food smell problem

[Farhana]

I live in an apartment, it's small and in the basement level- not much air. I love to cook, fry a lot and cook a lot of indian food, everyday. My problem is after I'm done cooking my place smells like a big bowl of curry, ..my couch to coats... everything.... :eek:. I don't know what to do about it, I spray a lot of febreeze and light candles while I'm cooking and it doesn't seem to help.

Help please!

[wallycat]

Air purifier with carbon filters?
Do you have any windows? If yes and depending on where you live, can you open or crack a window open and use a fan oscillating the opposite way?

I love the smell of curry :)

[funniegrrl]

I live in a duplex above ground that is fairly airy with good circulation and I learned a long time ago not to cook curry! The smell lingers for DAYS after. So, I don't have an answer, just wanted to say, curry is powerful stuff.

[donleyk]

That's my vote too, there are much worse smells than curry! Sorry, nothing constructive to offer.

[Beth]

Realtors will tell you that few things penetrate and linger in a house like cigarette smoke and curry. I'm not sure what else to suggest either.

[mmbedard]

Boil some cinnamon sticks in water....should get rid of the smell. Good luck!

[dorothyntototoo]

And it affects others too, unfortunately. A friend had a neighbor in the apartment above her who frequently cooked curried foods & the smell permeated my friend's apartment. Hope you find a solution.

[drewberry4]

Oh geez, I'm making curry in my crockpot right now. I hope my neighbors don't hate me too much!!

As for advice, the only way I can get rid of smells in my apartment is to open windows and ventilate.

[Hammster]

I live in an apartment, it's small and in the basement level- not much air. I love to cook, fry a lot and cook a lot of indian food, everyday. My problem is after I'm done cooking my place smells like a big bowl of curry, ..my couch to coats... everything.... :eek:. I don't know what to do about it, I spray a lot of febreeze and light candles while I'm cooking and it doesn't seem to help.

Help please!

I know it won't help with the current odor problems, but could you get to a hardware, or appliance, store and buy a length of vent/furnace hose that you could somehow run from the stove to the nearest open window? Run it to the window and put a big ole box fan blowing out of the window and have the hose run to the box fan on the air supply side of the fan. That way it acts like a stove hood fan and pulls the cooking odors along the hose and through the fan and out of the window. You may need some duct tape to tape the hose to the fan and cover the back side of the fan so it will only draw through the hose. Or get a bathroom/kitchen vent fan that the hose will fit on?

That curry odor sounds like a tough one to get rid of. Perhaps try not cooking that stuff for a couple weeks? Instead order take out or change your diet for a bit and in the meantime during those couple of weeks get carpets cleaned, wash down the walls, cook foods with other strong odors, cinnamon was suggested, etc to try and eliminate/mask the odor? :D

[foodlady]

This brings back memories! In my first apartment there was a Polish woman who lived below me, and every Saturday she would cook. And cook. And cook! The smells were powerful. I commented about it once, not in a complaining way, but in a "yum, what are you making way?" She started bringing me up a plate every Saturday night, and boy, I didn't mind the smell at all! :D

A friend of mine (who recently burned some toast in the oven), SWEARS by liquid potpourri on the stove to remove terrible odors.

Good luck!

[ADM]

[QUOTE=I love to cook, fry a lot and cook a lot of indian food, everyday.
Help please! [/QUOTE]

I don't think the problem is caused by just occasionally cooking a certain food -- but more by frequently cooking it. When I was in college I visited an oriental professor one night and their apartment smelled totally oriental. I understood, because that was their heritage. But, the odor was very strong! Don't get me wrong -- I love oriental food and cook it -- but not constantly, just as I don't cook the curry dishes I love, constantly. I also cook red cabbage and other strong smelling foods, but not so often that my house and clothing become :o

As for a solution -- I have no idea, except maybe to broaden your choice of international recipes, for awhile.

Whatever do apartment owners do when someone moves out leaving that problem? Do a Google research, and get a jump on them!

[Beth]

Whatever do apartment owners do when someone moves out leaving that problem? Do a Google research, and get a jump on them!

I have been told by a realtor that you have to have everything cleaned, paint all the surfaces (at least the walls) and probably replace any carpeting. Curtains and upholstery will also hold odors. You can clean all those things and the clothing, but if you continue to cook the same way, the odors will return (and I'm not saying they are bad -- I like curry, but I can understand not wanting all your things to smell like it).

[Aubergine]

first thing i'd say is to take it easy on the febreeze and candles, especially if they're scented. thiese products put particles into the air that no one needs to be breathing, and you say you're in a small-ish, poorly ventilated space. aside from the other suggestions, i'd add plain, unscented white candles (like the kind that are sold in glass jars at the market for religious purposes), as well as bowls of vinegar. i know that both work well to dispel cigarette odors, so perhaps they would work in your situation as well.

[Farhana]

Thanks for the replies. I have to cook it quite frequently as my DH won't eat bland/non spicy food. I specially hate it when I'm outside my place and I stink, the other day I was at the gym and took out my towel from my bag and even that smelled like curry. Nothing helps, exhaust, window fan...... nothing. We keep the closet door closed and all the doors as well but nothing helps. May be I should start spraying febreeze instead of perfume :rolleyes:

[sandee]

I find that our air purifier helps a lot.

Also, we clean with vinegar and water or castile soap and water. Sometimes we spray the solution into the air and it clears out the smell no problem. However, I don't cook curry every day so it might not work as well for you.

[funniegrrl]

There are lots of ways to prepare spicy or deeply flavored food that don't involve curry ... or is that part of his heritage? Can you persuade him to try things like Schzhaun, Tex-Mex, etc? Even some Italian and Carribbean food can be very spicy.

There is a great magazine called Chile Pepper devoted to all things spicy, regardless of ethnic origin. It's not a monthly, comes out less often, and you often have to go to stores with a WIDE selection of magazines to find it. But, they have a web site at www.chilepepper.com. There is also a great resource/cookbook called The Whole Chile Pepper Book that I believe was written by the same people who founded the magazine.

So, you might think about mixing in some other spicy foods and reduce your curry frequency, and see if that helps.

[krhm]

Whenever someone at work burns microwave popcorn or reheats fish, we always sprays Oust, which works kind of like febreeze, I guess. I doubt it would do anything permanently, and think an air purifier or something else would probably be more effective, but in the meantime, you might consider picking up some and giving it a shot.

Here's a link: http://www.oustodor.com/

[heavy hedonist]

How about a small, shallow bowl of baking soda near the stove while cooking? Then throw it out, right out of the house afterwards-- and maybe sprinkle some on your kitchen floor after cooking, and sweep that up & out too. Keeping a jar of baking soda with a slit in the lid in the closets-- it works for the fridge, why not other places?

[Angelina]

I really doubt ANYthing works with the curry smell. I love curry, but when it gets in people's clothes and in the house itself, it really sticks. I remember when my husband and I went looking at houses for sale and some of them, even if they had been empty for months, still smelled of curry. I mean, you can smell it even outside the house!

Angela

[Aubergine]

there are also mesh bags of charcoal chips that you can get for places like your closet; they're designed to absorb odors, and i've used them both in damp basements and with my teen son's closet. i think BB&B sells them. i also still urge you to try things other than febreeze, it's not good for anyone's lungs.

lol, i was in a local HF store the other day, and opened a container of their garam masala to see how it smelled...personally, i was in heaven. then again, i like asafoetida. :D

do you have a clothes dryer? access to one? you could toss your clothes for a few minutes with a dryer sheet...

[applecrisp]

Here's some ideas --- call/write to Cooking Light (I think I once read about some type of help number, ask Martha Stewart :rolleyes:, maybe check a Heloise book, contact a culinary school ....

Good luck....