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AIBU?

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Original poster

Aibu to refuse to cook smelly things?

84 replies

howdidthathappenn · 08/06/2025 16:17

My husband loves smoked fish and fried onions (not together but just an example) basically all the smelly foods he loves them, I completely refuse to cook them because I feel like the smell sticks to everything, your hair, curtains/carpet the entire house! I make sure windows and back door is open in the kitchen when cooking but the smells LINGERS it’s like it takes days of thoroughly cleaning to get the smell out and I have since told him I’m no longer cooking strong smelling foods. He’s obviously a bit annoyed but does anyone else agree?

OP posts:
Sharptonguedwoman · 10/06/2025 08:25

YABU, some foods have a smell (frying onions) but are delicious and the basis of many dishes. What would you cook by choice?

glittereyelash · 10/06/2025 07:22

My mum was exactly the same so it meant we never got to try a lot of foods until we left home. Honestly just air the house out and get a shower if you feel like the smell is clinging.

TulipTiptoer · 10/06/2025 07:13

howdidthathappenn · 09/06/2025 08:29

DH doesn’t do any cooking, maybe I am being a little bit unfair, I literally cannot stand the smells

You need some help with this. Seriously you do.

I have a friend like this... when she is cooking her Christmas turkey she nearly has a breakdown if anyone opens the kitchen door in case the smell goes upstairs. She is forever shrieking, 'don't open the door!!'. When my kids used to sleep in as teens, they said they loved waking up to the smell of the roast turkey wafting up the stairs.
Friend also masks everything with the most revolting plug in floral things in every room that are so overpowering, headache inducing and chemical smelling

Fried onions smell yummy! Especially if it's the base for a smelly curry!

WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing · 10/06/2025 07:09

What a miserable existence, eating bland foods every day when you could just open a window.

Whatbloodysummer · 10/06/2025 07:05

OP the solution is simple, do what I do, whenever we're cooking something with a strong odour, we cook it in the BBQ outside.

No-one has to miss their favourite foods, but the whole house doesn't smell of it.

TheyFuckYouUpYourMamAndDad · 10/06/2025 06:16

Of course you are being unreasonable. Grow up (and open the bloody windows!!)

Justsaynonow · 10/06/2025 06:10

Start burning a scented candle 15 minutes or so before you start cooking the smelly items - the air is full of the candle scent, no room for the food scent. Helpful tip I learned as a nursing student (in healthcare situation, substitute nilodor for candle and procedure for cooking)

HelpMeUnpickThis · 09/06/2025 23:24

tammienorrie · 08/06/2025 17:02

Fish can linger but we have found that doing it in the air fryer wrapped in foil helps considerably. Then open a window, stick a candle on.

@tammienorrie

you can put foil in the air fryer?!

😲🤯

Tiredofwhataboutery · 09/06/2025 23:24

I do stinky stuff in an air fryer in the utility with outside foor / window open for a through beeeze. There isn’t anything soft in there to hold onto the smell so it doesn’t linger.

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 09/06/2025 23:20

Can you get him into barbecuing the smelly food outside? Gets him cooking and keeps the smell out of the house? Then he has choices too.

Laurmolonlabe · 09/06/2025 22:59

I'm afraid yes you are being unreasonable- I used to have a landlady who didn't want us to fry onions- it was tyrannical, and just an excuse not to sort the flats out. You can't tell people what they can and cannot eat- I have a lovely neighbour from Southern India-but when she cooks it is very pungent, but I wouldn't dream of mentioning it to her- what she cooks is up to her. How would you cope? This could happen to you.
Practically every sauce, stew, stir fry and casserole starts with fried onions- how can you stand to cut down your menu choices so savagely? What on earth do you and your family eat? especially as your DH doesn't eat.
Really I think you have a real problem- I have heard of one or two people who can't stand fish, but onions apart from my mad landlady I've never heard of anyone who can't stand the smell of cooking onions.

FluffykinsTheFerociousFeralFelineFury · 09/06/2025 09:04

How is it even possible to cook without sometimes frying an onion?

LlynTegid · 09/06/2025 08:42

Surely in summer windows can be left open?

ApolloandDaphne · 09/06/2025 08:35

howdidthathappenn · 09/06/2025 08:29

DH doesn’t do any cooking, maybe I am being a little bit unfair, I literally cannot stand the smells

Even if you refused to cook the smelly things and he cooked them instead you would still have the smells. What would you prefer to cook that doesn't smell? Many things I make start with frying onions and garlic. I think it smells great.

Mightyhike · 09/06/2025 08:31

You are both being unreasonable IMO. You sound over sensitive and he needs to do some of the cooking.

Original poster
howdidthathappenn · 09/06/2025 08:29

DH doesn’t do any cooking, maybe I am being a little bit unfair, I literally cannot stand the smells

OP posts:
Shoxfordian · 09/06/2025 08:27

Yabu, just open a window

Original poster
howdidthathappenn · 09/06/2025 08:25

MissMoneyFairy · 08/06/2025 16:25

Would you cook them for your children

That’s a helpful tip actually

OP posts:
TunnocksOrDeath · 08/06/2025 18:08

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/06/2025 17:44

poached in milk, covered, it doesn’t smell.

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Because no steam ever escaped from under a saucepan lid. 😂

Noshadelamp · 08/06/2025 17:57

cramptramp · 08/06/2025 16:24

If you don’t like the lingering smell of fish put some white vinegar into a bowl and stand it in the kitchen. It will absorb the smell. Might work for other smells, but I only use it for fish.

I do this with vinegar in a pot of boiling water, as it evaporates it deodorises. Useful for a lot of kitchen smells.

Coconutter24 · 08/06/2025 17:54

Are you saying you won’t cook them but he can cook them himself or are you saying there is no smelly food to be cooked at all by anyone?

yanbu if it’s the first one
yabu if it’s the second one

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/06/2025 17:44

TunnocksOrDeath · 08/06/2025 17:40

The pie doesn't smell, but if you include salmon and smocked haddock and make it properly by poaching the fish and using the liquid to make the sauce, I don't see how you could avoid creating clouds of fishy steam during the making of it, particularly in homes with no extractor.

Show quote history

poached in milk, covered, it doesn’t smell.

TunnocksOrDeath · 08/06/2025 17:40

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/06/2025 16:48

Fish pie shouldn’t smell.

Show quote history

The pie doesn't smell, but if you include salmon and smocked haddock and make it properly by poaching the fish and using the liquid to make the sauce, I don't see how you could avoid creating clouds of fishy steam during the making of it, particularly in homes with no extractor.

JustSawJohnny · 08/06/2025 17:27

You sound really OTT about this, OP.

Do you have other sensory issues? Because this is extreme.

Thaawtsom · 08/06/2025 17:20

OP are you / could you be ND? The ASD members of my household have this issue: massively over sensitive to smells. YABU but that doesn’t make it less of an issue for you both.

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