Curry Odor
Curry is really wonderful – just delicious for many of us. But the act of cooking it can leave a decidedly unpleasant odor in a kitchen. That odor can be tenacious and difficult to get rid of, because when Indian food is cooked, usually the first thing the cook does is to fry the spices in oil. Cooking oil is aromatic and the little spatters that inevitably occur go up into the air and eventually hit a hard surface such as the wall, the hood of the stove vent, the ceiling – any surface in your kitchen – and that that oil sticks. The smell will be potent and long lasting. It can be really difficult to get rid of curry odor in your kitchen but Nokout can do it!
Know What You Are Facing
The issue is that when frying Curry spices, tiny airborne droplets of aromatic oil splatter out of the frying pan and then stick to the first surface they touch. That means that you will have to clean any surface where the aromatic oils have landed. This will include places close to the stove such as the underside of the vent hood, the wall behind the stove, the cabinets nearby and so on. In a worst case scenario, you may need to clean the ceiling too.
What You Will Need
Rags
Hot Water
Dawn dish soap
Nokout or Sniper
Add a small amount of Dawn to the hot water but don’t make it too soapy.
First Step
Start by wetting a rag in the soapy water and start by wiping down the stove itself. This is likely to be the biggest single source of the oils that are so smelly. Be sure and wipe down the underneath of the hood over the stove. This hood can get a bit tricky because if there is a fan that exhausts outside – like it should! – then the inside of that ductwork will need treatment as well and it may be difficult to get up in there. The vent for an electric oven may not go outside but may instead blow through through a filter screen and then out into the kitchen. If so, remove that filter screen and start it to soaking. There is likely to be a very thick coating on this filter and a good soak in hot soapy water will soften the gunk up for you, so that it can be scrubbed and rinsed as needed later.
Work Outward From There
The stove is going to be the center of the stinky area and the smelly stuff will be thickest closer to the stove, but don’t stop there. Start washing down the backsplash area and the underside of the cabinets. Then start wiping down the front face of those cabinet doors as well. You probably don’t need to wipe down the inside of those cabinets, but you may discover later that there is a bit of that odor there too. Smells get everywhere!
Keep moving outward from the stove area. Wipe down the fridge, the microwave and so on. Don’t leave any spot unwiped. What you are doing at this stage is wiping away the little oily droplets that have accumulated and are clinging to whatever surface they touched. Try not to miss any spot! Don’t forget the floor, for surely, some smelly droplets will have settled there.
Time for Nokout! (Or SNiPER)
Now that you have wiped away as much of the cooking oils clinging to nearby surfaces, you are ready to start spraying Nokout. Spray fairly heavily and use a small soft rag to spread Nokout around. At this point, you want to make sure that Nokout is evenly distributed across all surfaces. If you are fortunate enough to have a Fogmaster Jr, they are great at spraying a very even mist on all surfaces. If you are using a hand sprayer, do wipe the sprayed Nokout around and try to get it as evenly coated as possible. Then, walk away and allow it all to dry.
Am I Done Now?
Hopefully yes. You will likely need to wait a day to see if there is any odor remaining. The air in your your kitchen is probably full of that odor and just because you just cleaned won’t change that immediately. You may need to wait for the HVAC system to cycle on and off a few times, displacing the air in your kitchen, and further capturing smelly particles in your air filter. This may take anywhere from a couple of hours to the next day. Add to this, that if you have been inside with this odor for a few days, then you may have become a bit “nose blind” to that odor and need some time for your nose to re-set.
Can’t I Just Put Nokout Into a Small Vaporizer for this job?
For many smelly kitchen odors, the vaporizer method may work just fine. Maybe it is a good idea to try tNokout or Sniper in a vaporizer or room humidifier first, just to see if it will be enough to do the job. If it doesn’t work, or if the odor returns after a day or two, then this larger plan will remove that curry odor successfully.
This is Really a Tough Job, But You Can Get Rid of Curry Odor
Be persistent here and even if you are not successful the first time, don’t give up! More than likely, you just missed a spot and that curry smell can be really powerful and tenacious. Like most odor eliminating work, it is useful to bear in mind the instructions from your shampoo bottle, “lather, rinse and repeat”. If it still smells a bit, give it another go. You can indeed gety rid of curry odor with Nokolut or Sniper.
Other “How-To” Articles Addressing Similar Issues That May Help You
1) https://nokout.com/deodorize-your-walls-and-concrete-flooring-before-painting/
2) https://nokout.com/get-rid-of-smoke-odor/
Great article. I had a similar problem just last month. My niece came for a visit and she “vaped” in my bathroom, trying to be sneaky, as I had asked her to not vape in the house. The minty nicotine smell was awful. I believe the oils in the vape created a similar problem. I sprayed Nok Out everywhere and was fortunate that after 1 application the smell was gone. Nok Out for the WIN!!
Thank you for telling us about this! Maybe something to do with “Vaping” will be our next blog post. Did you use an ordinary trigger squeeze sprayer?