A couple of arbitrary hints

[Tab]

1) Keep a box of Arm & Hammer baking soda in a cabinet fairly close at hand.
I've only had things catch on fire about 3 times in the last 20 years - twice on the stovetop (in pans), and once a puddle of god-knows-what at the bottom of the oven caught fire. Dump some baking soda on it and it goes out without trashing your oven with water or a fire extinguisher. Otherwise you risk (a) not putting it out and maybe making it worse by using the wrong thing, (b) making everything inedible with fire extinguisher stuff, (c) making a god-awful mess and possibly ruining your oven by using water, or (d) not having anything to put it out with and burning down your kitchen.

2) Notice the twist-ties and little plastic bag-closers on baked goods at the store.
I used to check expiration dates to find the fresher bread deliveries (from major baked goods providers, not locals). I'd rather get a new loaf of multigrain oat or rye bread than one about to expire. Somewhere along the line I noticed that all the baked goods in any given shipment had the same color twistie or plastic closer. For instance, the shipment that has an expiration date of 16 May might have a blue twist-tie or closer, and the shipment that had an expiration date of 23 May would all have a white colored one. This gives me a quick way of finding out either if everything on the shelf is from the same shipment, or if not, all I have to do is find two differently-colored closers - I don't have to check each only to find out there's no difference in freshness among all the ones of the same color.



Just because it's Tuesday night and I'm bored. I am making sweet Italian sausage, though, with red onions sauteed to soft in a touch of olive oil and sausages grilled to the edge of crisp and placed with the onions in a tangy marinara sauce. The trick now is to keep my thieving bastard of a dog from getting it.

[wildflower]

1. I thought the contents of a fire extinguisher was baking soda

But more finely powdered. Or do they add other stuff to it?

[Tab]

4. Depends on the fire extinguisher

They have different ratings on the side. Maybe it is baking soda, but if you can control where the soda goes for a small fire, it'll be less of a mess than blasting a fire extinguisher at it (but, by all means, certainly use the extinguisher if that's needed).

[Tab]

7. I just checked mine

(a generic home extinguisher.)

Baking soda IS the prime ingredient, but they add other stuff that I wouldn't want in my food. Some kind of chemical variation of talc, then "magnesium aluminum silicate" (which I think is to keep it together and not blow baking soda all over), and finally a third item ominously listed as "irritant".

If it's a choice between your food and your house/kitchen, you should opt for the extinguisher, of course, but otherwise I'd try to take a crack at it first with the box of Arm & Hammer. It won't spray all over, and it won't be getting "magnesium aluminum silicate" in your ceviche.

[Warpy]

2. Stovetop conflagrations are best extinguished with a lid

and no, it doesn't have to fit tightly to shut enough air off to the fire to get it under control while you shut the heat off. In a pinch, a damp kitchen towel will do the same. Just don't ever, ever put water on a grease fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95_gFWD9lc

I don't know what to do about those thieving bastard dogs except doghouses outdoors in nice weather.

[Tab]

5. At least for me

my lids are always buried somewhere deep in a cabinet. I don't cook with them often, except to keep the dogs out. By the time I found a lid big enough to extinguish, I wouldn't have a kitchen left. But you're right.

Also, this brings up why when you're adding wine or liquor to a dish, you take the dish off the heat while you add it, lest the flammable alcohol catches fire, climbs the stream and blows the back of the bottle out sending glass all over the kitchen, and possibly any bystanders. Just sayin'.

[pengillian101]

10. Hia Tab!

How ya doing? Hope you are feeling better and are posting at DU! Wait a minute...you are! :hi:

Man, a kitchen fire is scary, eh?

I have survived a few, although not of my own making as yet.

[elleng]

3. I've kept container of salt nearby, for fire hazards.

Italian sausage (w. onion, garlic, peppers, canned tomatoes) one of my daughters' favorites! As they're so OLD now, they call me for recipe; few if any opportunities to prepare it, these days!

[SalviaBlue]

6. Bread Tags are color coded to the day of delivery

Blue - Mon
Green - Tues
Red - Thurs
Yellow - Fri
White - Sat

Most tags I see have the dates stamped on them, but the colors go alphabetically so you can determine which is older even if it doesn't have a date.

Your baking soda tip is a good one too. I learned that the hard way years ago when I was frantically opening cupboards to find it to put out a grease fire.

[hippywife]

9. Yep.

Takes less time for the bread man to do his thing in each store. No more trying to read the dates on the bad.

:hi:

[live love laugh]

8. Hahahaaa "...thieving bastard of a dog..." I have one too, nt