If you're going to burn food on the stove....

[perry]

This is so bad I figured that I'd better find out who else can relate....

I burned my breakfast this morning - so bad that all that is left is black gunk in the pan - and I'm not sure if I can save the pan (an expensive pan).

So here is the recipe for how to really burn your breakfast and create a mess.

Note this is the base of my standard breakfast which I cook and eat an average of 6 times per week - so you would think I'd have it down pat.

1/2 cup brown basmati rice in pan; 1 cup water, salt.

Put on burner on High - then when it starts to simmer put lid on pan - and forget to turn the heat to low.... (Normally takes 40 minutes to cook while on low) Then I add different things to the rice depending on the day and how I feel (sliced peaches, tart cherries - a local product that I grew up on, canned salmon, etc).

While rice is cooking spend time on the internet (I've been spending most of my time recently on dating sites) and get involved with answering a message while waiting for a online video appointment.... until you notice that you smell something burning....

Head for the kitchen and you can see a cloud of smoke before you get there.... Smoke and steam are streaming out of the lid.

Pull pan from the burner (the burner is glowing red hot) and place on another cold burner

Turn vent fans on - open outside door - close internal doors to keep most of the smoke in the kitchen area. Take a few minutes outside (about 0 F) barefoot to clear stinging eyes and lungs.


Grab a glass of water, lift lid on pan, and toss in the water - and slam the lid down: But not quick enough to prevent an immediate wide area splash and splatter of black gunk in about a 3 ft radius....

Get out of kitchen - closing last internal door and don't go back for a half an hour to allow venting of the smoke.

There is quite the mess in the kitchen - and it still stinks (hours later). There is a "pad" of charcoal rice in the pan - and I don't know if I can save the pan or not.

One of life's little follies.... and I did it good this morning.

If you're going to burn food on the stove.... you might as well do a proper job of it. I've always prided myself on doing a good job at things I do. This was a dandy.

So how many can relate....

Perry

ps: my "internet video date" that I was to meet online while the rice was cooking stood me up. Sometimes all you can do is laugh...

 

[davi_el_mejor]

At least your day can only get better right?

Thanks for the recipe, I'll save it with my "giant pot of cold macaroni and cheese in the microwave" from when I was eight.

 

[vc10um]

I forgot frozen green beans in about 1/4" of water on the stove several years ago. I think I cooked them for about 30 minutes on high with the lid on? The pan was not salvageable. At least I caught them before the smoke detector went off!

 

[JulieN]

If it is stainless steel, you should be able to. Fill it halfway with water, and put it on medium heat until the gunk softens and loosens a bit.

 

[soocool]

You could also trying adding some baking soda and hot water to the pot and just let it soak in there overnight. Then the next day scrape out the gunk with a nylon scraper.

 

[that_someone_special]

Oh good grief!!!! What a day! Ugh.

I agree- your day can only get better

 

[Kaleigh]

Perry,

I think we all can relate. I did that a couple of years ago.. I got so caught up in something on PS, ran down stairs after smelling the pot burning. I couldn't save it, and it was one of my favorites...

Hoping you had a great rest of the day... Everyone is right, it can only go up from here....

There are so many sales going on right now, so if you can't salvage it. I hope you can find it's replacement at a good price.

Regards,

Lisa

 

[perry]

Thanks all.

Yes, I'll be able to save the pan. The burned rice pad broke loose on its own and floated after sitting in some water.

This is a Stainless Steal pan with a silver soldered heat transfer base (to ensure uniform heat, reasonable heat up rate, and that the pan would also work on magnetic burners). It is not warped nor did I melt the silver solder (which I did once on another pan).

I got most of the splatter cleaned up and the washable stuff off of the pan - the stench in the kitchen has gone down noticeably.

Of course, getting it nice and shinny will take some doing; but I have some metal cleaner somewhere that should do the trick. I'll look for it later.

Right now I'm playing with trying to make my own videos.... Today is my first attempts (I know - this geezer is behind the times).

Have a great day,

Perry

 

[Amber St. Clare]

My contact lense sanitizer broke, my dr. told me to boil them {in their lens care for 10 minutes.

An hour later I found a melted lens care and melted lens inside a very hot Revereware pan. The insurance company didn't believe my claim!

 

[LGK]

Ooh, that's a good one! I once melted the bottom out of a pot completely- a stainless steel one. It made a fairly large blob of melted steel shaped like a spaceship. That especially clever. It was just water at least that I'd boiled off and forgot for a loooonnng time.

Another time I detonated a pyrex baking dish. Set it on a burner, which I'd forgotten I'd turned on low. Left the kitchen. Heard it explode like a freaking bomb going off shortly thereafter. Wow, was that a ginormous mess. Teensy tiny shards of pyrex freaking everywhere, found them for almost a year later still in various nooks & crannies.

Have fun cleaning your basmati rice mess. That sounds utterly nasty!

 

[Gothgrrl]

I'm glad your alright. How scary was that? I'm glad you can save that pan. I can offer to cook for you. How does Kraft mac and cheese sound?

 

[perry]

I'm glad your alright. How scary was that? I'm glad you can save that pan. I can offer to cook for you. How does Kraft mac and cheese sound?

Gothgrrl.... Someone who can cook and likes jewelry.... Invitation accepted, when can you start?

Perry

 

[Gypsy]

I made this stew that is fabulous as left overs. Even better the second day. SO... I made a LOT. And I was so looking forward to having it again.

Well. I thought DH put the extra away. And he thought I had put the extra away. But NOPE. We both just left it on the stove on simmer. With the burner ON. Overnight... all through the work day... and came home to a charcoal brick of what used to be stew, but was now... as far as we could tell permanently fused to the non-stick (hehe) stockpot.

If you are gonna do something do it the best that you can.

It took WEEKS to get the smell out of the house. The pot we just tossed immediately. But the smell lingered for days.

Props to you Perry!

 

[Lorelei]

Perry, try some laundry detergent in the pan, add it to some hot water and let the pan soak overnight, this normally does a pretty good job of removing any gunk and brightening the metal.

 

[perry]

The pan is currently nice and shinny with a few black spots. Getting those out will take a bit more effort or a change in strategy. I'm seeing if cooking in the pan breaks them free. It took perhaps 5 minutes to clean the pan up to that point. I dug up a 15 year old tube of Amway metal cleaner (for stainless, copper, and brass) I have around the house. I use it about once every 4 years for something. The stuff really works.

The pan is currently back in service cooking brown basmati rice. Today I don't eat breakfast out of a can (which is what I did yesterday in a pinch - canned sweet potatoes - note these are not "candied" so there is not much added sugar in them).

You all have a great day,

Perry

 

[chemgirl]

Ooh, that's a good one! I once melted the bottom out of a pot completely- a stainless steel one. It made a fairly large blob of melted steel shaped like a spaceship. That especially clever. It was just water at least that I'd boiled off and forgot for a loooonnng time.

Another time I detonated a pyrex baking dish. Set it on a burner, which I'd forgotten I'd turned on low. Left the kitchen. Heard it explode like a freaking bomb going off shortly thereafter. Wow, was that a ginormous mess. Teensy tiny shards of pyrex freaking everywhere, found them for almost a year later still in various nooks & crannies.

Have fun cleaning your basmati rice mess. That sounds utterly nasty!

That happened to me too, but it was in the oven and had a lasagna in it. I had a lot in the oven, so the rack was higher than normal. I turned on the broiler for the last few minutes to make the cheese bubble and I guess the dish was touching the burner. My boyfriend at the time pulled it out of the oven and it sounded like the explosions I used to do when I taught chemistry lab. Loudest bang I have ever heard and my ears were ringing. The poor guy was left holding the handle of the dish. The lasagna fell down to the bottom of the stove and the glass shot out at least 10 feet. That was a fun mess.

Glad the pot can be saved Perry!

 

[Gothgrrl]

There are 3 things I cook that everybody says if FAB. Homemade tacos, pot roast and spaghetti with turkey meatballs. The funny thing is, being Oriental I cannot make white rice. Even with a rice cooker, it comes out too mushy or too hard. Forget about trying to do the rice to water ratio. I just plain suck at it.

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm loving this thread! I'd add an anecdote, but I'm afraid my disasters just don't measure up... yet! (Exploding pyrex dishes - yikes! )

Glad you were able to salvage the pan, Perry!

 

[Gypsy]

Ooh, that's a good one! I once melted the bottom out of a pot completely- a stainless steel one. It made a fairly large blob of melted steel shaped like a spaceship. That especially clever. It was just water at least that I'd boiled off and forgot for a loooonnng time.

Another time I detonated a pyrex baking dish. Set it on a burner, which I'd forgotten I'd turned on low. Left the kitchen. Heard it explode like a freaking bomb going off shortly thereafter. Wow, was that a ginormous mess. Teensy tiny shards of pyrex freaking everywhere, found them for almost a year later still in various nooks & crannies.

Have fun cleaning your basmati rice mess. That sounds utterly nasty!

You win.

 

[Upgradable]

Did you know that steak can melt? Apparently, you put the piece of cooked steak on the Correll plate and set the microwave timer to 20:00 instead of 2:00. It is also necessary to have a sister (who is supposed to be supervising) rivited to the television set. Oh, and he also discovered that Correll IS breakable.

 

[Amethyste]

I'd just ask my housekeeper to clean it up!

oh.... I remember, I am the housekeeper.

I burned some pork chops in the pan before. I let it soak for 3 days and it came off after with some elbow grease and a box of SOS pads lol.


You had an "Internet Video Date"? Your wife I assume? If not your wife, i hope you have a creative mind.

 

[partgypsy]

The other week as I get home from work and my husband is getting ready for work informs me "I made pizza".
Normally if he makes pizza he makes one for us and a cheese version (for the kids)
he's leaving for work, I look in the oven and only see one loaded pizza. I ask him "is this all we have?" He says yup.

When it's done I take out the pan quick so I don't burn myself. cutting it up, wondering how I'm going to convince my kids to eat a pizza with pepperoni, red pepers, onions and spinach on it. They initially complain but other than putting a couple things on my plate eat it, because "that's all we have, sorry".

The next day my husband asks me how I managed to burn the sh*t out of his pizza. I say, it wasn't burned that bad. He says "yeah, I just threw it out". And I get mad, saying I was going to bring it to work for lunch.
Eventually we both figure out that he is talking about a second pizza, an all cheese one on the lower rack that I left in the oven until it became a burnt brown doorstop.