More specifically while cooking it indoors. My girlfriend hates seafood and hates the smell, is there anything I can do to get this smell to go away faster or reduce its potent aroma when cooking with it ?
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Do you already have an exhaust fan?– derobertCommented Jun 6, 2011 at 21:18
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Yes but not very powerful.– ChrisCommented Jun 6, 2011 at 21:39
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Well, a more powerful one will better vent the smell, so you may want to look into that. So will opening the windows, if its at all breezy outside.– derobertCommented Jun 7, 2011 at 19:43
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1This is an apartment, I am not able to modify my unit.– ChrisCommented Jun 7, 2011 at 22:59
5 Answers
i have found that a lampe berger works well to eliminate strong scents after cooking (http://www.lampeberger.us/) -- after all, they were originally invented to help reduce the odors in hospitals and mortuaries! (you can read about their history at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrance_lamp). i use mine after a night of deep frying food to get that smell out. i'm pretty certain it would work on fish just as well.
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Great, my girlfriend will love when this arrives. Any particular one I am looking for? Or just the brand itself is known for this type of thing ?– ChrisCommented Oct 19, 2010 at 1:50
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i believe they are all the same -- it's the way they work that's really key. i haven't tried any others, but i can't see why they would work any better (or worse).– frankoCommented Oct 19, 2010 at 13:29
Probably not the kind of answer you are hopping for, but in my case what my dad (he loves fish, mom and sisters dont) ended up doing was buying a second electric toaster-oven and just use an extension and cook it in the backyard... :S I guess you could use an electric or gas camping stove too. If there is no backyard... maybe rooftop?
Other than that its just fish fest whenever my mom is away got a trip or something :/
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Although I appreciate the comments, waiting for her to leave town is not an option. I like my seafood too much!– ChrisCommented Oct 19, 2010 at 1:49
Lemon juice neutralizes smells very well. Apply to hands in order to remove fishy smell, and to remove smell from enclosed space such as kitchen, squeeze lemon into spray bottle with some water and spray around room.
Many fish really only smell "fishy" when they're not longer fresh (there are some that just always smell potent, though). Most fish at your local supermarket isn't really at its peak. Unless she's extremely sensitive to the smell of all seafood, switching to different or fresher fish may leave your kitchen smelling better afterwords. For saltwater fish, the freshest fish will be the ones that were frozen on the boat and remain that way until you take it home to defrost properly. I also prefer my shrimp to be individually quick frozen (IQF).
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Perch from lake eerie caught yesterday that we cooked today, smelled fishy.– ChrisCommented Oct 19, 2010 at 18:35
This approach will limit your preparation methods, but broiling the fish seems to confine the smelling-up to basically the time between removing the fish from the oven and finishing eating it. It doesn't need to be a full broil; you can just put the oven up to broil with the fish removed and you'll still only need to cook it for 5 minutes or so.
Just make a little bowl of foil to fit the fish, spray hit some kind of non-stick spray, add the fish, add some sauce/fixings, pop it in the oven. It will be done before it has much chance to smell.