Vegetable oil can burn
December 10, 2005So I got a little demonstration today about just how flammable vegetable oil can be.
I was heating a pot to cook up some chicken jambalaya (it’s a Chicken Helper box which for some reason is not listed on the General Mills Web site). I had just finished adding the seasoning pack to the cut up chicken so I poured a little vegetable oil into the preheated pan to get it ready. Apparently I had heated the pan a tad too high, because I got instant flames. I don’t mean a little, I mean the entire pot was engulfed. I was reminded of the car fire that engulfed Twinkie’s Oldsmobile.
So I had to make a split-second decision–grab for the fire extinguisher, or try to slam the lid on the pot without burning myself in the process. I went for option #2 because I’ve never actually had to use the fire extinguisher so I’m not sure I know how to operate it. Hey, at least I do own one and yes it’s in the kitchen where it belongs.
Anyway, I did manage to get the lid on top and that put out the fire. Thankfully before it had a chance to do any damage to the brand new microwave I had just installed above the stove.
It did put out a fair amount of smoke, enough to trigger the smoke alarm. Which was comforting in a way, to know that my annual ritual of replacing the batteries in that thing is worthwhile.
I think the pot is recoverable, but I’m probably just going to throw it out. Feels like bad mojo to keep it around, it would remind me of the fire every time I used it in the future.
And I did manage to finish cooking up the jambalaya in a different pot. It was very good, definitely recommended. Just make sure you don’t over-heat the pot before you dump in the oil.
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