Smoking mishaps

[smokininthegarden]

Just wondering if anyone has any stories to share about smoking endeavors that went terribly
wrong?

I will start with one of mine. Back when I was a teenager we would go to the river and catch
large amounts of whitefish.
We would skin them fillet them then my Dad would smoke them in a large cardboard box.
He would use a hot plate and an old frying pan to produce the smoke, it worked great.
Later I started getting into smoking sausage, I used the same technique as he did, for the first couple of times it worked fine. Then one day on a hot summer afternoon I was smoking
some large salamis, I had just been out there checking on them, the temps were perfect
everything looked great. I went in the house for maybe 5 min. When I came back out the
entire box was engulfed in flames. I grabbed something and beat the flames out, but
the salamis were a total loss, as well as the glass candy thermometers I was using that belonged to my mom, I felt really bad about the whole thing. I don’t think I smoked anything for a longtime after that.

Cal

 

[PoukieBear]

I don’t have any smoking mishaps, (still a newbie) but I do have a scary kitchen mishap.

My husband had made fried chicken the night before, and left the pot of oil on the back burner (the one we never use) to cool. The next day as I was preparing breakfast, I turned on the front burner to warm up a pan....only it wasn’t the front burner I had turned on, it was the back one where the oil was.

Next thing I know, the pot of oil is on fire. I grabbed the handle, and took it outside to the patio (yes, I realize how dumb that option was!) so I didn’t burn the house down. I ran back inside and threw a dish towel in the sink to wet it, then threw it over the flaming pot.

My husband then comes strolling downstairs, to find me in the backyard pretending like nothing had ever happened, and that no, this smoking pot of oil is nothing to worry about.

 

[smokininthegarden]

That is a scary story, I have never had a kitchen fire at home. I’ve worked in
food service kitchens for many years and have seen a few small fires but
nothing to get to excited about. Having something like that happen in my home kitchen would be very nerve racking.

Cal

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Oof..oil fires can be scary.

I've never had a dangerous smoking mishap persay, at least in retrospect they weren't dangerous.

I did how ever have chicken in my smoker once and was using a blend of mesquite and I think apple, I got it going, it seemed fine, and then 5 minutes later the smoker was reading 300f and climbing.

The mesquite pellets had ignited on their own inside my smoker and were blazing away. I found out that Mesquite ain't so bad for chicken that way...and that you can actually exceed 300f in a Masterbuilt. You know; if you basically start an entire AMNPS on fire. ;)

 

[chilerelleno]

Bacon fire in kitchen, had to pee, shoulda turned burner off, nuff said.

Left a small cast iron skillet on electric stove on high.
I was out of the house all day.
No fire, but the smoke and smell was really bad, and it ruined a heirloom CI skillet.

Grease fire in smoker.

Chicken drippings fire in grill.

Our dog stole some pricey steaks.
Kids saved dog from irate daddy.

Burnt Stuff... Let me count the times.
1, 2, 3... 10... You get the picture.
Most recent was pork belly crackling, but I managed to save it.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Thinking I could cook up some bacon directly on the grill grates of my old gasser. Watching grease flames lick the propane line will get your attention FAST!

Thinking it's ok to hold a chimney full of hot coals directly above a sandalled foot and the hot ash falls on it.

Trying to cold smoke cheese in the summer.

 

[JJS]

I had just gotten a WSM back in the day and after seasoning it decided to throw a fricken ton of chicken on it to try it out, got the temp stable and ran up to the gas station for something, I knew something wasn’t right when I could see smoke (not the good kind) from 1/2 mile from the house.

In my excitement to use the damn thing I never put the water pan in it so all the chicken grease was fueling the fire...

It is pretty impressive how many BTUs chicken contains. It got so hot it warped every piece of that smoker to the point it was unusable...

Lesson learned! Ended up back at the gas station to grab some more beer and forget about how stupid I was, the grilled cheese I made for dinner that night went off without a hitch.

 

[jac63]

Years ago, maybe in the early 90's I came in mid morning from turkey hunting and decided to fry up some bacon for breakfast. Just got the bacon on and through the open kitchen window I heard a turkey gobble right behind the house. We live on our own farm so I grab my shotgun and out the back door I go to just give a couple quick calls from the edge of the yard. Of course the ol tom kept gobbling but wouldn't budge so I decided to slip around the side of him and call from a new direction. All of this took time and meanwhile the bacon is still frying and I have completely forgotten it. Long story short when I finally got back to the house a couple hours later all that was left was one very ruined cast iron skillet and a stinking, smokey house. Needless to say my wife wasn't very proud of me for that little escapade and she still brings it up from time to time. Still not sure how I didn't burn the house down that day.

 

[mooncusser]

The missus reminds me of a certain time years ago I had trouble lighting the gas grill...

The igniter was junk, so I'm kneeling next to it and trying a long match thru a hole in the side. It's also breezy so the match keeps getting blown out. So I put the lid down to block the wind - with the gas running, of course.

Took a minute or two to get a lit match inside it. Ignites the gas with a big WHOOMP! Kicks the lid open so hard, it rebounds and slams shut......blowing out the burners. Back to square 1 but at least no one hurt and lesson learned.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

The missus reminds me of a certain time years ago I had trouble lighting the gas grill...

The igniter was junk, so I'm kneeling next to it and trying a long match thru a hole in the side. It's also breezy so the match keeps getting blown out. So I put the lid down to block the wind - with the gas running, of course.

Took a minute or two to get a lit match inside it. Ignites the gas with a big WHOOMP! Kicks the lid open so hard, it rebounds and slams shut......blowing out the burners. Back to square 1 but at least no one hurt and lesson learned.

LOL! I did similiar with our dukane. The igniter had gone out on it, and my mother was afraid to light it. This was when I was still in high school. Well she had turned on the propane and the burners to run the gas, chickened out of lighting it, but didn't tell any one.

So when I go out there, I thought they had just opened the gas flow, I use a long lighter, and the grill promptly back flipped into the yard and I had no eyebrows.

And that was the day I switched to charcoal LOL

 

[mooncusser]

LOL! I did similiar with our dukane. The igniter had gone out on it, and my mother was afraid to light it. This was when I was still in high school. Well she had turned on the propane and the burners to run the gas, chickened out of lighting it, but didn't tell any one.

So when I go out there, I thought they had just opened the gas flow, I use a long lighter, and the grill promptly back flipped into the yard and I had no eyebrows.

And that was the day I switched to charcoal LOL

LOL!! I'm rolling!I Ican picture it all.
Haven't singed eyebrows (yet) but I sure have lost plenty of arm hair over the years.

There's also the time spiders darn near made the LP tank explode, but that's a longer story.

 

[bertman]

What a great post. I wish I had something to share (believe me, it is based on luck, not from any amount of sense), but I haven't been this entertained from a post for a while!

 

[TomKnollRFV]

LOL!! I'm rolling!I Ican picture it all.
Haven't singed eyebrows (yet) but I sure have lost plenty of arm hair over the years.

There's also the time spiders darn near made the LP tank explode, but that's a longer story.

Alright you got to tell the spider story.

 

[daveomak]

I burned up about 300#'s of coho salmon in my smoker..... ONCE !!!!
The fat and brown sugar mix burned real good...

 

[PoukieBear]

The missus reminds me of a certain time years ago I had trouble lighting the gas grill...

The igniter was junk, so I'm kneeling next to it and trying a long match thru a hole in the side. It's also breezy so the match keeps getting blown out. So I put the lid down to block the wind - with the gas running, of course.

Took a minute or two to get a lit match inside it. Ignites the gas with a big WHOOMP! Kicks the lid open so hard, it rebounds and slams shut......blowing out the burners. Back to square 1 but at least no one hurt and lesson learned.

hahaha! This just reminded me of my husbands laps into stupidity one day.

He had lit the BBQ for dinner, and came inside to let it pre-heat. When he went back outside, he noticed that the burners had gone out (it was a super windy day) Without thinking, he hit the ignite button. WOOOSH! It lit in a ball of flames.

It singed his eyebrows and eyelashes off and singed his beard pretty bad. I have a pic of him holding a bag of frozen peas to his face, and he'll probably kill me if I posted it. LOL. Thankfully, only his pride was seriously injured, and that's the day I took over the BBQ duties, and eventually got into smoking. :)

 

[Dent08]

I've had the pellet grill overflow with pellets and start a fire right into the hopper. Definitely a scary panic moment as flames were coming outside of the closed lid. Luckily I was able to think clearly and threw baking soda all over the grill. I still have a bunch of stains on the grill from it.