Reply to Made Indian food—house and clothes smell like curry now

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We cook a lot in my house, and stale cooking smells or greasy smells is actually a real issue.  This is mainly  because of the way homes are constructed and furnished and the HVAC system.  The construction material and furnishing absorbs and traps smells, and the HVAC tries to prevent cold and hot air from escaping the house by recirculating every thing inside.

Here is what we do.

1) We have a really large commercial hood over the range that vents outside the house.  We got it custom built because we did not want any cooking air circulating inside.  The vent filters are washed once a week in the dishwasher to keep it clean.

2) We switch off the heat/cooling and the whole house fan while cooking. .

3) We open a window in the opposite side of the house, put a large fan there to suck in air, then we open the kitchen window, put a stool and a fan there to blow out the air.   If you can picture it - we are using the hood, and we are blowing out air from the window too.  (Hood and kitchen window is venting out in the same direction.)

4) Shut all the bedroom and bathroom doors upstairs. It will prevent the bedrooms and bathrooms from getting the cooking smell.

5) Close the coat closet. Do not have coats and scarves hanging out.  And have all washed  and folded laundry kept upstairs in a closed bedroom so that they do not absorb the smell.

6) Skip fenugreek and aesopheotida as their smell lingers.  Or ventilate properly when cooking with these ingredients.

7) Wear some "cooking clothes" - old sweats and old t-shirt.

8) When cooking onions, put a lid on top of the pan to trap the moisture and the smell. Once the onion caramelizes a bit, the raw cooking smell disappears entirely.

9) Remember the Indian food smells that lingers is not "curry" smell.  It is the cooking smell of mostly four or five things - raw onions, fenugreek (methi), aesopheotida(hing), fish, curry leaves and mustard oil being smoked.  I have the same problem with other cuisines too that has strong smells. Of course, any kind of  frying will also create smoky and greasy air inside and that also must get flushed out pronto.

10) We got a UV light put in the HVAC system where the air gets exchanged. That gets rid of most smells fast.  Incidentally, that takes care of COVID virus also from circulating through HVAC. We also get the filters changed twice a year.

11) Make a non-chemically air freshner (https://helloglow.co/natural-air-freshener/) to spray in the kitchen. Make sure all stoves  are switched off.  I basically take the juice of ground up citrus peels and add vodka in it.  Spray on counters, sink, trash bin and in the air.  It removes all smell once it dries.  Just plain vodka in spray bottle works also.

Right now, just flush out the air for 10-15 minutes, by using fans, opening windows, and switching off your heating.

Even doing one or two of the above remedies can mitigate your cooking smell problem.

[/quote]

Just cook outside like grilling.[/quote]

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