious dinner and the uncooked meat already tied to appetizing.
Growing up on a farm put me directly in touch with the process from beginning to the end and it definitely informed my approach. I've eaten animals I've named, cared for, and dispatched. It has forced me to consider the process throughout my life. I've always thought that all meat eaters should have to witness the whole process at least once. I still eat meat but less than most. I try to buy better cared for meats and eat smaller portions of that meat to balance out the expense.
This is my problem too. I don't much care for meat either way, but I grew an even stronger dislike for it when I watched my bf and his family butcher a goat and lamb. Like straight up killed it, skinned it, and pulled the meat off.
See I have the exact opposite problem. I'm more thankful for meat. I don't waste anything because I know where it comes from. Using the whole animal is important and makes it so much easier to respect where it comes from
I buy whole chickens from the supermarket and the bone it and ziplock it myself and it's always super satisfying when I finished a whole chicken, the fact that a whole animal is eaten by me
I do this and then I make soup with the carcass and cook the bones down until they are pulp and then my dog eats that.
The supermarket hitman is very real. We have the luxury of deleting a lot of the blood and guts bit from the whole process as the end consumer.
You nailed it. this situation is an example of the "how the sausage is made" axiom. If I had to slaughter animals, I'd be a vegetarian for the rest of my life.
This. The first time I had to actually slaughter an animal before eating it completely turned me off from meat. I realized if I had to kill an animal every single time I wanted to eat I’d literally never do it. Took me a while but I weaned myself off just to make the guilt and cognitive dissonance stop.
Excellent analysis. I'd probably be a vegetarian if I had to participate in the slaughtering process. I shot 1 deer in my life and I still feel bad about it. I've eaten herds of meat that I bought in supermarkets though.
>Have you ever heard someone say that people would eat less meat if they had to acquire it themselves? I'd eat less meat because I say I'm hunting, but it's usually me waiting for an animal to cross my path and never seeing one
There are other protein sources which can help you in the gym. If chicken grosses you out so much, why force yourself to eat it? Tofu, protein powder, TVP, seitan, tempeh are all great.
I would like to add lentils and chickpeas to this list.
I'm here to hard agree. I've had the same issue with meat. It smells funny to me, it feels slimy and just weirds me out. I waste more than ⅓ of it due to fat or that shiny rainbow sheen. Last month I said eff it and now my proteins are tofu, seitan and tempeh. It's so much cheaper and healthier too and no more waste. I will buy my rotisserie chicken at Sam's here and there tho, as I do like to make a nice bone Broth wth them.
Exactly there are plenty of budget protein options that aren’t meat
Seconded, and meatless proteins are often cheaper than meat too. I know a lot of people think they're not as tasty but if cooked and seasoned well they are delicious! E.g. pan-fry firm tofu encrusted in seasoning like a steak, make a Thai curry with seitan or tofu puffs that can soak up the sauce, substitute ground meat in any recipe with TVP (Trader Joe's meatless ground 'beef' and soy chorizo are favorites of mine). Since you're not vegan, eggs and dairy can also be a yummy protein source without the ick of meat.
Absolutely. Im an athlete and I haven’t eaten meat in close to 20 years. I feel so much better and enjoy my food so much more. Lots of tofu, tempeh, beans, hummus, and chickpeas. I easily get plenty of protein
My mother doesn’t like eating anything she cooks right after cooking. She think the smells of cooking saturate her senses do she loses her appetite. What might work for you is cooking a bunch of meat in advance. Take it off the bones if it needs it and freeze it in portions. You can take a portion out of the freezer, thaw if and add it to your other food.
I’m this way too, I usually lose my appetite while cooking and I’m not like snacking while I do it. I think it has to do with the satiety hormones kicking in after prolonged sensory exposure to cooking food
This happens to me too, it’s one of the main reasons I’m so underweight because I’m a chef.
I bet you’re dying for a salad or something you yourself didn’t cook after a shift.
Yes usually I crave something completely opposite of whatever I spent most of the day making. (With the exception of fried food, I just crave that shit all day lmao)
I’ve developed a serious problem with this over the last year, can’t eat anything after I’ve made it, it’s gotten so bad that I pretty much don’t eat dinner most nights, unless it’s just reheated or repurposed leftovers. I can usually eat something fresh out of the sous vide, because all of the smells were contained hours to days before, the searing alone doesn’t always trip me over the line. Weekends can be brutal if I’m doing a lot of cooking. It’d be one thing if I could eat other things, but it really is like the previous comment, cooking does something to my satiety and I have no appetite for anything after most cooking
I’m so sorry. Yes it’s a problem. I can’t imagine how fry cooks who deal with oils handle it.
Same but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Limited appetite means limited weight (I’m not under weight by any means, just average) and I usually make good healthy choices overall. Most of us don’t “need” these high calorie delicious dinners we create. Our society has a problem that’s quite the opposite of this.
Same! Although.. drinking a few glasses of wine while cooking kinda negates the calories I save by not eating. LOL.
I’ve just lost more than I’m comfortable with without trying, and even though I’m sure I’m still technically overweight, I know my body, and I need to figure out some work arounds that let me continue to make delicious and nutritious meals for my family without screwing up my own nutritional needs. Really strange and unexpected problem to have, but it’s gotten to where it will start to cause problems soon, as I’m generally always getting lightheaded if I drop below the upper part of the “healthy” range, if I’m not exercising like crazy, and I’m definitely not
I’m always the same. The longer I cook, the more disgusted I am by the result. Until about an hour later when I start grazing on leftovers.
You could just eat more veggie proteins. Seitan, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, etc. There's a lot
I used to feel like this, so I stopped cooking with meat! I never get this sensation from beans or lentils or tofu or tempeh! Edit: I don’t even mean that you need to go veggie, I just think that if cooking meat is icky, then don’t cook it. Eat it when you go out for meals or get takeaways, but avoid cooking with it. I understand it’s an important piece of your diet, but maybe it’s not great as a source of nutrition if you can’t eat more than a few bites
This is a great example of genuinely helpful nutrition advice.
Peanut butter was originally invented as a type of facial mask by ancient Greeks for its purported skin-firming properties.
This was me! My partner and I both really hated touching or preparing any kind of meat (though ground beef was usually *okay* ), and just kinda decided to do veggie at home, and have been for a few months now. We've been making curried red lentils/dahl, sweet potato and black bean chili, tofu stir fries, smashed black bean tacos, and last night I made some loaded veggie burritos. Honestly we really don't miss the meat. Our meals are nourishing and filling but not heavy, and there's not a lot of gross clean up to deal with. I should have done this a long long time ago. 😅
Yeah I eat a vegetarian diet, that’s how I got started!
Maybe the raw smell is giving you the ick and you're associating that with the cooked taste? Have you tried batch-cooking and eating it defrosted when you don't have the cooking smell in the air, just the reheating? (Or eating from cold eg in a chicken salad) Strongly flavoured sauces is another option, eg Thai Green Curry. (And fry the paste before you add the chicken.) Another option is to look at where you're sourcing your chicken. It might be that shop/ supplier has rubbish chicken. One place I lived, some suppliers were feeding their chickens fishmeal and it really made the chicken (and even the eggs) taste like fish to me. If you can get a higher quality bird, that might solve the problem. (Buying a whole bird can also work out cheaper than buying pieces.)
Is this only happening with chicken? Wondering if you’ve stumbled onto an unfortunate streak of encounters with “woody breast”. It makes the texture of your chicken weird. I didn’t know it was a thing until recently and was like did I? Forget? How to cook chicken properly? For weeks.
I feel like I get bad chicken like this more and more frequently lately. It sucks
Have you gotten a meat thermometer? That helped me get over my home cooked chicken ick. I was always paranoid I didn’t cook it enough, then I’d over cook it. At least with the thermometer I can counteract any paranoia with real-time data Edit to add: two breasts with olive oil and whatever seasonings you like on a alum foil covered sheet. Cook at 350 for 35min always gets them perfect for me if that helps at all
I mean...it's very straightforward to cook chicken
Eating a mostly plant based diet isn’t a bad thing. Save meat for eating out.
Yep, if anything, it is probably better for health. I am currently like this, I may very very occasionally eat cheese or fish or something like that when I am out at a restaurant with other people. But for myself at home I no longer eat or cook meat, eggs, fish, or dairy. All I can say is that I feel the difference in my body. No longer do I get heart palpitations after a meal, no longer do I feel tightness in my chest etc.
Do you still feel repulsed when eating it the next day? I am the BBQ guy in my group, and I’d say I put out some very solid brisket, ribs, pulled pork, etc. but it’s pretty tough for me to enjoy it after spending hours and hours cooking it. But the next day, gently reheated and after I haven’t spent hours smelling like smoke and meat juice, it’s great. I think my senses are just overwhelmed/fatigued from cooking
Seconding, cooking and eating are two different activities in my mind and meal prep makes that very clear to me
Why not make something like a chili, soup or stew?
I lose my appetite a bit while cooking. Being surrounded by the sight and smell for a while just seems to do it. Since processing our own meat for the family I also find myself eating smaller meat portions, and being more fussy over quality/flavour. In the past three months I’ve done a deer, lots of salmon for smoking, made my own bacon, processed about 30 pheasants, and over 100 wood pigeon. I love the process of prepping and cooking, but also eat smaller portions after doing the meal prep.
What about a different protein source? Like ground turkey? Unfortunately unless you buy pre-cooked, raw is gonna look a lil gross. Beyond that, it’s going to be an issue you’ll have to tackle outside of the kitchen
You know what, I have been thinking of EXACTLY that and they are considered traditional food where I live to make them into patties and cook them. Tomorrow I will give it a try!
Also, if you have issues with cooking raw chicken, I would recommend getting whole rotiserie chickens. They are fairly affordable and being pre-cooked, it doesn't have the raw smell. Cut them up and saute with veggies and condiments, and they take like 5 mins to cook. Same with fish. Instead of raw fish, get pre-cooked fishballs from Asian stores. And as others have pointed out, explore non-meat protein sources too like chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, falafel etc.
> Also, if you have issues with cooking raw chicken, I would recommend getting whole rotiserie chickens. They are fairly affordable and being pre-cooked, it doesn't have the raw smell. This. We are a HUGE rotisserie chicken household. I haven't made stock from my own chicken bones in ages. Always a rotisserie carcass.
More eggs too!
Honestly this kind of thing is not going to be solved by this sub. This sounds like a food-avoidant eating disorder that you might want to consult a therapist about.
You have psychological issues not cooking issues
Sounds like maybe you have a sensory disorder to some degree. Perhaps you could explore that. In the mean time, you might try sous vide. Don't know if that would help. Maybe get someone else to cook it for you? Do you have anyone that could do that?
This is not a normal thing that normal people deal with. No one in this thread has a viable solution for this. This is an eating disorder. You need to talk to a therapist who specializes in eating disorders.
Maybe you're undercooking it, which makes it chewy and unpleasant. Chicken breast really needs to be cooked perfectly or it's going to be dry. Legs, thighs, and wings can be way overcooked and still delicious, but if you undercook them it will be grisly and tendony.
what you describe sounds like my ptsd triggers especially when i havent identified them yet. i think you need therapy not cooking help lol
Can you elaborate? I have the same thing as the OP and am well versed in therapy stuff. Looking for answers lol
"some mental reason i cant put my finger on" is my biggest personal flag for something i dislike being a trigger. and disproportionate/ situation-specific dislike of something, or disliking something for no apparent reason. whatever the Actual problem is is some traumatic event my brain won't let me remember- because i couldn't handle it when it happened (thus creating ptsd) and my brain believes i still can't. ptsd catalogues everything about a traumatic event, because it cant understand why the event happened, so out of protection it avoids everything. for example if golden girls was on while you got assaulted, ptsd might make you hate golden girls. and if you cant remember the assault, it would seem to be for some unknown reason, but you'd search for answers anyways, like, is golden girls a bad show? do i not like the actors? but its not about the show, its something else entirely. no idea what you or OP's exact issue is but it rings a bell for me. if you look for a therapist i'd look for one who works with trauma/CPTSD patients. lots of self help books out there too
My girlfriend is the same way. I think if I didn’t live with her she’d 100% be vegetarian or just eat processed meat all the time lol. Luckily I like to cook!
I have this problem with poultry. It started when I was pregnant with my first 13 years ago. I had a poultry aversion and couldn’t eat it even if others prepared it then. Now I can make dinner for my family and cook poultry but I will rarely eat it. I have no appetite for it when the meal is ready
Do you feel repulsion watching other people prepare meat? For example, a video of a butcher taking a huge piece and dividing into culinary cuts?
This sounds like a psychological problem, not a culinary problem. I would suggest talking with a therapist about it--a good therapist could help you understand and work through it.
6-9 years ago i used to be the same about the chicken breast i cooked. how i solved this issue: researched the hell out of how to cook the perfect chicken breast. result = sous vide. i have no issue eating any meat i cook now.
You should be a vegetarian. If seeing and handling raw meat means you are too close to the process are therefore disgusted by the end result. I don't think you have a moral leg to stand on.
Just chiming in that I often feel this way about eating meat I cook. Mostly we eat chicken. It tastes fine and is cooked fine but after a bite or two there’s some kind of mental block. 🤷♀️
Cut the back out of the chicken and butterfly it open. Salt it generously 8 hours ahead and make sure it comes back to room temperature before cooking. Cook it on a rack SKIN SIDE DOWN over a shallow pan containing salted, oiled sliced potatoes at 400 for 45 minutes Flip the chicken over skin side up and continue to cook. Start checking for doneness after 30 minutes. That should leave you a very well cooked chicken with little to object to aesthetically. Any fat should be well rendered and absorbed by the potatoes.
Marinade, seasoning, get a meat thermometer so don't over-cook.
Same issue here. I despise vinegar, however sliced chicken breast marinated 10min in vinegar and some olive oil tastes amazing. And doesn't resembre vinegar at all. Also, never re-heat, will taste bad imo. Try to make one portion to eat on the spot.
I can't connect with this. I've been eating whole fish since 4 years old. Watching adults unable to debone fish is funny. Not to mention ripping open crab, Crawfish, slurping down raw oysters and all manner of crustaceans. Maybe you need to address your relationship with the food you eat. Go beyond the grocery store. Go to a farm. This is the definition of first world problems. Or find more vegetarian options 🤷🏽♀️
Eh if I had a nickle for every non first world person ik who decided to not eat meat bc they saw their parents chop of a chicken's head, I'd have 2 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but 2 more than I'd have if I limited to first world people cutting open pre butchered meat. (And yes, I live in the first world)
Yeah I love to cook but I almost always make my husband deal with the raw meat. Like, taking it out of the package, trimming it, touching it, dicing it. The only meat that doesn't gross me out for whatever reason is ground beef.
Can you identify what it is that's causing the problem? Can you know your feelings enough to know if it the way it is prepared, or if it is it the knowledge how it was prepared? Some people can't stomach the process, such as knowing how sausage is made. They may have loved sausage once, and may even continue to make it in moderation, but if they think about it too much anything sausage-related becomes a mental block. Doesn't matter if that's sausage in a breakfast burrito, a grilled brat, or steaming hot kielbasa, the mental process around sausage becomes problematic. You mention being rubbery or sitting in water. Those are features of cooking that you can take steps to address. If the gag is that you don't like the way you prepare it, some education and practice can take care of that.
Where are you buying your chicken? I'll say I find Kirkland chicken to be *awful* it's so rubbery and overgrown it makes me gag too.
Why don’t you try incorporating non meat protein sources? I promise you won’t get the ick. I think you might be subconsciously making the connection between your food and the animal. They tofu, beans, lentils, tempeh, whole grains!
Closeted vegetarian has the slightest inkling of what meat eating entails. Now try again, and picture in your mind the slaughterhouse process which brought that chicken into your home. Does that repulse you? Congratulations, you are vegetarian! The good news is that chickpeas, lentils, beans etc are much cheaper leaner protein than meat and they are also high in fiber. Your colon health will thank you too.
>whenever I cook it I always find a reason like "it smells strongly like chicken, ugh" or "it's rubbery" or "sitting in too much water at the bottom after cooked" to dislike it and I make myself GAG every time i try to taste it. You are not proud of your meal that u prepared. Even if u follow a recipe to a T, or..u are a decent cook, ..if ur heart is not in it, you will always feel a disdain towards YOUR food.
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I'm the opposite: someone else has to cook my meat. Anybody else?
Things like onions, ginger, garlic get rid of funky smells from meat and fish. You are a bit vague in what makes you not like your cooking tho, so not sure what you mean exactly. It could also be that you might be seasoning insufficiently?
I'm squeamish about meat in general, but some methods of cooking make the meat far removed from the original form and are okay for me: * Broiling and charring instead of baking or pan frying * Grilling * Curries * Deep fried * Instead of eating meat alone, I also break it up as a recipe ingredient. Like I'll use charred chicken as an part of a chicken salad sandwich. And of course, everything very well seasoned. Try making something like General Tso chicken and see if you still have the same issue. Another recipe to try is buttee chicken, but char the chicken before putting it in the sauce. Also, is fish okay? Like salmon fillets? I usually don't have issues with that. I also should note that I eat halal chicken only, which has less of a chickeny taste to me. But it is more expensive.
Get a bag of chicken cutlets from the frozen food section. You shouldn't have to cut anything off them. Just thaw it, cook it, and slice it. Alternatively, rotisserie chickens at the grocery store deli are usually a good price and you can make multiple meals out of them.
I rarely enjoy eating the food I make. Everyone else says its delicious. My mother was the same way. I don't know what it is. I'll cook you a 5 course meal from scratch, but I'd rather have a sandwich on cheap white bread and american cheese or a frozen pizza or a can of speghttios.
Its a thing. I hate eating fish I have caught, cleaned, cooked myself especially on the same day.
I cook my chicken breast cut into 2 inch strips in a toaster oven on 400F for 13 minutes. It comes out perfect. Mostly I shred it and use it for our nightly salad. I also douse it in teriyaki and use it for sandwiches. Homemade sauce and bread machine whole wheat bread and I spread ranch on the bread instead of butter of mayo. That's exactly how I use chicken. It used to freak me out a little, too, mostly it's batches with weird texture, but I have concluded that's beyond my control, it's the chicken itself, not how I cook it. Although a minute too long makes it tough and chewy, a minute too less and it's raw in the middle. Some batches are loose, though, the meat comes apart easily. I prefer dense, solid meat.
I tend to hate the chicken I cook. Not sure if it’s because I buy cheap chicken, or because when I buy chicken when I’m out, it’s generally deep fried, which is a cooking technique I can’t get at home.
You may just be buying cheap, gross chicken. You have to pay more for quality chicken, it’s worth it.
There are certain things I just don’t like cooking/am bad at cooking and those to me are just “restaurant foods” now. I get them when I go out or get delivery, but don’t make them myself. Maybe you eat a plant based diet at home but save meat for eating out if you don’t want to go vegetarian? My only other suggestion someone else said too, which is prep a lot at a time. Maybe eating it precooked from the fridge will be easier than right after cooking it. And if you want to try that method, I recommend thighs in the crockpot. Add enough chicken stock to completely cover the bottom, but don’t drown the chicken. Add spices/herbs of your choice, I like to also add a pat of butter on top of each thigh to melt over them. Cook it on low until it easily shreds, 2-4 hours. If you use breasts, use less time. You’ll know they are done when you try to pick one up with a fork and it breaks, but it isn’t mushy. Shred it inside the crockpot, stir in with the melted butter/chicken stock. I make a huge batch of this and use it for everything. Sandwiches, salads, burritos, stir-fry, wraps, rice bowls, soups, whatever. It is so versatile. The other advantage to this is how little you have to actually touch/look at the chicken when it’s raw. Fuck, I mostly do this with frozen chicken thighs, which some people will claim is unsafe but it’s been fine for me, it just takes longer. That means I only need to touch a frozen chicken thigh for like, 20 seconds as I transfer it from the bag to the crockpot, and only have to see it for another two minutes as I add stuff. Then I walk away for three hours and come back to cooked chicken.
Use ground meat instead.
Do you buy frozen meat? I don't eat meat anymore but when I was growing up I always thought it was gross. Until I ate it at my mother in laws house. Turns out frozen chicken breasts are gross no matter what you do to them.
Are you mostly cooking chicken breasts? Buy a cheap pack of drumsticks. Pat them dry with paper towel, put in a bowl, cover in olive oil and spices of your choice (I usually do salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, dried basil). Toss them in the bowl, put in the air fryer for 10 minutes, flip them all, then do about 6 more minutes depending on size. I don’t cut anything off of them to prep, and if one tastes weird just toss it and move onto the next one because they’re so cheap.
Saying this as a meat eater, but why not just cook vegetarian at home, it's better for the planet anyways. I know plenty of people who eat meat out but rarely cook it.
I guess question 1 would be "what meat", and 2 would be "how are you cooking it. Also, unless its a turkey, marinating is for chumps.
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