It all started out like any normal cooking venture I do:
- Get out the supplies and ingredients.
- Cut things up.
- Pre-heat the pan.
- Get ready to have fun.
After everything was prepared for the main event, I added a couple of Tbsp of vegetable oil to my stainless steel 12″ skillet, which had been pre-heating on 6 for about 4 minutes.
Anyone have a problem with that? Lemme know now, because I do that all the time. ALL the time.
This time, however, things took a turn for the worse. As I tilted the pan to spread the oil out before dropping the steak to sear, steam/smoke immediately started to roll in a convection motion around the inside of the pan (and no, I didn’t slop any and it’s a glass-top stove). Three seconds later, PHOOOM!!! One foot flames erupted from the pan in a flash burn, only it wasn’t over. It kept burning.
Three seconds later, I started yelling, “FIRE!!” to K, who was probably thinking I was joking until she saw the inferno in my hand as I took it out from the hood, but had yet decided what to do. The only things I knew to not do were:
- panic (too late!!)
- use water
- dump the oil
The only thing I could think to do was to cover it with the lid. Doh! i just blocked access to the cabinet with the pan on the tile floor, so I had to move it a bit. Lid in hand, I tried to aim it onto the bonfire. It skidded across the top and rested half on/half off. That sucked. I tried again, and again. Finally. It went out in about two seconds with another phoomp! and turned the glass lid a nice charred black.
All of the smoke detectors in the apartment started going off and the floor was hot for about a half hour afterward. After cleaning out the pan, I tried again, this time with the heat on 4. Dinner was a success.
