I will never again . . . (Part 2)

[Rachel Perlow]

Extra stupidity alert: last night I had preheated one end of my double burner cast iron griddle/grill plate. This was to keep stock hot that was being held in a pyrex measuring cup. Later, I needed to turn over the griddle to use the grill, that went fine, the front was still cool, no issue. However, it wasn't quite as far forward as I liked. Guessed yet? I had flipped the thing top to bottom, so the hot part was now in the front. Dumb ass that I was, I grabbed the handle to adjust it. OUCH!

Hand straight under running cold water then onto a bowl of ice water, for hours. I was expecting to have blisters on the pads of two fingers and the thumb of my right hand (I'm experienced with burns of this type, unfortunately). However, keeping my hand in the ice water for as long as I did must have done the trick. Although I needed lots of tylenol last night for the pain, this morning the skin just feels a little numb and stiffened, rather than blistered -- no, it's not 3rd degree, I know the difference.

Anyway, Jason yelled at me for not having potholders next to the stove, but I'm sure I would have made this brilliant move regardless.

ICE THOSE BURNS IMMEDIATELY PEOPLE. And for way longer than is comfortable.

PS -- I had all my mise en place ready, so Jason was able to follow the recipe for Israeli Couscous Risotto without too much help from me.

[hathor]

Extra stupidity alert: last night I had preheated one end of my double burner cast iron griddle/grill plate. This was to keep stock hot that was being held in a pyrex measuring cup. Later, I needed to turn over the griddle to use the grill, that went fine, the front was still cool, no issue. However, it wasn't quite as far forward as I liked. Guessed yet? I had flipped the thing top to bottom, so the hot part was now in the front. Dumb ass that I was, I grabbed the handle to adjust it. OUCH!

Hand straight under running cold water then onto a bowl of ice water, for hours. I was expecting to have blisters on the pads of two fingers and the thumb of my right hand (I'm experienced with burns of this type, unfortunately). However, keeping my hand in the ice water for as long as I did must have done the trick. Although I needed lots of tylenol last night for the pain, this morning the skin just feels a little numb and stiffened, rather than blistered -- no, it's not 3rd degree, I know the difference.

Anyway, Jason yelled at me for not having potholders next to the stove, but I'm sure I would have made this brilliant move regardless.

ICE THOSE BURNS IMMEDIATELY PEOPLE. And for way longer than is comfortable.

PS -- I had all my mise en place ready, so Jason was able to follow the recipe for Israeli Couscous Risotto without too much help from me.

Keep a bottle of lavender oil around...just dump some on the burn. Its miraculous.

At least you got to drown your sorrows with the couscous. I HATE burning my hands!

[Rachel Perlow]

Do you still ice the burn, or just put lavender oil on it? Is it actually oily? Or, is it used afterwards to help heal the skin/scar?

[Marmish]

I also frequently burn myself, following by much swearing and lots of ice water. The most recent was after buying new fancy pants silicone pot holders so I wouldn't burn myself. They have this nice little hole so you can hang them up. Of course, if you put your finger over the hole and pick up the cookie sheet, they don't work so well.

Edited June 9, 2004 by Marmish (log)

[LittleMissCrepe]

I will never again...neglect to remove the plastic cover from the top part of my meat thermometer.

Yes, I almost melted part of my meat thermometer right into the 1.3 kilo roast beef I was cooking on Sunday night. I checked the roast at 20 minutes and was horrified to discover that the top part (the little round meter with all the markings) was a liquefied green blob. (I had, by the way, taken off the plastic sleeve that covers the poky part of the thermometer. I'm not a complete disaster.)

I yanked it out right away and was relieved that nothing had dripped onto the roast. But now I didn't have a meat thermometer and eight people were coming over for dinner in an hour. I didn't even know what temperature my oven was at because the stupid relic - which is about the size of an EasyBake, by the way - doesn't have temperature markings around the dial. It just has a gauge reading "Templado [Temperate]...Caliente...Muy Caliente."

I called a friend down the block to see if she had a meat thermometer. No one answered. I called another friend. No luck. Then I called my mother in tears, long distance from Buenos Aires to Chicago. She told me to throw away the roast - she thought the entire thermometer had melted into the meat. Her advice made me cry even harder and I ended up hanging up on her. (A contrite e-mail followed the next day.)

Eventually I calmed down. I had to crack open the salt crust ahead of time to saw into the roast, but it was worth it to make sure it was done properly. The roast turned out just fine and no one got sick.

The meat thermometer cost me 37 pesos ($1=ARS2.955). I'll consider it my stupid tax for the month.

[hathor]

Do you still ice the burn, or just put lavender oil on it? Is it actually oily? Or, is it used afterwards to help heal the skin/scar?

Its an essential oil, lavender oil, and you can ice for a few minutes and then douse directly with the oil. Here's a link that explains more about lavender: Camden-Grey. Scroll down until you get to lavender.

I also use aloe vera directly from the plant, but the lavender seems to take the "ouch" out quicker, and the healing/scaring is better. (I've gotten some doozy burns on my hands over the years...haven't we all??). Please, PM if you want some more info.

Regards!

[Toasted]

Do: Dry your salad greens by placing them in a pillow case and spinning them around as suggested by someone on egullet.

Don't: Leave the pillow case on the counter because your husband might try to be helpful and throw it into the washing machine.

Also don't: say bad words that your children will probably repeat the second they get into school the next day while you are cleaning all the lettuce and spinach out of the washing machine. And that's all I have to say about it.

[bleudauvergne]

I will never again put vegetables into a stock that I forgot to degrease, remove them, carefully and painstakingly degrease the stock, and then return the grease coated vegetables to the stock.

[andiesenji]

I will never again...neglect to remove the plastic cover from the top part of my meat thermometer.

Yes, I almost melted part of my meat thermometer right into the 1.3 kilo roast beef I was cooking on Sunday night. I checked the roast at 20 minutes and was horrified to discover that the top part (the little round meter with all the markings) was a liquefied green blob. (I had, by the way, taken off the plastic sleeve that covers the poky part of the thermometer. I'm not a complete disaster.)

I yanked it out right away and was relieved that nothing had dripped onto the roast. But now I didn't have a meat thermometer and eight people were coming over for dinner in an hour. I didn't even know what temperature my oven was at because the stupid relic - which is about the size of an EasyBake, by the way - doesn't have temperature markings around the dial. It just has a gauge reading "Templado [Temperate]...Caliente...Muy Caliente."

I called a friend down the block to see if she had a meat thermometer. No one answered. I called another friend. No luck. Then I called my mother in tears, long distance from Buenos Aires to Chicago. She told me to throw away the roast - she thought the entire thermometer had melted into the meat. Her advice made me cry even harder and I ended up hanging up on her. (A contrite e-mail followed the next day.)

Eventually I calmed down. I had to crack open the salt crust ahead of time to saw into the roast, but it was worth it to make sure it was done properly. The roast turned out just fine and no one got sick.

The meat thermometer cost me 37 pesos ($1=ARS2.955). I'll consider it my stupid tax for the month.

Those "instant-read" thermometers are not meant to be left in the meat while it is roasting. A regular meat thermometer is all steel and glass with no plastic parts.

I have a couple that are at least 15 years old and still work just fine. They are is much larger than the instant-read thermometers, the shaft is almost as big as a pencil. They have a read pointer that can be moved around the rim to set at the temperature you want. (Realizing that a lot of people have difficulty reading the numbers but can see the needle line up with the pointer just fine.) They are practically indestructible unless one forgets and grabs it without something to protect the hand and throws it across the kitchen,meanwhile plunging hand into ice water to stop the burning of three fingers.............

I don't know where you live but there is a very inexpensive instant read thermometer for meat that is longer than the regular ones, looks like a fork with a thick handle that is easy to grasp and the window to read the temp is near the end of the handle so you don't have to singe your eyebrows trying to read the thing. I found one at Walgreen's Drug store.

Otherwise get one of the Polder thermometers with the probe extension. Stick the probe in the meat, lead the wire cable out of the oven (the door will close just fine) and the thermometer itself has a magnet on the back that will hold it to the oven door.

You can set it for time or for temperature. When the meat reaches the set temperature the alarm will sound. It is loud enough to be heard two rooms away in my house.

I also have one with a true remote, the probe stays in the meat and you can wear the timer around your neck. I am not convinced this one will actually work so have not relied on it. (it was a gift from a friend who knows my penchant for gadgets)

If I am roasting a large piece of meat, I use the old reliable meat thermometer.

Edited June 12, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[NulloModo]

I will never again:

Take a look at the spice resevoir in my brand new spice mill, which I have just used to grind dried thai bird chiles, notice that it is still covered in chile dust, and figure the best means of cleaning it is to stick my face (and therefore my eyes) up close to it and blow real hard.

[andiesenji]

I will never again:

Take a look at the spice resevoir in my brand new spice mill, which I have just used to grind dried thai bird chiles, notice that it is still covered in chile dust, and figure the best means of cleaning it is to stick my face (and therefore my eyes) up close to it and blow real hard.

Ouch! That can do damage.

Are you okay now?

[Suzanne F]

. . . A regular meat thermometer is all steel and glass with no plastic parts. 

I have a couple that are at least 15 years old and still work just fine.  They are is much larger than the instant-read thermometers, the shaft is almost as big as a pencil.  . . . They are practically indestructible unless one forgets and grabs it without something to protect the hand and throws it across the kitchen,meanwhile plunging hand into ice water to stop the burning of three fingers.............

. . .If I am roasting a large piece of meat, I use the old reliable meat thermometer.

Ah yes, reminds me of many, many years ago, when I that kind of meat thermometer -- except this was so long ago, it had a column of colored liquid in a glass tube, that rose up against a marked-off metal plaque. (It had, in fact, survived several instances of being dropped after I tried to pull it out bare-handed.) It came with a skewer-like pick with which to make a hole in the roast first.

One time, I couldn't get the pick in very far, because the meat was still frozen at the center. Oh, well, I thought, I'll just jam in the glass tube of the thermometer anyway. . . . Yes, indeed, shards of glass in the roast, liquid of unknown provenance all over the meat. I did not eat roast beef that night.

[NulloModo]

I will never again:

Take a look at the spice resevoir in my brand new spice mill, which I have just used to grind dried thai bird chiles, notice that it is still covered in chile dust, and figure the best means of cleaning it is to stick my face (and therefore my eyes) up close to it and blow real hard.

Ouch! That can do damage.

Are you okay now?

Yes, that one was this evening actually, but the pain and blurred vision were alleviated through a brief consultation with Dr. Jim Beam.

This just hasn't been my week for cooking safety: I've managed to almost fully sever the tip of my finger, blow chile powder all over my eyes, and grab both the handle of a hot cast iron skillet as well as a metal broiler plate from underneath the broiler.

[andiesenji]

If this ever happens again, wash your face and your eyes with milk. The casein in the milk will glom onto the capsaisin and carry it away and stop the burning.

I have even put it in a dropper and into my nose when I got a snootful of Scotch Bonnet powder.

Believe me, it works.

[Enzian]

In an experiment of mine to understand the difference between shallots and onions, I caramelized a handful of shallots and then a whole white onion. I had a lovely shallot and onion brunch. Man alive, it was good. Good enough for more? SURE!

I caramelize even more shallots and another white onion together and then toss in a buch of mushrooms. A lovely shallot/onion/shroom brunch! Delicious!

And then the gas hits. Oof! Like a punch in the gut. Room-clearing, eye-watering, silent-but-deadly gas. For two and a half days.

=============

In college, my gradfather gave me a gallon tank of apple juice. Okay. I wasn't a big apple juice guy, but I kept in on hand.

Sure enough, I'm out of food. Nothing in the apt. but my huge tank of apple juice. I drink it in about an hour.

Spastic stomach-wrenching for the rest of the day. It was like a giant was wringing the excrement from my bowels like he was twisting out a sopping dishtowel. I had no idea apple juice would do that.

==============

I never had bread pudding, before, but a friend brought a tray of his Mom's beloved recipe to my place for a Bachelor's Thanksgiving. Much drinking and Ken Griffey Jr. baseball later and the guests leave and I crash. I wake up and see the tray of bread pudding on the counter. I eat it.

Three days of agony. Lying on the couch too ill to watch TV because it would make me dizzy and sick. Shaking, sweating, freezing. Bi-directional vomitting. Complete and total incapacitance.

[s'kat]

Dude.

[Andrew Fenton]

I never had bread pudding, before, but a friend brought a tray of his Mom's beloved recipe to my place for a Bachelor's Thanksgiving. Much drinking and Ken Griffey Jr. baseball later and the guests leave and I crash. I wake up and see the tray of bread pudding on the counter. I eat it.

Three days of agony. Lying on the couch too ill to watch TV because it would make me dizzy and sick. Shaking, sweating, freezing. Bi-directional vomitting. Complete and total incapacitance.

I don't get it. Why would bread pudding do that. Was it rotten?

[lesfen]

That was... disturbing. Yes, I think that's the best word for it.

[CompassRose]

You are not crazy at all...well, maybe a little.. but lavender oil is a great, all purpose oil.

To add to its miracle properties: lavender oil is also much loathed by cats. They just won't quit whizzin' on the hall rug? Spritz it with a solution of lavender. Not only does it smell better than the chemical soup of Febreze, but the Evil Beasts will give it a wide berth until the scent fades. (Which doesn't mean that they won't prowl the abode for some other exciting new location.)

As a corollary to that, don't use it as first aid for pets, at least not cats.

[hathor]

You are not crazy at all...well, maybe a little..   but lavender oil is a great, all purpose oil.

To add to its miracle properties: lavender oil is also much loathed by cats. They just won't quit whizzin' on the hall rug? Spritz it with a solution of lavender. Not only does it smell better than the chemical soup of Febreze, but the Evil Beasts will give it a wide berth until the scent fades. (Which doesn't mean that they won't prowl the abode for some other exciting new location.)

As a corollary to that, don't use it as first aid for pets, at least not cats.

Good to know. thanks!

[Reap]

assume that my sister will check to see if it's powder sugar instead of baking soda in the container for making icing for my birthday cake!!! It was the fluffiest frosting ever and the cake looked SO pretty..........and everyone ate a few bites (while looking at each other and not saying anything!!) until we just couldn't help but spit it out and laugh. Happened over ten years ago, and we still have a good laugh about it.

Edited June 16, 2004 by Reap (log)

[hathor]

assume that my sister will check to see if it's powder sugar instead of baking soda in the container for making icing for my birthday cake!!! It was the fluffiest frosting ever and the cake looked SO pretty..........and everyone ate a few bites (while looking at each other and not saying anything!!) until we just couldn't help but spit it out and laugh. Happened over ten years ago, and we still have a good laugh about it.

We have a family story about a great aunt who made the best turkey stuffing on the planet. Only one day, she dumped some Ivory soap flakes in by mistake, and thought no one would notice.

[NeroW]

Once at school I melted a spatula into some caramel I was cooking for pots de creme.

I also thought no one would notice. No one was going to eat it, anyway.

Wrong! Them Pastry Chefs have sharp eyes.

[Suzanne F]

If this ever happens again, wash your face and your eyes with milk. The casein in the milk will glom onto the capsaisin and carry it away and stop the burning.

I have even put it in a dropper and into my nose when I got a snootful of Scotch Bonnet powder.

Believe me, it works.

Gotta add this to the list of Best Things I've Learned on eGullet. Thanks!

[Suzanne F]

I never had bread pudding, before, but a friend brought a tray of his Mom's beloved recipe to my place for a Bachelor's Thanksgiving. Much drinking and Ken Griffey Jr. baseball later and the guests leave and I crash. I wake up and see the tray of bread pudding on the counter. I eat it.

Three days of agony. Lying on the couch too ill to watch TV because it would make me dizzy and sick. Shaking, sweating, freezing. Bi-directional vomitting. Complete and total incapacitance.

I don't get it. Why would bread pudding do that. Was it rotten?

Andrew, have you ever made bread pudding? Eggs, milk, bread -- the devil's playground, especially if left out on the counter, unrefrigerated, overnight.