Banish Fish Smells From Your Kitchen
As with any type of seafood, shrimp's odor becomes more pronounced the longer it is out of the water. While a slight iodine odor or fishy smell is normal, a strong smell might indicate your shrimp is no longer safe to eat. After cooking, your house might reek of shrimp, but there are ways to combat that. Taking steps before cooking can reduce how fishy your home smells, too.
Safety First
As with any food, shrimp may contain foodborne bacteria that make it unsafe to eat. You may detect an off-odor before or after cooking. If the shrimp has a slight ammonia scent before you cook it and if the odor becomes stronger during or after cooking, it is probably spoiled. Take no chances with your health and throw the fish away without eating any of it.
Reduce Smells Before Cooking
Before you cook shrimp, open the windows and turn on your kitchen's overhead exhaust. This circulates the air and helps remove odors that occur while cooking. Rinse your fish well under cool tap water to help remove trimethylamine -- the amino acid known to cause fishy smells. Treat your shrimp with an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, before and during cooking to reduce the smell. If your shrimp is fresh, not frozen, soak it in a bowl of milk for about 20 minutes. Milk's casein bonds to trimethylamine and extracts the fishy smell.
Clean With Potatoes
Potatoes are naturally absorbent, especially when it comes to odors. Remove the shrimp smell from cooking utensils, bowls and pans by placing cut-up potatoes and table salt on top of them for about two hours .
Add Another Smell
Fishy smells are powerful, but you can cover them up by adding a new scent to your home. Soak cotton balls in vanilla extract and leave them on your counter overnight. You can also cut a lemon in half and boil it in water for about 10 minutes to add a neutralizing scent to your kitchen. Leaving a bowl of white distilled vinegar overnight might also help reduce the smell. Burning a scented candle or odor-eliminating candle also works.
Deodorize Your Fridge
After cooking, if you store your shrimp in the fridge you might have a fishy smell in there, too. Add a bowl of baking soda into the refrigerator to help absorb the smell and keep it from being absorbed into other items. A lemon-scented fridge freshener or sliced lemons in a bowl might also help.