Cooking odors/off topic

16 years ago

I was happily reading Zabby's chestnut post and got to thinking about the smells I enjoy in the house ;) I think a lot of people enjoy the spices and baking type smells in the house but I was wondering if I were strange to enjoy the smell of regular food cooking? I think there may be several trains of thoughts on this. Maybe people like the smell of a good pot roast but wouldn't want it to linger?

Hubby made a delicious supper of fried eggs, pancakes and bacon. I had been out to feed the cats several hours later and when I came back in....MMMMMmmm!! A delicious, warm, homey smell. Don't get me wrong, I don't care for a greasy/fried smell but he had cooked the bacon to perfection and it was just right. It lingered but to my senses, not in a bad way. The same thing holds true of walking into my porch area when I am storing onions. I actually LIKE that smell. They aren't cut and reeking but that clean earthy onion smell.

I wonder if all this is a reflection of the way you grew up; my grandmother's house was very well utilized and when there wasn't something cooking, boiling, or churning, there were boxes, buckets, and crates of things ready for the same fate. Yet it was the warmest, coziest house I have ever been in. Good memories;) Of course I want my house to smell clean and good but I love the smell of good food being cooked or preserved. Thoughts? Lori

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Comments (9)

rachelellen
16 years ago
Many of my earliest childhood memories involve odors, I think that when we are very small, we live more in the senses.

The aroma of coffee brewing in the morning makes me feel warm and secure, reminds me of waking in my grandparent's house under heavy quilts, to the soft, blurb-blub of Nana's percolator.
ksrogers
16 years ago
My grandbothers house smelled like that too. My grandfather had his bakery right next door and would bring in baked goods late in the day. Sometimes there was nothing being cooked or baked, but the house still smelled nice. The back of the house where the kitchen is, the floor tilted down slighly. It was due to a brook that was just a few feet out the back. The house is been settling for many years, and as a kid, the brook was only a few feet below the surface. Now, its well over 15 feet down and erodes the soil around it. I expect the house to fall someday, as no one lives there anymore. I sure miss it and still dream about living there again.
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rachelellen
16 years ago
ks, are you talking about actual sleep-time dreams, or wishes? I still (at 47 years old) dream about my grandparent's house in Southern Maine (on a strip of land next to the beach, a mile of marsh away from the mainland), as well as a couple of other childhood homes. Perhaps a bit of us lives where we did as a child, no matter where we go?

I've thought of another aroma that evokes sense-memory...cinnamon toast! The luscious mix of warm butter, cinnamon sugar and toasted bread, made as a quick snack with numb fingers after a long walk home from school in the cold rain.
CA Kate z9
16 years ago
I don't care for the taste of coffee, but the smell always brings good memories.

I had a favorite Aunt who's house smelled...... strangely. Never did know what made the curious odor. A month or so ago I visited a woman whose house smelled exactly the same as my Aunt's house. I almost expected my Aunt to appear... armed with hugs and cookies.
zabby17
16 years ago
Westelle, I am a coffee drinker now, but long before I liked the taste of it I came to love the smell.

I also love the smell of broth simmering (hmm, something else to try on my woodstove, if I can make a big enough pot fit). Indian-spiced foods smell GREAT when they are fresh, but by a few hours later they seem to go stale yet linger more than many other kinds of foods. Fish is the same way.

Zabby
ksrogers
16 years ago
I also like the smell of fresh ground coffe beans, but don'y like coffee to drink. My dad used to know people who made coffee for resturants, and we used to visit every Saturday and I would go out to the store hous where they kept all the raw beans. They had these small 2 pound roasters there too. I would make my own blends from bout 10 different choices of beans. The beans were never ground until coffe was made, so one Christmas I bought my parents a Kitchen Aide coffee grinder. They don't make them anymore, but the unit did do a great job grinding beans. Grandmas house smelled of breads, both rye and sour dough, and also hermits and other things like donuts. Dreams of the old place are still with me as I have some a few times a month. In the summertime, the house had a strong smell of garlic and dill, coming from the big half sour pickle jar.
dgkritch
16 years ago
Yeah!
Prime Rib or Turkey cooking.
Almost anything baking.
Strawberry jam.

Can live without the Pickle smell and fish, but it doesn't really bother me. I know it means we're eating well!!

Deanna
SuzyQ2
16 years ago
Freshly made bread.
ksrogers
16 years ago
Just made bread in my little used break maker. I started out with some multi- grain mixes from King Arthur flour web site. It must have every kind of grain used in baking. Because it had whole wheat berries, I placed the grain mix in a food processor to chop them up a bit finer. Grains like sunflower, flax, sesame, wheat, oats, millet, spelt, and a few more. It was very tasty bread and the next day I sliced some to make French toast. Used some cherry preserves and that was a nice breakfast.

Cooking odors/off topic

Comments (9)

rachelellen

ksrogers

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