Bad Smells in the Kitchen

[BadRabbit]

I had a horrible smell in my pantry today that my wife was complaining about. As soon as I opened the door, I knew there was a rotting potato somewhere. Sure enough, a red potato had fallen behind the basket and rotted. It's amazing that a vegetable that has virtually no smell when it's fresh could smell so bad when it turns.

I also had to deal with another smell this morning. Eggs put into a too hot pan (by my wife) had stunk up the whole house.

There are also a few foods that I think smell bad even when being cooked properly. Broccoli and rutabegas both smell horrible when they are cooking even though they taste delicious.

What smells do you hate? When you have a bad smell in the kitchen, where do you look first and what are the usual culprits?

[acautrell]

Been there with the rotten potato. It's been more than once that we come out to the kitchen in the morning, realize something doesn't smell right, and find a lone black potato that was forgotten in the cupboard.

The smell of sesame oil in any major quantity puts me right off. I can just barely stand the whiff you get from having the bottle in the back of the cupboard.

We also had a recent experience with an exploding bottle of fish sauce. I haven't had the fortitude to replace the broken bottle yet, after having my entire refrigerator get coated in it. I still think I smell it sometimes.

[therippa]

The compost bin. I have one of those fancy containers with the charcoal filter on top, and it still stinks. I don't care what they say about it getting enough air, a pile of rotting food smells like a pile of rotting food. Instead of using the container we just use a brown paper bag when cooking meals that produce a lot of compost and take it to the container outside when we're done.

Traditional Chinese cooking often has offensive smells. We have a nice little old Chinese lady living below us, and sometimes the smell of whatever she's making wofts up into our apartment and all I can imagine is her deep frying the smelliest part of the smelliest fish.

I also have a roommate that often heats canned/frozen vegetarian meals from Trader Joe's. Those always smell.

[Alcuin]

Toasting shrimp paste doesn't smell very good, but it's well worth it. If I forget to take out trash that has shrimp shells or fish bones or viscera (especially from sardines) in the summer, it becomes unpleasant right quick.

Also, I heartily agree about the over cooking of eggs. If they brown at all in the pan, they can have unpleasant odors. I don't find this to be the case if I brown under a broiler and eat cold though.

[Alcuin]

The compost bin. I have one of those fancy containers with the charcoal filter on top, and it still stinks. I don't care what they say about it getting enough air, a pile of rotting food smells like a pile of rotting food. Instead of using the container we just use a brown paper bag when cooking meals that produce a lot of compost and take it to the container outside when we're done.

Traditional Chinese cooking often has offensive smells. We have a nice little old Chinese lady living below us, and sometimes the smell of whatever she's making wofts up into our apartment and all I can imagine is her deep frying the smelliest part of the smelliest fish.

I also have a roommate that often heats canned/frozen vegetarian meals from Trader Joe's. Those always smell.

Hmmm some Chinese cookery has very efficient ways of downplaying unpleasant odors through application of things like rice wine to marinades of pork or chicken--or so I've read somewhere and I like the effect. I assume that the rubbing of the skin with sesame oil in white cut chicken is partly at least for the odor as well. I guess there's Chinese cooking and then there's Chinese cooking (ad infinitum!).

[robirdstx]

Many years ago, following the most horrible smell, I found a bag of molding oranges my roommate had forgotten about in the vegetable bin in the refrigerator. So gross!

[Beebs]

Those styrofoam trays that supermarket meat comes on and the little pad that goes with it. They're tossed in the bin, but if the trash hasn't been taken out for a day or two, it stinks to high heaven.

One time I couldn't figure out the source of a really horrible, sulfurous stench for nearly a week. Turned out to be a squishy moldy onion that I missed.

[lancastermike]

Cook up some puddin if you want a foul smell

[Kouign Aman]

Raw turkey. Urk.

[kayb]

Hate the smell of calves liver or turnip greens cooking. Possibly one reason why I will eat neither one. We will not go into the awfulness of the smell of something left in the fridge until it's old enough to vote. Throw away container and all; it's worth it.

[BadRabbit]

Hate the smell of calves liver or turnip greens cooking. Possibly one reason why I will eat neither one. We will not go into the awfulness of the smell of something left in the fridge until it's old enough to vote. Throw away container and all; it's worth it.

Much worse than that is the Tupperware container of food accidentally left in the trunk of the car for 2 weeks of July (in Alabama). I didn't even take it inside.

Edited July 27, 2010 by BadRabbit (log)

[roosterchef21]

Lamb brains....

[weinoo]

I have some dried Chinese and Japanese things, like konbu, bonito flakes, bamboo shoots, etc. They are kept in a large clik-clak because if they weren't sealed up they would probably stink up the whole apartment.

[Tri2Cook]

Chitlins... and they don't taste much better than they smell.

[Kim Shook]

Two day old rice wine marinated radishes. Ick. I am very careful to only make enough for one meal now.

[Luke]

Asafoetida Powder. It like the concentrated extract from bad socks.

Luke

[BadRabbit]

Asafoetida Powder. It like the concentrated extract from bad socks.

Luke

It has "foetid" in the middle of the name. What would you expect?

[nakji]

Kimchi. In Korea, they have special fridges that are supposed to help keep the kimchi at its appropriate temperature, but one of the side benefits is not getting waves of kimchi smell blown about the kitchen every time you open the fridge.

[gwl]

Boiled or steamed cauliflower...roasted or grilled, no problem, but the smell of it on the stove top hurts me bad.

[Patissier Otaku]

I love Durian but have to make sure nobody is home all the windows are open and I have fans on to ventilate the room when I open it.

[ruthcooks]

The one and only time I roasted a whole head of garlic, I had to leave the house. A few cloves I can take, but not a large quantity. Onions? One of my favorite aromas.

[philadining]

My roommate spilled a bottle of fish sauce in our kitchen and it just reeked forever...

I've heard many complaints about the smell of melting Gruyere, but I kind of like it.

[Porthos]

How about shrimp going bad in the refrigerator.

[heidih]

I am gonna second nakji with kimchi. Years ago I was gifted with some homemade bubbling stuff that escaped through the screw top lid. At least it was sitting in a plastic bag for safety sake. The smell however.....I was pregnant at the time and it put me off kimchi for a year or so.

I am the kind of person whose main contact with the produce guy at the major chain store is to tell him that somewhere in that big bin of oranges or onions is a stinker. They give me a look like "loony lady", but promptly dig around and usually unearth a green moldy treasure.....

It does not bother me, but when I open a jar of homemade daikon quick pickle everyone within a few rooms tends to shriek "What is that smell?!?"

Also the one time I brought home a chunk of jackfruit I managed to empty the house of teenagers. I think it was just more pungent than they are used to. What would they do with durian?

[JAZ]

How about shrimp going bad in the refrigerator.

How about coming home from a week-long vacation to find that your fridge/freezer died at some point during the week, with spoiled shrimp and shells (for stock), duck breasts, duck fat, several quail, and pork chops? And that's only the freezer.