Bad fumes from onions/chili?

simmed

Posting this in here because it seems to be the closest to a cooking forum

Well we're students, we were making a big load of chili con carne. Heated the oil, added a big load of onions and chopped red chili. Then a minute later we were all coughing like crazy, it was a really bad feeling, like something was weighing down on your lungs. Our kitchen is really dated and the extractor fan on the cooker doesn't work, and we didn't have any windows open at the time (although we obviously opened them after).

What could this have been? Is it normal? It really felt pretty bad. Was it the capsaicin from the chili?

triticale

Sounds awful, not sure about chillies but some onions can be unbelievably strong.

Also some people are more sensitive to onion fumes I think - I can stand and chop without too much bother but DDs (9 & 7) suffer even from another room, even after the cooking has long finished.

Capsicum is powerful stuff, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were behind the worst of your fumes. I lived in a flat with no extractor, it was a right pain.

Only thing I can suggest it open all windows before next time (you've probably worked that out yourself obviously!) and if you start to feel the effects, wash your hands and face with cold water, maybe a cold flannel for your face.

Sambucus_Nigra

Next time, use scissors to cut them; straight into the pan.

meritaten

you may have inadvertently used really strong chillies and chucked the seeds in too!
when using chillies its best to cut them in half long ways, scrape out the seeds and chop the chillies and chuck the seeds away. Then WASH your hands - the seeds are the hottest part of the chillies! chillie on the skin can really irritate sensitive areas - so do NOT touch any part of your body until you have washed your hands after handling ANY chillie!!!
not all chillies are the same - some are mild some are like nuclear weapons!

simmed

The chilis and the onions are pretty mild (just normal Tesco stuff). Strange because we've never encountered anything like that before. It's hard to describe, it wasn't visible, but it was impossible to breathe near the cooker without coughing like crazy, and it was like a dry, heavy feeling in my chest. Apparently it might have been due to the oil burning? We used olive oil, but it was quite a thick pan, not a wok or a frying pan. I'd love to know what was causing it..

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Chilli fumes do that. Especially if the pan was too hot and they began to smoke.


There have ben reports of Thai restaurants starting chemical alerts on the basis of the fumes from cooking curry paste.

Don't panic, keep the windows open and make sure the pan isn't too hot before putting the chillies in next time.


Oh, and leaving them whole but pierced a couple of times with a knife will give the heat in a dish without the searing smoke.

brenda50

Add some water once the chilies go in the pan.

Any

I second that chillies can do that, when you are frying them. I generaly put chillies in after the meat... not on the beginning.

katkins78

Definitely the chillies! I didn't realise that it was the heat causing this though, I'll reduce the heat next time I'm cooking with them and try to avoid another coughing fit in the kitchen!

foxgloves

Yes, it's definitely the chillies. We grow them & I've had that coughing sometimes even when I've been in the greenhouse with 20 or so chilli plants on a very hot day! Have also had it when I've been blanching home-grown chillies ready for freezing (I don't bother now, I just chuck them straight in the freezer) and from the dried chilli flakes (we make our own in the food processor) when I've taken the lid off. It's known as Pandora's Jar in our house because if you inhale when the lid's off, your eyes start running, the coughing starts, etc.