Public service announcement
I type this with one hand. No matter HOW many times you have cooked a recipe involving:
A. heat
B. alcohol
do NOT get comfortable with removing a pan of hot olive oil and thinly sliced garlic to a 'safe' distance from the heating element before adding a sizable quantity of room-temperature vodka, IF that safe distance does not include the counter on the opposite wall of your kitchen. Oil that spatters onto your hand (which is unavoidable even if you do it properly) WILL ignite when the vodka goes up, and this will result in six foot high flames in your frying pan along with a hand that is the surface upon which hot oil is being consumed with fire.
Furthermore, once your pan, stovetop, and hand are engulfed in flame, you can do nothing besides place the flaming pan away from heat WITHOUT spilling it or tossing it in the sink (as oil and vodka floats) and letting it burn itself out. With 1/4 cup of vodka, this takes roughly twenty seconds. (Your hand extinguishes much faster because you jam it into a towel.)
(Technically your container of flour on the counter could have been used, or the baking soda in the cabinet, but you would be more concerned with the flaming pan and your hand at this point and you've flambéd enough French sauces to know the alcohol will burn off before you could have been effective.)
I am glad that I work in a medical center. I can't imagine how much fun operating a keyboard will be tomorrow am.
That's all I got, folks. Second and third degree burns and singed cabinets. (It was a good pan, though - totally didn't wreck the finish.) I can't count the number of times I have prepared Penne ala Vodka carelessly. All I can say is, I'm glad I haven't actually moved into my house yet, and it was my apartment I would have torched instead.
(Also, now I know that I freak but keep my presence of mind when on fire. If I'd tossed the pan, I would have had a SERIOUS problem.)
So! Remove from heat does not mean "pick up off of heat and take two steps back." No matter how many times you have done it in the past.
Edit - and now that I have the fingers of my left hand freed once again (and some nifty painkilling salve courtesy my peeps) I can type! This is a total shout-out to
lulabyeleague for not panicking when I started yelling her name after I lit the kitchen on fire. She was playing Katamari and I alternately wanted her to be aware that I was burning the place down and make my hand stop hurting. =) She totally didn't freak out, whereas I did a bit. =) (I think we've played a little too much cooperative Halo 2. Somehow I think I expected her to do something. Given the circumstances, I have no idea what that would have been. She did shut the fire alarm right up, which was nice. So thanks. =)
A. heat
B. alcohol
do NOT get comfortable with removing a pan of hot olive oil and thinly sliced garlic to a 'safe' distance from the heating element before adding a sizable quantity of room-temperature vodka, IF that safe distance does not include the counter on the opposite wall of your kitchen. Oil that spatters onto your hand (which is unavoidable even if you do it properly) WILL ignite when the vodka goes up, and this will result in six foot high flames in your frying pan along with a hand that is the surface upon which hot oil is being consumed with fire.
Furthermore, once your pan, stovetop, and hand are engulfed in flame, you can do nothing besides place the flaming pan away from heat WITHOUT spilling it or tossing it in the sink (as oil and vodka floats) and letting it burn itself out. With 1/4 cup of vodka, this takes roughly twenty seconds. (Your hand extinguishes much faster because you jam it into a towel.)
(Technically your container of flour on the counter could have been used, or the baking soda in the cabinet, but you would be more concerned with the flaming pan and your hand at this point and you've flambéd enough French sauces to know the alcohol will burn off before you could have been effective.)
I am glad that I work in a medical center. I can't imagine how much fun operating a keyboard will be tomorrow am.
That's all I got, folks. Second and third degree burns and singed cabinets. (It was a good pan, though - totally didn't wreck the finish.) I can't count the number of times I have prepared Penne ala Vodka carelessly. All I can say is, I'm glad I haven't actually moved into my house yet, and it was my apartment I would have torched instead.
(Also, now I know that I freak but keep my presence of mind when on fire. If I'd tossed the pan, I would have had a SERIOUS problem.)
So! Remove from heat does not mean "pick up off of heat and take two steps back." No matter how many times you have done it in the past.
Edit - and now that I have the fingers of my left hand freed once again (and some nifty painkilling salve courtesy my peeps) I can type! This is a total shout-out to
lulabyeleague for not panicking when I started yelling her name after I lit the kitchen on fire. She was playing Katamari and I alternately wanted her to be aware that I was burning the place down and make my hand stop hurting. =) She totally didn't freak out, whereas I did a bit. =) (I think we've played a little too much cooperative Halo 2. Somehow I think I expected her to do something. Given the circumstances, I have no idea what that would have been. She did shut the fire alarm right up, which was nice. So thanks. =)