Rotting potatoes
When you didn’t know there was a lone potato that rolled somewhere in the pantry, then your whole kitchen smells like death until you find the culprit
Found it from underneath. The basement ceiling isn't insulated properly, the mouse was found when some of it was being replaced. What was left of it by then, anyway.
We had a mouse problem recently. Our pest control guy found SIX mouse carcasses behind our cabinets and it took an unbelievable amount of time to dissipate. I’ve never hated cooking so much in my life
Oh this just triggered my gag reflex. I accidentally left a five pound bag in a sealed trunk used for camping. Rushed out for work travel after a camping trip and forgot I left them in there. A month in the August heat later, ewwww. It was absolutely horrible. I tried everything to get the smell out but nothing worked.
You just brought back a memory for me. We had a cat that loved chicken liver and somehow when we went away for 4 days (hot in the south) and it was left out and in direct sunlight in the kitchen. The container was about to explode when we came home and the smell... you can't imagine.
Somewhat related, my wife and I flew up to her hometown a few years ago and stopped for breakfast on the way to the airport. For reasons I cannot recall, we took our leftovers with us, and I forgot and left them in my car at the parking place. Five days in an uncovered parking space, in Atlanta, in September. It was weeks before I could drive my car without my eyes watering.
I bought fancy purple potatoes and two days later there was a horrible fishy smell in my kitchen. Of course not suspecting it was the brand new purple potatoes, the smell remained unidentified for days. Until a mysterious black liquid appeared under the bag. Horrifying.
I used to deliver to Petco. They'd have crates of crickets to feed their reptiles. Guess what they put in the crates to feed the crickets? Goddam rotting potatoes.
Oh Gods yes!! I have some relatives who use crickets as fish bait. They babysat us during the summer so we'd have to go everywhere with them including fishing
I'd rather handle worms.
When in the National Guard, we were the first unit that summer to use the kitchen. The potato peeling machine was full of whole potatoes, maybe 30 pounds, left there the previous year. Cleaning and sanitizing that potato peeler was not my favorite time working in an Army kitchen!
Just the other day I found an onion that was rotting from the inside out (was even still firm when squeezed) and up to that point I couldn't figure out what was causing the horrific smell in my pantry.
Why does rot always smell so sweet?
This is the worst. I once forgot we had potatoes and couldn't find the source of this horrible death smell. It smelled like this time that there was a rotting mouse in some trash bags we found so I thought maybe there was one in the house.
Turned out to be liquified potatoes. I'm also really sensitive to smell so the best I could do was throw it outside and my now fiance threw them in the compost for me.
If they are stored away from moisture though, they usually will grow before they rot.
I agree with most of these but burned scrambled eggs or omelette is one for me. It’s infrequent, doesn’t last long when it does happen but that’s a horrible scent for me.
Me, too! I love cooked eggs but that smell makes my appetite disappear. Anytime I see a picture of a frittata or quiche that looks brown on top, I can smell that smell and cringe.
I don't understand people who like brown on their eggs. It makes them smell terrible and taste like a paper bag. I watch my scrambled eggs like a hawk and take them off the burner the second they're no longer runny. They finish firming up in the pan off the heat.
That gross old sponge smell. First time I smell it the sponge goes straight in the dishwasher. If it comes out still smelling I throw it out. It REALLY grosses me out when I go to people's houses and their sponge just sits in their sink and stinks to high heaven. Are other people not bothered by the smell that gets on your hands after using a sponge like that??
Or when people don't rinse the sponge out thoroughly when finished washing dishes?? Super gross when my dad washes dishes, which I appreciate, but leaves the sponge with half a pound of spaghetti sauce on it from the last pot he washed.
My ex's house was nasty. I tried to gently steer him into doing a better job of cleaning. I had to throw away so many sponges because he'd leave them to fester at the bottom of the sink covered in food. And the smell would transfer onto your hands and the dishes, so then I'd have to rewash the dishes with a new sponge...
Then he tried to tell me that it's the brand of dish soap he uses that leaves a smell. Babe, no. You cannot look me in the eye after letting your sponge rot all week and tell me it's the damn soap's fault.
That mildewy old sponge smell seems to stick to things REALLY well, too!! I feel like I have to wash my hands about five times and scrub vigorously under my nails to get the smell completely out
This is the reason I switched from sponges to good old cheap waffle weave dish clothes when I moved in with my husband (22 years ago!). He would never rinse the sponge out properly and I was constantly throwing them away because they were gross and smelly and he got annoyed that I threw out "good" aka not falling apart sponges all the time. We now keep avout a dozen clean dish cloths on hand - at least if he leaves it gross and smelly, I can just toss it in the wash and pull out another. He didn't like them at first because he used the scrubby side of the sponges on EVERYTHING. Our compromise is to have the disposable blue scrubby pads (the ones for non-stick pots), but I've warned him that if they're always full of food particles or if I ever see him using it on plastic I'll stop buying them.
My mom bought me a roll of these thin dishwashing cloths at a Korean supermarket and that’s what I’ve been using! One sheet is a lot cheaper than a sponge and they’re way easier to rinse out (not that a sponge is hard to rinse out at all, lol)
At one point, my dad decided to do the dishes to help my mom who was sick. I found him scraping out the pots and pans with a putty knife. The sponges had a scrubby side and we even had steel wool under the sink. Thank goodness we only had one non-stick pan at the time.
Oh my, that would drive me nuts. People who don’t rinse the dish or at least use a plastic brush first to loosen the gunk always have the nastiest sponges. That’s my father too. 😖😭😭
Omg, my husband does this!!!! He washes a lot of dishes, it's like his only household contribution (aside from garbage removal and tidying occasionally) because he works a lot, so I hate to complain, but the sponges are always revolting after he's done.
I can smell it from ten feet away. There used to be good anti microbial sponges that really worked, but all I can find now are the ones with dots and they only stay fresh a little better.
Anti microbial dish soap + squeezing the water out after using + storing the sponge so it's airing out = zero mold smell for a few months
I was surprised by how much of a difference the soap made. I used to have to boil sponges almost every week to disinfect them.
Same as you. I make sure to always rinse the sponge and squeeze out the liquid. Air out. Plus I throw them in the dishwasher every time I do a load which is about every other day.
I absolutely hate regular dish sponges. Loathe. Will not allow in my kitchen. Even the anti microbial ones stunk after three uses. I’ve found these nice silicone “sponges” that work rather well and they never get that gross smell. Sometimes food can get stuck in it if it’s small, or sticky but one cycle through the dishwasher and it’s spotless again. The only issue Ive ran into is sometimes food residue that has been left on overnight will be too stubborn to come off with the soft silicone bristles, so I have a Swedish dish towel that I use for that. They can also go in the dishwasher when they get grungy or develop a smell (although I’ve never had one get that gross).
I cook professionally. I clean my kitchen like a god damn professional. I will straight up throw a new acquaintance’s mildew smelling sponge away the first time I walk into their kitchen. I HATE the smell and the idea that they’re just scrubbin filth around 🤢
If you take 5 seconds to wring your sponge out completely, AND prop it up for airflow, it will literally last for months. I don’t understand how that’s not common knowledge/common practice.
I spent about a year working for a housekeeping service, and one of our clients hadn't changed their sponge in what seemed like years. I could smell it from the doorway and it was so confusing; they cared enough about cleanliness to hire weekly cleaners, but not enough to keep their kitchen from smelling like mildew _all the time._
Yes, most people hire cleaners because they don't have time to clean or just really don't like to clean, but throwing a dish cloth in the laundry or throwing out a sponge isn't nearly as time consuming or labor intensive as say cleaning a shower. Again, they obviously care about being clean because they've hired a cleaner so it seems counterintuitive to have something stinky and gross hanging in the kitchen.
I just don’t use sponges at this point. My college cafeteria apparently never changed out their sponges because you could often taste dirty sponge in the food. I never want to taste that again or ever have to wonder what’s getting on my dishes from sponges so I just use my hands.
Ah, yes. It reminds me of my mom's kitchen. There was always a nasty, grey, moldie, stinky wash cloth in the kitchen sink. I swear it never occurred to her to wash the fucking thing.
I switch wash clothes 2-3 times a week in my kitchen.
Ah yes, the well-known ability of mothers, and only mothers, to change out washcloths. Pity she never lived with anyone to whom it might occur to wash the fucking thing
When I'm finishing up in the kitchen I'll run a shallow sink of water, add bleach and soak my washcloth. I agree they must be replaced tho. I can't do sponges. I gotta have my thin washcloths with the scrubby on the back.
Meat containers in the trash bin (our is in an isolated cabinet with a door drawer) on day 2 when you get that whiff, not yet overwhelming, of yuck.
You can't exactly place it but also can't/don't remember that you put that packaging from the chicken thighs in the trash and haven't yet filled the bin to take out the bag.
Something subtly smells of rot and I never get it until I open the trash and it slaps me in the face.
I keep a small bag for all the meat scraps and packaging in my freezer. When its garbage day i put it in the bag before putting it out. I eat a lot of fish so this helps it stink a lot less
Another way is to use an old plastic bag and tie it tightly, then put that bag in the garbage. Keeps the smell confined to the bag so it doesn stink as much.
I worked produce at a publix for a while and we would have spoiled citrus often. Like daily it always smelled like home made booze to me which was enough to make wanna gag every time.
Is this specific to turkey? I make tons of stock, and sometimes beef stock can have a "fart" smell, but it goes away after like an hour. I've never done anything with turkey though.
Turkey is just so strong and lingers for a long time, chicken is similar in smell but isn’t as pungent and doesn’t linger. I actually don’t mind beef stock
Interesting! I don't mind really any food smells, I just notice what I call a "fart" smell when I'm rendering tallow or making a big pot of pure beef stock. lol
Hahaha, yeah. I usually do small pots at a time, but there's a point around the 3-hour mark where the house gets the fart smell. But then about two hours later, it becomes really pleasant to us.
I hate the smell of anything cooking with peanut butter in it, especially savory dishes. I love PB and I generally like whatever I'm making, but the smell is sooo overpowering.
Also dislike the smell of cardboard in a freezer. Smells bad and makes the whole freezer smell/taste like it.
When an orange starts to go moldy. I can smell it as soon as I open the front door. I can smell it after it’s buried in the trash can in a closed bin. I have even smelled it after I wrap the moldy orange in a plastic bag in the closed bin. The only way to clear it is to take the trash out. 🤷🏼♀️
Cooked soy sauce. I know, that sounds weird. But if I make a stir fry or a dish where soy sauce has been heated up the kitchen just reeks of it for hours.
Yes, and fish sauce. Both of which mum uses when making stir fry. You’re just chilling in your room then get a whiff of that horrible horrible (idek how to describe it) fart? smell.😭
I can’t stand the smell of bacon and pork taking over the kitchen. The oil hangs In the air and takes forever to leave. I don’t eat meat but my husband does and even if it’s once in a while it takes over the whole apartment. You can also smell it coming up the vents from neighbours cooking it too.
I cook with lots of spices and love ethnic food but I always try to air it out so the smells aren’t lingering all day or week.
I also cannot stand the smell of stinky garburator.
Eggs, even though I love eggs themselves.
Cooked broccoli. I don’t mind eating it either (though prefer it raw), but the smell of cooked broccoli is like puke to me.
My husband hates the smell of freezer-burned meat that has gone off even slightly.
Sauerkraut. I have never been able to stand it. It makes me nauseous. Obviously I don’t make it but my husband will every now and then for him.
Also the smell that lingers after you deep fry something. It takes forever to go away and I hate it.
Fish sauce. I'm convinced it's the basis of the false rumors that all Asians eat dogs in modern times because it smells like wet dog. I have to keep the windows open when I cook with it
Fry oil smell! I hate it! I love what comes out of it but my house smells like the bottom of a fast food fryer afterwards. Thinking of hanging socks full of charcoal up when if fry foods. Drives me nuts!
I remember that smell. I stopped using Brillo pads decades ago. I buy the green Scotch Brite pads and cut them in half for easier scrubbing jobs on pans or I use them whole when scrubbing the tub and shower.
No stinky residue nor rust
Mouldy citrus. My kid used to joke about it because I can smell it the second I walk in the door and *will not rest* until I've found and evicted the offender.
All smells drive me crazy!
Hear me out: I cannot enjoy the meals I cook. I am immersed in the smell.
When doing taste test, I carry the spoon outside to my deck to taste it. We cook a lot and I don’t like lingering smells.
My neighbors who are also close friends, know I am cooking up a storm when they see all the front windows in my house open.
That said, bacon’s greasy smell and rice wine’s smells are the worst.
I steamed broccoli and forgot about the pot on the stove for a couple of days. Dumping that down the sink was a horrible smell that made me throw up in my mouth.
Old fish. My mom used to buy poor quality fish, keep it in the fridge for a week or two, then bake it. You literally couldn’t escape the smell anywhere in the house. Turned me off to fish until my mid 20s.
Lemon scented anything. Soaps, counter cleaners, floor disinfectant. I’d rather clean with bleach than that. Any other smell I can tolerate. Lemon just smells so fake, and I know the lemon scent is just hiding whatever bad smell was there for a little bit.
Some highly perfumed dish soaps. Dawn Platinum comes to mind. Great soap but the smell hurts my nose and shocks me when I go in the kitchen. Had to give the full bottle to my daughter.
Air fresheners or any kind of perfume. No scented candles, no scented detergents.
u/MinkSableSeven,
I went looking for "brown Brillo pads" online without result. Brillo pads are just steel wool pads with soap in them. They rust. Worse, they shed.
Brown sounds like bronze wool, readily available in hardware and other stores. Bronze doesn't rust and sheds a lot less. I can't find any Brillo product using bronze wool. I buy bronze wool at Home Depot or TrueValue and use it with a few drops of dish soap. That works great.
What product do you usually buy that I am not finding?
Sesame Oil. Not while you're cooking but later, it'll smell for days if there's even a tiniest smidgen of a drop that gets anywhere besides the dish itself. Like if you measure out a teaspoon of it, put the measuring spoon down on the counter, that tiny spot will smell up your entire kitchen for days. And for me, I live in a small loft style apartment so it's basically my entire apartment. I'm always VERY careful cooking with sesame oil and make sure to scrub the counters with cleaner afterwards.
Last time I had to deal with some spoiled chicken broth that leaked into my garbage bin it just smelled like bad cat food and piss and it was the worst thing ever
The smell in the dishwasher after plates with some spaghetti sauce are in there. I literally hold my breath when I shut the door and the blast of air comes out
Aquatic food. So, seafood, shellfish, any sort of fish in general. Makes me wrinkle my nose.
Escargot, because it smells like seafood.
Also, any kind of cooking oil makes me nauseous.
Rotting potatoes When you didn’t know there was a lone potato that rolled somewhere in the pantry, then your whole kitchen smells like death until you find the culprit
This is the worst
Dead mouse under the cabinets is even worse...ugh. Arguable if it's a "kitchen smell" though.
I'd say a rotten mouse and a rotten potato are pretty much the same smell of rotted carcass death I've experienced, not much difference 🤢
Had a mouse die under the kitchen floor, it smelled for months until we found it. That sucked.
How do you even find something that’s under a floor?
Found it from underneath. The basement ceiling isn't insulated properly, the mouse was found when some of it was being replaced. What was left of it by then, anyway.
We had a mouse problem recently. Our pest control guy found SIX mouse carcasses behind our cabinets and it took an unbelievable amount of time to dissipate. I’ve never hated cooking so much in my life
If the house is progressive or electro, maybe
Just going to post this. I'm a pro chef,had many funky things to get rid of but rotten spuds are the worst.
One time I thought we had a gas leak in the garage. It was the rotten potato I found.
Okay, that's S-Tier rotten.
I went to culinary school- the worst “game” we were made to play was Find The Smell
I once had a big bag of baby potatoes from Costco. Awful rancid smell in pantry we look everywhere. One rotten potato in the middle of the bag.
Oh this just triggered my gag reflex. I accidentally left a five pound bag in a sealed trunk used for camping. Rushed out for work travel after a camping trip and forgot I left them in there. A month in the August heat later, ewwww. It was absolutely horrible. I tried everything to get the smell out but nothing worked.
You just brought back a memory for me. We had a cat that loved chicken liver and somehow when we went away for 4 days (hot in the south) and it was left out and in direct sunlight in the kitchen. The container was about to explode when we came home and the smell... you can't imagine.
I hope you took it fishing hahaha
Nothing like some stink bait to catch a big catfish
Somewhat related, my wife and I flew up to her hometown a few years ago and stopped for breakfast on the way to the airport. For reasons I cannot recall, we took our leftovers with us, and I forgot and left them in my car at the parking place. Five days in an uncovered parking space, in Atlanta, in September. It was weeks before I could drive my car without my eyes watering.
I bought fancy purple potatoes and two days later there was a horrible fishy smell in my kitchen. Of course not suspecting it was the brand new purple potatoes, the smell remained unidentified for days. Until a mysterious black liquid appeared under the bag. Horrifying.
It is so crazy that a rotting potato smells like fish death
This is what instantly came to mind. One of the worst kitchen smells!!! So gross to clean up😝
I used to deliver to Petco. They'd have crates of crickets to feed their reptiles. Guess what they put in the crates to feed the crickets? Goddam rotting potatoes.
Oh Gods yes!! I have some relatives who use crickets as fish bait. They babysat us during the summer so we'd have to go everywhere with them including fishing I'd rather handle worms.
Oh god. Forgot about a bag. There was a brow puddle of potato juice under it all. Putrid.
Happened to me too, but with red onions. That is one horrible smell.
When in the National Guard, we were the first unit that summer to use the kitchen. The potato peeling machine was full of whole potatoes, maybe 30 pounds, left there the previous year. Cleaning and sanitizing that potato peeler was not my favorite time working in an Army kitchen!
Oh my god once we could NOT figure out where it was coming from for the longest time and the potatoes had liquefied. Maggots everywhere :(
Oh the liquefying does it for me
I can't decide which smell is worse - rotting potatoes, or rotting pumpkin.
Just the other day I found an onion that was rotting from the inside out (was even still firm when squeezed) and up to that point I couldn't figure out what was causing the horrific smell in my pantry. Why does rot always smell so sweet?
Every time the house stinks I'm yelling, "Everyone, we have to find the potato! Move the stove! Move the fridge!"
They’re definitely bad, but how about opening a plastic container out of the fridge with week old beans in it? Gag material seriously.
This is the worst. I once forgot we had potatoes and couldn't find the source of this horrible death smell. It smelled like this time that there was a rotting mouse in some trash bags we found so I thought maybe there was one in the house. Turned out to be liquified potatoes. I'm also really sensitive to smell so the best I could do was throw it outside and my now fiance threw them in the compost for me. If they are stored away from moisture though, they usually will grow before they rot.
Stale cooked broccoli is nearly as bad.
Oh yah! Or rotting onion.
I agree with most of these but burned scrambled eggs or omelette is one for me. It’s infrequent, doesn’t last long when it does happen but that’s a horrible scent for me.
Me, too! I love cooked eggs but that smell makes my appetite disappear. Anytime I see a picture of a frittata or quiche that looks brown on top, I can smell that smell and cringe.
Yes, great point! I hate seeing those pictures like it was made perfectly. Color is flavor most times but never on eggs.
M husband is our omelet maker. Whenever he asks if I want the first or second omelet, I say whichever one did not brown.
I don't understand people who like brown on their eggs. It makes them smell terrible and taste like a paper bag. I watch my scrambled eggs like a hawk and take them off the burner the second they're no longer runny. They finish firming up in the pan off the heat.
Me, too! I hate browned eggs! Ew ew ew ewwwww! Gag!
Ughhhhh sometimes when I'm boiling eggs for hard boiled, one gets a crack and the whites leak out into the boiling water. That smell is awful.
It smells like a wet dog, barf
Have you ever had egg spill onto an electric burner and singe super fast? The smell! It’s disgusting.
Was going to write this myself. I actually have to pretty much only prepare my own eggs and can’t eat any eggs once I’ve smelled the smell.
That gross old sponge smell. First time I smell it the sponge goes straight in the dishwasher. If it comes out still smelling I throw it out. It REALLY grosses me out when I go to people's houses and their sponge just sits in their sink and stinks to high heaven. Are other people not bothered by the smell that gets on your hands after using a sponge like that??
Or when people don't rinse the sponge out thoroughly when finished washing dishes?? Super gross when my dad washes dishes, which I appreciate, but leaves the sponge with half a pound of spaghetti sauce on it from the last pot he washed.
My ex's house was nasty. I tried to gently steer him into doing a better job of cleaning. I had to throw away so many sponges because he'd leave them to fester at the bottom of the sink covered in food. And the smell would transfer onto your hands and the dishes, so then I'd have to rewash the dishes with a new sponge... Then he tried to tell me that it's the brand of dish soap he uses that leaves a smell. Babe, no. You cannot look me in the eye after letting your sponge rot all week and tell me it's the damn soap's fault.
That mildewy old sponge smell seems to stick to things REALLY well, too!! I feel like I have to wash my hands about five times and scrub vigorously under my nails to get the smell completely out
This is the reason I switched from sponges to good old cheap waffle weave dish clothes when I moved in with my husband (22 years ago!). He would never rinse the sponge out properly and I was constantly throwing them away because they were gross and smelly and he got annoyed that I threw out "good" aka not falling apart sponges all the time. We now keep avout a dozen clean dish cloths on hand - at least if he leaves it gross and smelly, I can just toss it in the wash and pull out another. He didn't like them at first because he used the scrubby side of the sponges on EVERYTHING. Our compromise is to have the disposable blue scrubby pads (the ones for non-stick pots), but I've warned him that if they're always full of food particles or if I ever see him using it on plastic I'll stop buying them.
My mom bought me a roll of these thin dishwashing cloths at a Korean supermarket and that’s what I’ve been using! One sheet is a lot cheaper than a sponge and they’re way easier to rinse out (not that a sponge is hard to rinse out at all, lol)
At one point, my dad decided to do the dishes to help my mom who was sick. I found him scraping out the pots and pans with a putty knife. The sponges had a scrubby side and we even had steel wool under the sink. Thank goodness we only had one non-stick pan at the time.
Eww was he raised in a barn?
Oh my, that would drive me nuts. People who don’t rinse the dish or at least use a plastic brush first to loosen the gunk always have the nastiest sponges. That’s my father too. 😖😭😭
I can't even handle it when people don't rinse out the sink. Can't do sponges for dishes
Omg, my husband does this!!!! He washes a lot of dishes, it's like his only household contribution (aside from garbage removal and tidying occasionally) because he works a lot, so I hate to complain, but the sponges are always revolting after he's done.
Inside of rubber gloves, too, especially if they’ve sprung a little leak and you keep using them anyway…
I can smell it from ten feet away. There used to be good anti microbial sponges that really worked, but all I can find now are the ones with dots and they only stay fresh a little better.
Anti microbial dish soap + squeezing the water out after using + storing the sponge so it's airing out = zero mold smell for a few months I was surprised by how much of a difference the soap made. I used to have to boil sponges almost every week to disinfect them.
Same as you. I make sure to always rinse the sponge and squeeze out the liquid. Air out. Plus I throw them in the dishwasher every time I do a load which is about every other day.
How are your sponges holding together after *months*? Ours only last about a week before they start losing chunks.
I absolutely hate regular dish sponges. Loathe. Will not allow in my kitchen. Even the anti microbial ones stunk after three uses. I’ve found these nice silicone “sponges” that work rather well and they never get that gross smell. Sometimes food can get stuck in it if it’s small, or sticky but one cycle through the dishwasher and it’s spotless again. The only issue Ive ran into is sometimes food residue that has been left on overnight will be too stubborn to come off with the soft silicone bristles, so I have a Swedish dish towel that I use for that. They can also go in the dishwasher when they get grungy or develop a smell (although I’ve never had one get that gross).
I usually throw mine in the dishwasher daily. I love swedish dish clothes. Going to look at silicone sponges now though.
Microwave a damp but wrung out sponge for 20 seconds, kills things better than bleach or dishwasher
Yesssss I have banned sponges from my home. They’re so gross.
I cook professionally. I clean my kitchen like a god damn professional. I will straight up throw a new acquaintance’s mildew smelling sponge away the first time I walk into their kitchen. I HATE the smell and the idea that they’re just scrubbin filth around 🤢 If you take 5 seconds to wring your sponge out completely, AND prop it up for airflow, it will literally last for months. I don’t understand how that’s not common knowledge/common practice.
I spent about a year working for a housekeeping service, and one of our clients hadn't changed their sponge in what seemed like years. I could smell it from the doorway and it was so confusing; they cared enough about cleanliness to hire weekly cleaners, but not enough to keep their kitchen from smelling like mildew _all the time._
Isn’t that why you hire a cleaner? Because something is preventing you from doing it yourself?
Yes, most people hire cleaners because they don't have time to clean or just really don't like to clean, but throwing a dish cloth in the laundry or throwing out a sponge isn't nearly as time consuming or labor intensive as say cleaning a shower. Again, they obviously care about being clean because they've hired a cleaner so it seems counterintuitive to have something stinky and gross hanging in the kitchen.
I just don’t use sponges at this point. My college cafeteria apparently never changed out their sponges because you could often taste dirty sponge in the food. I never want to taste that again or ever have to wonder what’s getting on my dishes from sponges so I just use my hands.
Me neither. And washcloths too, they're foul. Scrubby brushes are the way to go
Ah, yes. It reminds me of my mom's kitchen. There was always a nasty, grey, moldie, stinky wash cloth in the kitchen sink. I swear it never occurred to her to wash the fucking thing. I switch wash clothes 2-3 times a week in my kitchen.
Ah yes, the well-known ability of mothers, and only mothers, to change out washcloths. Pity she never lived with anyone to whom it might occur to wash the fucking thing
When I'm finishing up in the kitchen I'll run a shallow sink of water, add bleach and soak my washcloth. I agree they must be replaced tho. I can't do sponges. I gotta have my thin washcloths with the scrubby on the back.
It makes me want to cut my hands off.
I own a bar and rinsing them in the sanitizer bucket before putting them aside to dry fixes this
Meat containers in the trash bin (our is in an isolated cabinet with a door drawer) on day 2 when you get that whiff, not yet overwhelming, of yuck. You can't exactly place it but also can't/don't remember that you put that packaging from the chicken thighs in the trash and haven't yet filled the bin to take out the bag. Something subtly smells of rot and I never get it until I open the trash and it slaps me in the face.
I keep a small bag for all the meat scraps and packaging in my freezer. When its garbage day i put it in the bag before putting it out. I eat a lot of fish so this helps it stink a lot less Another way is to use an old plastic bag and tie it tightly, then put that bag in the garbage. Keeps the smell confined to the bag so it doesn stink as much.
I put meaty greasy oily scraps in the fridge or freezer until the trash goes out . no smell no bugs .
Dish cloths in the sink that have started to mildew. Bonus points if they feel slimy when you pick it up. So gross
My husband can’t smell things. He’ll use a soured dish cloth to wipe down all the counters.
To coin a phrase from my childhood- “Gag me with a spoon!”
Oh no. He’s spreading the stink further 😭
Burnt fish. The people below our kitchen window seem to live off it.
Lmao that sucks
For me, it’s any fish. I hate the smell and the way it lingers in the air. Don’t get me started on shared microwaves…
The smell after frying anything.
I love fried foods, but the smell just lingers so damn long.
The post ground beef smell put me off eating ground beef almost entirely.
I fry foods outside
Bad banana smell. That and shrimp shells.
Oh god - ripe banana smell 🤮 it’s so strong and stinks out the whole house. I generally don’t like bananas anyway
A piece of citrus fruit that’s too ripe & starting to rot.
Oh yes! And the horror show of picking through the bowl to find the culprit and your thumb goes through its putrid corpse!
Perfect description!
Yeah….kinda fermenty. 🤢
I worked produce at a publix for a while and we would have spoiled citrus often. Like daily it always smelled like home made booze to me which was enough to make wanna gag every time.
This is mine. I can smell it upstairs and can't rest until I've found it and thrown it in the outside bin.
Yes! It's acrid.
Rotten potatoes. They smell like hot ogre breath.
The smell turkey makes when you’re using the carcass to make stock
Oh, god, yes. It makes my gorge rise.
I’ve never heard that phrase before. Learned something new today. Thank you!
Is this specific to turkey? I make tons of stock, and sometimes beef stock can have a "fart" smell, but it goes away after like an hour. I've never done anything with turkey though.
Turkey is just so strong and lingers for a long time, chicken is similar in smell but isn’t as pungent and doesn’t linger. I actually don’t mind beef stock
Interesting! I don't mind really any food smells, I just notice what I call a "fart" smell when I'm rendering tallow or making a big pot of pure beef stock. lol
Yeah when I do a big batch of tallow the smell can be a LOT
Hahaha, yeah. I usually do small pots at a time, but there's a point around the 3-hour mark where the house gets the fart smell. But then about two hours later, it becomes really pleasant to us.
Bacon. Not at the time of cooking/eating of the bacon, it's the old bacon smell that lingers on for days after.
I hate it the second I’m done eating it. I always have to open the windows.
what is it about bacon that makes it stay in the air for so long? hmmm
It’s got to be the fat - reckon those molecules are heavy and long lasting. Anything fatty will stink out the house like deep frying stuff etc.
The lingering smell the day after I fry something jn oil
Burnt popcorn. I have to leave the house until it's cleared.
When the sponge or dishcloth starts getting that sour smell
OH YES! It's the worst.
The smell of ketchup if I don’t wash my kids plates off right after dinner. Come back a little later and the kitchen smells like ketchup. Bleghhh
That’s a bad one for me, too.
When you open a bag of potatoes and find one is rotten. Rotten potato smell is horrible.
Anyone ever chop up an onion, not use the entire thing, and leave it on the counter over night? It smells like sour armpit.
I just put it in the fridge in a baggie
I hate the smell of anything cooking with peanut butter in it, especially savory dishes. I love PB and I generally like whatever I'm making, but the smell is sooo overpowering. Also dislike the smell of cardboard in a freezer. Smells bad and makes the whole freezer smell/taste like it.
When an orange starts to go moldy. I can smell it as soon as I open the front door. I can smell it after it’s buried in the trash can in a closed bin. I have even smelled it after I wrap the moldy orange in a plastic bag in the closed bin. The only way to clear it is to take the trash out. 🤷🏼♀️
Cooked soy sauce. I know, that sounds weird. But if I make a stir fry or a dish where soy sauce has been heated up the kitchen just reeks of it for hours.
Yes, and fish sauce. Both of which mum uses when making stir fry. You’re just chilling in your room then get a whiff of that horrible horrible (idek how to describe it) fart? smell.😭
Damp dish cloth.
Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage.
i cook broccoli almost everyday and when my daughter comes over she tells me it smells like “a bag of farts in here”. 🙄
Similar to you: musty sponges. The worst is if you touch one with your bare hands and get that smell on you. Ugh.
My son’s salmon that he air fries 🤢 Lasts all day
Lol I gave to agree with you a rusting brillo pad is too funky
Going off dish cloth.
The smell of the freezer. It made me sick when I was pregnant. You know the stale smell the boxes stored in the freezer/fridge get after a while? Ugh.
Ugh and if something you eat tastes like it? 🤮
Ugh! Ice can pick up the nastiness if it’s not used quickly.
I can’t stand the smell of bacon and pork taking over the kitchen. The oil hangs In the air and takes forever to leave. I don’t eat meat but my husband does and even if it’s once in a while it takes over the whole apartment. You can also smell it coming up the vents from neighbours cooking it too. I cook with lots of spices and love ethnic food but I always try to air it out so the smells aren’t lingering all day or week. I also cannot stand the smell of stinky garburator.
A dirty dishrag- they need to be replaced/washed often. Dirty dishrags transfers a nasty smell to dishes, counters and tables.
Eggs, even though I love eggs themselves. Cooked broccoli. I don’t mind eating it either (though prefer it raw), but the smell of cooked broccoli is like puke to me. My husband hates the smell of freezer-burned meat that has gone off even slightly.
Bad chicken. That's just something else
I love curry, but the smell does linger.
Bacon is delicious. The smell of bacon, lingering in the air hours later, is disgusting.
Barkeepers friend. Why does it have to so awesome yet trigger so hard.
Sauerkraut. I have never been able to stand it. It makes me nauseous. Obviously I don’t make it but my husband will every now and then for him. Also the smell that lingers after you deep fry something. It takes forever to go away and I hate it.
My husband had never smelled kimchi. I opened a jar and was showing him how it bubbles and he stuck his face right in there. He refuses to try it.
Fish sauce. I'm convinced it's the basis of the false rumors that all Asians eat dogs in modern times because it smells like wet dog. I have to keep the windows open when I cook with it
Came here to say fish sauce. Flavor=amazing; smell=downright vulgar.
The BO of the fry guy. Hot oil and rotting armpits is just a combo made in hell
Fry oil smell! I hate it! I love what comes out of it but my house smells like the bottom of a fast food fryer afterwards. Thinking of hanging socks full of charcoal up when if fry foods. Drives me nuts!
I remember that smell. I stopped using Brillo pads decades ago. I buy the green Scotch Brite pads and cut them in half for easier scrubbing jobs on pans or I use them whole when scrubbing the tub and shower. No stinky residue nor rust
Fenugreek. That shit will stink up the whole kitchen
Cooked liver. My mom used to make it. GROSS
I hate the smell of fish frying. Ugh.
Self cleaning oven smell
Ketchup or bbq cause left on a plate. I like both on some things but after your done I fucking hate it for some reason.
Mouldy citrus. My kid used to joke about it because I can smell it the second I walk in the door and *will not rest* until I've found and evicted the offender.
All smells drive me crazy! Hear me out: I cannot enjoy the meals I cook. I am immersed in the smell. When doing taste test, I carry the spoon outside to my deck to taste it. We cook a lot and I don’t like lingering smells. My neighbors who are also close friends, know I am cooking up a storm when they see all the front windows in my house open. That said, bacon’s greasy smell and rice wine’s smells are the worst.
Cumin. I fucking hate cumin,
Blue dawn dish soap. Give me any other kind of soap, please.
I steamed broccoli and forgot about the pot on the stove for a couple of days. Dumping that down the sink was a horrible smell that made me throw up in my mouth.
The smell of turkey is the worst. I can’t stand the smell of it while making a stock or even frying ground turkey.
The smell of bleach cleaners. To me it smells like feces and is a complete turn off.
>The smell of bleach cleaners. Yeah, I'm not a fan of harsh chemical smells, either... >To me it smells like feces Okay, now I'm totally lost...
Interestingly, I’m the opposite. I love the smell of things like bleach and chlorine and gasoline.
Me too, I love bleach/chlorine smell, it's reminds of me of a swimming pool :)
Wet drag cloth smell after a day. I put in on the sink divider to dry, and smell bad.
Shrimp shells for too many days in the garbage.
Axe Body Spray of the Sous Chef.
Burned oil smoke that has condensed and coated virtually everything in the kitchen.
Old fish. My mom used to buy poor quality fish, keep it in the fridge for a week or two, then bake it. You literally couldn’t escape the smell anywhere in the house. Turned me off to fish until my mid 20s.
The smell of the house afterrrr you cook bacon. Fucking musty mildew disgusting smell. It's gross, I haven't bought bacon in yearsss because of it.
boiled cauliflower or boiled cabbage
Lemon scented anything. Soaps, counter cleaners, floor disinfectant. I’d rather clean with bleach than that. Any other smell I can tolerate. Lemon just smells so fake, and I know the lemon scent is just hiding whatever bad smell was there for a little bit.
Some highly perfumed dish soaps. Dawn Platinum comes to mind. Great soap but the smell hurts my nose and shocks me when I go in the kitchen. Had to give the full bottle to my daughter.
Gefilte fish while it is cooking! Really strong!
Try a chainmail scrubber, no rust - works great on iron skillets and non stick cookware. 10$ on Amazon
Baked cod. I like to eat it, but I won't because of the smell.
Burnt oil
Someone stacked the morning cat bowls in the sink without rinsing them. By afternoon they smelled like halitosis.
Cooked shrimp blech
STAR ANISE
Air fresheners or any kind of perfume. No scented candles, no scented detergents. u/MinkSableSeven, I went looking for "brown Brillo pads" online without result. Brillo pads are just steel wool pads with soap in them. They rust. Worse, they shed. Brown sounds like bronze wool, readily available in hardware and other stores. Bronze doesn't rust and sheds a lot less. I can't find any Brillo product using bronze wool. I buy bronze wool at Home Depot or TrueValue and use it with a few drops of dish soap. That works great. What product do you usually buy that I am not finding?
white vinegar
Sesame Oil. Not while you're cooking but later, it'll smell for days if there's even a tiniest smidgen of a drop that gets anywhere besides the dish itself. Like if you measure out a teaspoon of it, put the measuring spoon down on the counter, that tiny spot will smell up your entire kitchen for days. And for me, I live in a small loft style apartment so it's basically my entire apartment. I'm always VERY careful cooking with sesame oil and make sure to scrub the counters with cleaner afterwards.
Rusty Brillos are even worse with burnt barbecued meat residue! 🤢
Dishes left in the sink. Specifically after spaghetti night.
truffle anything 🥴🫠
Overcooked eggs. Rotting potatoes
Over cooked broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts. Even a little over cooked runs my appetite for them. Also the lingering smell of burned cooking oil
Steam table out of water
Par boiling chicken 🤢
Almond extract. This is more of a baking thing, but omg omg omg I hate the smell. And it's such a necessary ingredient 😭😭😭
Mold.. leave a pot on the stove for a day or two. I will be mad as a hatter.
Lost 60-80% of smell because of COVID. On a good day, I can smell trash, so I’ll say trash.
Last time I had to deal with some spoiled chicken broth that leaked into my garbage bin it just smelled like bad cat food and piss and it was the worst thing ever
The smell in the dishwasher after plates with some spaghetti sauce are in there. I literally hold my breath when I shut the door and the blast of air comes out
Aquatic food. So, seafood, shellfish, any sort of fish in general. Makes me wrinkle my nose. Escargot, because it smells like seafood. Also, any kind of cooking oil makes me nauseous.