Sock wrote:
>
> On 28/09/2011 2:33 PM, Mark Thorson wrote:
> > Serene Vannoy wrote:
> >>
> >> Back in May, I wrote to ask if salt pork normally has an "off" odor.
> >> Tonight, I opened a new (they just ordered it special for me) package of
> >> pork belly, and I got the same whiff of offness as it started cooking,
> >> so I did some research. No WONDER the kid and I could smell it, but
> >> James couldn't:
> >>
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar_taint
> >
> > Just goes to show you Wikipedia can be wrong.
>
> No, it is you who are wrong.
>
> You didn't read the linked references. The Wiki article is quoting from
> accepted science. If anyone is wrong, and I doubt it, it is the
> researchers who although in different countries and researching at
> different times all reached the same conclusion. An unlikely event.

I know it's widely believed. It's also flatly wrong.
Wikipedia has it wrong when it says skatole is responsible
for some cases of boar taint (such as in female animals).
It is widely believed among chemists that skatole has an
odor, probably because commercial reagent-grade skatole
ordered from a chemical supplier has a strong odor.
Ultrapure zone-refined skatole has no odor.

Boar taint may be a related compound(s) or even an unrelated
compound with similar properties which make it difficult
to separate from skatole. But it isn't skatole.

Wikipedia has gotten lots of stuff wrong before,
and I know this one is wrong too. You don't have
a clue what you're talking about.