Love fish, but don’t love the fishy smell?

Q: I’d like to cook more fish, but my husband hates that fishy smell in the kitchen. Any ideas?

— Kaitlyn S., St. Louis

A: Yep. There are a couple of things you can do besides serving sushi (and we’re not for eating raw fish — too many risks, from an upset tummy to parasites).

You can start by serving smoked fish like Gravlaks or Nova lox that you don’t cook.

They still offer all the health benefits of fish, such as omega-3s.

There also are techniques that can nip the fish smell in the bud before it happens, prevent it from happening while you’re cooking and remove the smell from the house if necessary.

1. Before cooking, soak the fish in lemon water for about an hour. Remove the fish and dry well before cooking. Lemon neutralizes a chemical in the fish called trimethylamine, which is responsible for that fishy smell. (Remember Susan Sarandon in the 1980 film, “Atlantic City”? She plays a waitress at a hotel oyster bar who puts lemon juice on her arms after every shift. When Burt Lancaster asks her why she does it, she replies, “The fish smell. I’m embarrassed”.)

2. If you don’t have time for soaking the fish (or forgot to do it), add aromatic seasonings like crushed garlic and fresh thyme to the pan as the fish cooks. And remember, when cooking any fish, saute in extra virgin olive oil at a low to medium heat. High-temp cooking will burn off the fish’s oils, and presto, that’ll fill the house with a fishy smell!

3. If you blew it, and you’ve stunk things up, bring a shallow pot of water to a boil, add a dash of vinegar, vanilla extract and crushed up cinnamon sticks. Or spread some vanilla extract on a baking sheet, set the oven at 200 F, slide it in and leave the door open a crack. Your house will smell like cookie dough.