How to get rid of smells?

[Lizz0]

I often see the house rule: No cooking allowed.

I never saw a problem with curry until I cooked one day and woke to the smell of it the next morning even though there was no trace of it in the kitchen. It took another day or so to dissipate completely.

I'm assuming that a month of curry cooking would be much harder to remove, so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting rid of strong smells in a hurry. I tried Ozium, but it had no effect.

I would rather learn how to deal with it than to forbid it. Besides, I love curry.

[Jean--Palmer--And-Julian0]

I'm with you - I love curry too, cook curry on occasion, and I find it really discriminatory to ban it.

We recently had guests for a month who cooked curry regularly - they were considerate, communicative, and kind guests that I would happily host again.

I am also in the camp of - well there's got to be a way to neutralize the smell. Other than the usual airing out, we also tried vinegar and water over the kitchen surfaces, the cabinets, the floor, the doors, and lightly over the furniture that was in the same room which was actually very effective. 

This site had some good suggestions though we didn't try all of them. https://www.hunker.com/13421317/how-to-get-indian-curry-smell-out-of-the-house I'm curious if the simmering lemons thing works. 

[Joe47]

I “banned” it at my place.  It’s almost impossible to get rid of for the next several guests.  One cannot discriminate against a spice or oil.  I love all people and all guests, but that means having my place ready for the next guest.  

[Huma0]

@Jean--Palmer--And-Julian0 

I am from a Pakistani background, so curry is something I am very used to, but I never walk into my family home and find it stinks of curry. Likewise, when I cook it myself at home, there might be a smell of it for a while (most guests actually seem to appreciate it) but it doesn't linger.

For guests to be cooking so much of it that it lingers for days and upsets current/future guests is another matter. This only happened to me once. I have a shared listing with different guests staying in my private rooms. I had one couple stay who cooked curry three times a day every day starting from around 7am. The smell permeated the whole house and even I, who am very used to the smell of spicy foods, found it unbearable.

I didn't say anything to them about it at the time, just apologised profusely to the other guests, who were luckily very understanding.

It seems to me a very tricky thing to tell guests what cuisines they can and can't cook...

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  So do hosts in Pakistan or India fret about their Airbnb smelling like curry? I bet not 🙂

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I very much doubt it!

Whenever I cook curry, I have guests telling me that they smelt something delicious and asking me what I was cooking with hungry eyes!

When there's so much strong curry going on that the furnishings smell like that for days or more, that is quite different. That's the same as someone cooking any cuisine that involves garlic (and I really like garlic), but cooking such an excessive amount of it (or maybe burning it) that the smell lingers and permeates. Or, it could be fish that stinks out the whole house.

At the end of the day, it's got nothing to do with nationality, culture or even a type of cuisine. 

All things in moderation!

[John5097]

@Huma0 

It never occurred to me that curry could be offensive? I guess it is kind of strong. The only thing I don't like is food that creates any kind of grease. That's why I don't have an oven for guest. Also the city doesn't allow them in STR, so that's a plus. At one point I had a cook top for guest but guest with kids would cook hamburgers the entire time and entire apartment would be covered in film of grease. So frustrating! For curry I could just open the windows and let it air out. 

Anyway, I haven't cooked as much because aircon is connected to guest suite. But installing a mini spit soon so may section off the two aircons living spaces so I can cook more spicy foods. 

Or just invite them to dinner! I had a long term renter and we started doing food prep together. She never complained about the curry smell. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

I like to cook and I often cook spicy food, more often South East or East Asian, but sometimes also South Asian dishes, including curries. I don't usually have complaints from guests about the smell of cooking. Rather, if they do comment, it's to say, "That smells delicious."

However, one guest complained that someone was cooking late at night and she could smell it. Actually, it was me and it was 9pm, which I personally don't consider too late to cook dinner. I certainly wouldn't tell my guests that they shouldn't cook after 9pm. In a lot of cultures, it would be very unusual to have dinner much earlier, whereas in others, 9pm would be considered very late. I guess everyone is different... 

The couple I mentioned, where the curry smell was an issue, started cooking from first thing in the morning and had curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While the guest above didn't like the smell of frying onions at 9pm, I found it difficult to stomach the smell of curry at 7 or 8am. Having said that, I don't remember the smell lingering after they left, but I have a big, draughty old house.

[John5097]

@Huma0 I'm actually so jealous! I can see how some guest would be overwhelmed although you are supposed to cook down the coriander and cumin etc in the onions first. I would be so loving it! So self sufficient and great infuence although I could see how all day every day would be a bit much to everyone else. I just like the lifestyle! A friend used to cook Indian food and would use one of those small pots with a small opening at the top and bring all the spices to a rapid boil. I haven't done that yet but maybe less smell than in onions as it was just a quick heating then combined it with other stuff over rice. It was really good. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

This was a particular circumstance, rather than a lifestyle.

They were a young Indian couple (in their 20s), with the husband living in the UK and the wife in India because they were both pursuing their careers. The wife had taken a holiday to visit her husband and they chose to stay with me because she felt uncomfortable staying with his male flatmates. I guess they wanted a bit more privacy.

Hubby had to go to work Monday to Friday and the young lady was not confident to go sightseeing by herself, although I tried to encourage her. At the same time, her husband had greatly missed her cooking and homemade Indian food. So, she got up early every morning and made him breakfast (curry) and sent him off with a packed lunch (curry) and spent the rest of the day cooking because I guess she didn't have much else to do.

I asked her if she cooked a lot at home and she said, "No. I hardly cook at all. I'm too busy with work." She actually would have liked to go to a restaurant now and then, but hubby just wanted her home cooking!

[John5097]

@Huma0I guess its a matter of perspective. I think being able to prepare you own food can be liberating for an individual as they can take more control of their life in general. A lot of people in the US live in a "food desert" which means they only have access to fast food and grocery stores are too far away. But on the other hand if its something like controlling and not perusing a career like your guest thats not good. Both should be able to do things together. Most women that I know have carriers. 

Although your guest seem more interesting. The way you phrase it reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri short story! 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Yes, I prefer to prepare my own food. I never get take aways unless a guest asks me to share one with them, which does happen and then. it's almost always from our local Indian takeaway, which everyone seems to then get addicted to!

I guess the male guest was working, but I got the impression that his wife used to do all the cooking. It would have been nice if he had taken her out for dinner or cooked with her at the weekends at least! 

Another funny thing about those guests was that they were both scared of cats and the wife was actually terrified of them and yet they had just come from an Airbnb in Scotland, also with a cat. When I asked the husband why he had booked a listing with three cats knowing his wife was terrified of them, he answered, "Oh, she'll get used to it." 

It sounded a bit inconsiderate to me, but maybe he was right because, she did get used to it. By the end of their stay, which was about a week or 10 days if I remember correctly, they were both petting the kitties.

[John5097]

@Huma0 I'm sure they enjoyed staying at your place a probably smile. I haven't thought about a shared house and kitchen but you did mention in another topic that you were limiting your guest to singles and not couples. I could see how six guest all competing for the kitchen could get hectic. Other guest have mentioned one guest being in there all the time. I suggested a signup sheet to reserve a time slot. It does seem unreasonable guest would expect to cook three meals a day with four other roommates. 

About the cats ferrel cats can be quite untamed and scratch or bite because they just aren't used to people and rely on instinctive nature. I've had roommate from California who's dad was a doctor but grew up in Indonisia and said his dad just didn't like cats because they a lot different in places where there is poverty. Also some places in the world are just more dangerous for women to even use public transportation.

Finally 1/4 of raw chicken at grocery stores  in the US contain antibiotic resistant bacteria. Its also more common in places like India, unfortunately, because a lot of the antibiotics have been shipped there from all over the world and get dumped into the enviornment, among other reasons. That's why I not too concerned about herbs like curry. I have a lot of guest who don't touch anything in the kitchen area. 

I'm sure your guest must love your place and having you as a host! I think I would want to stay in a shared house just for some conversation. I have a lot of solo travelers but its important for me to offer a safe place and don't want to risk making them feel uncomfortable. Sometimes I'm just too busy and caught up in other projects. Although I have gone paddleboarding or something with some guest. 

That sounds very convenient to be able to go out for take out! 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Yes, the guests I referred to in the post about reducing my occupancy from two to one person for each room cooked a lot because they were home a lot, but that wasn't so much the problem because their cooking times didn't overlap so much as the other guests. The only time it was an issue scheduling wise was when they started cooking while the cleaner was trying to clean the kitchen. It's not like he was cleaning at a 'regular mealtime' either.

The main problem was thatthey just didn't clean up after themselves as well (although they did try - some people are just not that good at it). They were lovely, but it felt a bit stressful because that was months of me having to clean the kitchen many more times that I would normally need to do. On top of that, they bought excessive amounts of food, so there was never enough storage space and my kitchen is large. They threw away an awful lot so I was constantly emptying bins. I'm not exaggerating to say that I would sometimes empty the food waste bin (which accommodates a lot) and then find it full two hours later.

I just found it all a bit too much in terms of my time, but more in terms of stressing about low cleanliness ratings from the other guests. I have since changed all my listings to max occupancy of one person.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  "The main problem was that they just didn't clean up after themselves as well (although they did try - some people are just not that good at it). "

All my guests have been really great about cleaning up after themselves in the kitchen. But what you say here describes one guest I had quite well. She made herself healthy, hearty meals twice a day, mostly big salads with about 15 ingredients (she was a couple months pregnant, so I was actually happy to see she was feeding herself well), and always cleaned up right away after, but she was a really slack dishwasher. She simply didn't notice that there were bits of food and grease still stuck to what she had "washed". 

She was such a delightful guest in  every other way, that I never mentioned it and just rewashed whatever needed it. 

As it was only me she was sharing the kitchen with, I didn't have to be concerned about it it affecting other guests. And she was only here for a week or 10 days, can't quite remember. If she'd been here longer, I would have gotten fed up with rewashing her dishes and would have said something. And she was the kind of guest who would have apologized, laughed at herself, and paid more attention, I'm quite sure.