What's Worse? 7 Surprising Truths About Food

What's worse: frying fish or steaming it, if you want to avoid a fishy odor in your kitchen?

Frying.
If you want to avoid the house-permeating fishy aroma of cooked seafood, don't fry it. In his book On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee explains that frying (as well as broiling and baking) fish "propels fishy vapors into the kitchen." Enclosing fish in a covered pan, thereby steaming it, will reduce the exposure of fish's surface to the air (and the fishy smell). Also, let the fish cool down a bit before taking the lid off; that will decrease the "volatility" of the vapors that do escape.