Yeah, came here to say this. East Asia has a whole collection of sauces based on fermented fish that taste amazing and have no offensive smell when cooked, but dear God, the smell of the stuff before it’s cooked is horrifying.

EDIT: I guess I should clarify, for anyone who hasn’t had it. It’s not so much that fish sauce itself tastes delicious alone, but it has a ton of umami flavor. Same sort of stuff you get from, say, powdered boletes mushrooms or MSG. It makes savory dishes just taste way better when you add it to them.

Pate. The smell of chicken liver is awful.

I don’t eat meat anymore, but when I did the smell of bacon frying would literally make me sick. Came very close to hurling once just from frying bacon in a pan. I still liked the bacon itself though.

Did you know KFC used to sell deep fried chicken liver in some areas? My mom was crazy for it 🫣

We call it feet sauce in my house

Probably the cheese (depending on the recipe). Parmesan has aroma compounds also found in other less desirable substances.

Vinegar is pretty universally hated a scent. Most foods wouldn’t be the same without it.

I think pig generally smells pretty bad while cooking.

Eggs smell so bad cooking but taste so good.

Broccoli too.

I can imagine that it melts in the mouth, but i feel sorry for anybody in the vicinity when they were cooking it!

Any kind of greens.

Tum mak hoong, in a way. To anyone not from SEA, it can be quite off putting. Being formerly married to a Laotian woman, I got used to the smells pretty quick. Now all of that fermented stuff smells good to me.

Some of the ingredients, on their own, have very powerful aromas. Fish sauce is the one people would know off hand. Also used is shrimp paste and crab paste, which are very pungent.

However, when combined with the rest of the ingredients, it creates this awesome papaya salad. Depending upon how many peppers you put in, the heat level can be insane.

My then-MIL originally taught me to make it with fish sauce, crab paste, and shrimp paste. Another family member taught me to make it with Padaek, which is an ingredient that you store in a bag, in a bag. It is some gnarly stuff, with chunks of fermented fish mixed in it, so you know it’s good. Kidding aside, it provides some truly amazing flavors. But dear lord, it is pretty rank.

Highly recommend trying Tum Mak Hoong! Laotian food is so good. When you order the papaya salad, make sure you order Laap to go with it.

Yeah why does eggs cooking smell like wet, microwaved dogs?

I don’t think I have any. Im pretty picky and is something smells bad I can’t move on to eat it.

Stinky cheeses are all I can think of that fit the bill. Limberger is really good, but smells like dirty feet. Though, it’s nowhere near the pungency cartoons always made it seem like as a kid.

Mostly, tho, smell highly influences the taste. If it smells bad, it usually tastes bad too.

I heard it’s because pigs are genetically similar to us.

Anything with black salt in it. Eggs don’t bother me, but the extra sulfurous scent in black salt is so off-putting to me. Tasty when used right, tho!

Used to be able to say natto, but it’s so tasty, cheap and nutritious that I’ve overcome my aversion and now it smells good to me.

Honorary mention to Swedish cod roe paste (Kalles). I, personally, didn’t mind the smell, but my roommate would call it “pussy paste”. She was more nose sensitive, it seemed, though, as she was the only roommate who very politely asked me to wait until she’d eaten before I prepared the natto.

I came to vote for cooked cabbage. Love it in lots of things, but hate the cabbage stink and that keeps me from making it more often.

Cannot confirm nor deny it smelling like pig slop.

All vinegars or just white vinegar?

I use it a decent bit and have rice, cider, malt, coconut, and balsamic and think they all smell pretty good. It may be my brain just associating the smell with the finished product though.

White vinegar I only use for cleaning, so I still think that is nasty smelling.

All vinegar smell seems to be universally hated. It does add the right acidity when needed and you don’t have citrus around though.