I have this delicious, really quick and simple coconut curry chicken soup I make in my pressure cooker at least once a month, and it's turned out beautifully every single time — until last night, when I took a sip and immediately spit it out. It tasted like soap.
The first hint that this batch was botched was the lack of the savory aroma that usually fills the kitchen, but I couldn't place what the strange scent was filling up the room. Then I took a tentative taste and to my disgust, it was as if I'd dipped my spoon into the liquid soap dispenser.
I was pretty sure the cause wasn't soap on my cookware, because the utensils I had used, as well as the pressure cooker pot, had all come out of the dishwasher, which never leaves a soapy residue. I sniffed the empty plastic bag that had contained baby carrots, but it smelled, well, like fresh carrots. Then I sniffed the empty coconut can — which I had just bought from a popular, nationwide supermarket — and realized I'd found the culprit: it smelled like an empty bottle of Dawn.
Disgusted, as well as a little worried that I'd swallowed a spoonful of the odd-smelling broth, I Googled soapy coconut milk. And, although there was surprisingly very little information about soap-scented coconuts (but the Internet sure does have a lot of recipes on how to make coconut-scented soaps!), I did find one article that confirmed my suspicion: rancid coconut milk can have a "soapy flavor when spoiled," says Retail Confectioners.org.
According to the candy trade publication:
The high-fat content in desiccated coconut can lead to the development of soapy flavor when spoiled. Coconut fat represented by the triglyceride molecules in the presence of enzymes secreted by microorganisms (molds or yeast) breaks down into mono diglycerides and free fatty acid. Since 48% of the free fatty acid radicals in coconut fat are lauric acid, you quickly get the characteristic soapy flavor that lauric acid imparts.
Of course, I threw the entire dinner away, resorting to a night of microwaveable frozen burritos instead. And fortunately, the spoonful of spoiled coconut curry did not make me sick. But I did write to the market, just to let them know that one of their store-brand cans of coconut cream was rancid, and they graciously gave me a refund, not only for the can, but for all of the other ingredients that went into the meal.
In case you're interested, the following is the recipe for my foolproof curry dinner for 4 people, especially convenient for anyone without a lot of time:
Let me preface this recipe by saying that everything on the ingredients list (besides potatoes) comes in a package and I usually buy it all at Trader Joe's, because the quantity in each TJ package is the perfect amount (just open and dump into pot — easy peasy). But the soapy coconut cream I bought the other day happened to come from another store. I don't completely hold it against this other store, but I won't be buying anything coconut-related from them again.
Trader Joe's Ingredients:
1 standard box of chicken broth
1 standard can of coconut milk or cream
1 standard pack of chicken thighs
3–4 russet potatoes
Bag of carrots
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt (this is on the low side, but people can add more to taste)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Peel and chop potatoes into thirds and put them into the pot. Chop chicken into large chunks, and put them into the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients, and set the pressure cooker on high for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Previously: Brian Lagerstrom's recipe for the greatest brownie of all time
