Aibu to refuse to cook smelly things?

[howdidthathappenn]

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?

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.

@tammienorrie

you can put foil in the air fryer?!

😲🤯

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)

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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

Sounds like the OP that didn't like her DH using the toilet.

If you dont want to cook certain foods then don't. If he is that "disappointed" he will have to cook sometimes. That won't fix the smell issue but at least you'll get the odd evening free of kitchen drudgery (and you could try some of the smell neutralising hacks in this thread).

I have no patience for people (usually men) who sadface and moan that their wife "won't" cook certain things. Get the frying pan out yourself Derek, it wont make your willy fall off!

This 😂

Burn a joss stick, gets rid of smells quickly.

Exactly this. I don't much like lamb, so I never choose to cook it - if DH cooks it, then I will eat it, but why would I choose something I don't much like when I'm shopping and cooking? (to note, DH eats all the things I do like to cook happily enough)

Open a window.

If you won't cook the spicy things, he can.

I can't deal with bland food. Spice is life.

Unless you are living solely off UPF oven food, I don't understand how you are not cooking anything with a smell? Almost every meal has onions in it. What do you eat whilst he is eating foods containing onions/fish? It sounds like you have some sort of OCD or mental health issues about smells.

To be fair to the op she has said that she is not cooking them, not that he cannot cook them. He can cook them himself.

Thanks for the Vinegar tip. Will try that as my extractor fan is not great.

You don't have to cook anything. But if he wants to eat stuff you dislike the smell of then he should be able to. Ask that he opens a window or puts on the extractor but you can't actually ban him from using his own kitchen to cook foods he likes?!

You need proper extractor. Really helps.

Some "smoked" fish is absolutely rank though. I am there with you. Basa and mackerel are not bad and my extractor can manage. Cod was horrible last time I did it. Just stuck in for ages even with extractor and windows open. Weird one that one.

Keep window opened, close the door and use chef candles during and after.

He's allowed to eat what he fancies in his own house, you can't completely ban fish and smelly food. I hate smell but food smell really shouldn't linger for hours let alone days and you don't need all kind of chemicals and air freshner to get rid of them

Fried onion and curry are absolutely revolting smell, but you can manage so your house doesn't stink if they are only used once in a while.

YANBU to refuse to cook it yourself, he can cook them if he likes them

I don't agree that "almost every meal has onion in it"
YOU might be putting onions everywhere, I don't?

And I mean following usual recipes, not just deciding not to add any when other would.

Stews, casseroles, curries, chilli, any tomato based pasta dish, cottage/shepherd's pie, even something as bland as bangers and mash has onion gravy?

You sound like my mother, I still have unpleasant memories after her making a huge fuss and running around opening windows complaining about the smell after 27 years of not having lived with her. I don't love the smell of some food cooking, I just open the windows. It doesn't last for days and does not require days of cleaning. You are being unreasonable.

You are being more than a little bit unfair, you are being downright unreasonable. What are you cooking that is so bland it doesn't smell? And yes, as others said, if you have the extractor fan on, empty the bin with any food scraps and don't leave the washing up piled up overnight it shouldn't take that long to clear.

Smoked fish and fried onions? Hmm, that's nearly one of my favourite meals right there. I love a kedgeree.

I don't add onion to most pasta, and none of these meals are staples that I cook more than occasionally?

I love potatoes (and pasta) but not at every meal of the week?