The Biggest Mess?

[timstalltaletav]

What is the biggest mess you've ever made while cooking?

I've outdone myself today. Was getting ready to make some chili and needed my big Dutch oven to hang over the fire. Last weekend I was frying wings in it so it had about 2+ gallons of oil in it yet.

I picked up not realizing the handle wasn't in the slot correctly (terrible design by the way Cabela's). Sure enough as soon as I got the pot to about hip level, the handle let loose, the lid flew off, and the oil went all over the floor, all over me, in my boot, and pretty much on everything in a 3 foot radius.

I'm not even sure how to clean this up. I have cat litter spread over the floor. Hopefully it will soak it up to the point where I can wipe up the floor with a cleaner.

This better be some damn good chili!

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

What is the biggest mess you've ever made while cooking?

I've outdone myself today. Was getting ready to make some chili and needed my big Dutch oven to hang over the fire. Last weekend I was frying wings in it so it had about 2+ gallons of oil in it yet.

I picked up not realizing the handle wasn't in the slot correctly (terrible design by the way Cabela's). Sure enough as soon as I got the pot to about hip level, the handle let loose, the lid flew off, and the oil went all over the floor, all over me, in my boot, and pretty much on everything in a 3 foot radius.

I'm not even sure how to clean this up. I have cat litter spread over the floor. Hopefully it will soak it up to the point where I can wipe up the floor with a cleaner.

This better be some damn good chili!

Damn, that's rough dude. How many beers deep were you lol?

 

[timstalltaletav]

Damn, that's rough dude. How many beers deep were you lol?

I wasn't even drinking. But I'm going to start now!!!!

 

[chilerelleno]

1. Cover the oil with an absorbent material, such as kitty litter³, corn starch⁴, baking soda⁵, salt⁶, wood shavings³, or sand³.
2. Let the absorbent material soak up the oil for about 10-15 minutes.⁶
3. Use paper towels or a spatula to scoop the material into a dustpan.
4. Repeat steps 2-4 until most of the oil is removed.
5. Wipe the floor with slices of bread or paper towels to remove the remaining oil residue.
6. Use a grease-fighting dish liquid and warm water to mop the floor.⁷

 

[chilerelleno]

What kind of chile/chili ya making?

 

[R Blum]

Your just lucky the oil wasn't hot.

 

[Winterrider]

About a month ago I was making chokecherry syrup. Wife was out of town. Got to the final stage of boiling to thicken. Had about 8 quarts of liquid with about the same with sugar. Rolling along nicely so was doing some kitchen cleanup. Was a knock at the front door, which got the dogs barking and all. Was the Fed Ex guy. Got package,closed door and returned to a pot full of juice/sugar boiling over on stovetop. Got the pot off and into the sink. Burner was smoking to beat the band. 1st smoke alarm went off, went and grabbed that and turned off and put out in garage. Meanwhile the juice had ran down the front and side of the stove, into bottom drawer, between the glass sheets of door,under stove ,under the fridge, and covered about a 1/4 of the kitchen floor. Then alarm #2 went off, yep same thing down the hallway get that one shut down and into garage. Opened all the windows, and there goes #3 alarm. You known the drill. Started cleaning up the liquid that I could with paper towel, and with all the sugar was starting to get pretty sticky real quick. Me and Mr. Clean got to be real good buddies for about the next 3 hrs.
Ended up with some permanent damage to the lg burner on the glasstop, but I guess could have been worse. Had to throw the rest of the batch because no idea what the juice to sugar ratio was after boiling over.
Picked a bunch more chokecherries and did another batch couple days later, ( in the garage )...
Oh, and found out my smoke alarms work at least

 

[timstalltaletav]

What kind of chile/chili ya making?

Beef and beans! 3# ground 93/7 and about 2# of cubed up London broil. Poblanos, bell peppers, a few jalapenoes, onions, garlic, spices, etc.... Smells great, been cooking on the Weber with cherry wood for about 3 hours.

It's making the heartache of cleaning up the Exxon Valdez disaster in my house a bit more bearable...

 

[timstalltaletav]

About a month ago I was making chokecherry syrup. Wife was out of town. Got to the final stage of boiling to thicken. Had about 8 quarts of liquid with about the same with sugar. Rolling along nicely so was doing some kitchen cleanup. Was a knock at the front door, which got the dogs barking and all. Was the Fed Ex guy. Got package,closed door and returned to a pot full of juice/sugar boiling over on stovetop. Got the pot off and into the sink. Burner was smoking to beat the band. 1st smoke alarm went off, went and grabbed that and turned off and put out in garage. Meanwhile the juice had ran down the front and side of the stove, into bottom drawer, between the glass sheets of door,under stove ,under the fridge, and covered about a 1/4 of the kitchen floor. Then alarm #2 went off, yep same thing down the hallway get that one shut down and into garage. Opened all the windows, and there goes #3 alarm. You known the drill. Started cleaning up the liquid that I could with paper towel, and with all the sugar was starting to get pretty sticky real quick. Me and Mr. Clean got to be real good buddies for about the next 3 hrs.
Ended up with some permanent damage to the lg burner on the glasstop, but I guess could have been worse. Had to throw the rest of the batch because no idea what the juice to sugar ratio was after boiling over.
Picked a bunch more chokecherries and did another batch couple days later, ( in the garage )...
Oh, and found out my smoke alarms work at least

Damn that had to be a mess! Misery loves company, I'm glad you got things cleaned up. The kitty litter seems to be working pretty well sucking up the oil. Hopefully I can get going with some Dawn and get this debacle behind me.

 

[ofelles]

Not sure who wins. I hope to avoid either on them!

 

[kelbro]

A bad handle design, fire, and hot oil would scare me. At least this alerted you to what could potentially be a fire hazard.

Messes? When don't I make a huge one, according to my wife.

 

[timstalltaletav]

A bad handle design, fire, and hot oil would scare me. At least this alerted you to what could potentially be a fire hazard.

Messes? When don't I make a huge one, according to my wife.

I am really leery of ever frying in this pot again. If this was hot oil, I'd be getting skin grafts, if I wasn't dead, and the house would have probably burned down.

I have hated this handle design since I bought this Dutch oven years ago. I usually know better and make sure it's hooked. I can't figure why you would ever need to take the handle off. I may actually weld the loop closed this week.

I will never have a reason to take the handle off, I don't even wash the pot. Just empty it out, wipe it down with paper towels, then throw it on the gas grill upside down to burn any leftovers off. Wipe it down with oil and put it on the shelf.

Today was a fluke. I almost never leave oil in my pots but this one takes forever to cool down so when I was done last week, I just put it in the house and forgot about it.

 

[timstalltaletav]

While the chili was cooking I also threw on a piece of pork loin I had been curing for 2 weeks for Canadian bacon. It just hit 145°.

I was going to make this in my MES with the AMNPS but that was a casualty in the oil disaster. So I threw it on the kettle with chili.

Smells great, sliced pics coming up when it cools off!

 

[timstalltaletav]

Money!

 

[eddiememphis]

I was in the restaurant business for many years. Ah the messes I have seen.

A common one is forgetting to close the drain on the fryer before dumping oil back in. If its a new 35 pounder, not too bad. If you are dumping 350° oil back in after straining, it can be a painful lesson.

Lots of slips and oopsies with sauces and soups all over the floor. Freezer dies overnight and a huge puddle of ice cream oozes out when the door is opened. The area where you connect the boxes of syrup to the fountain system is usually a sticky mess and if someone drops one of the boxes, look out!

The worst is when the Halon fire suppression system is activated. It gets literally everywhere and takes a full day to clean up. There are specialists that you can hire and they come in and pressure wash the entire kitchen. Or you get your crew a couple pitchers of beer and tell them to get to it.

 

[timstalltaletav]

All is well in the world. The chili is great and the cleanup crew is getting to the pot...

 

[timstalltaletav]

I was in the restaurant business for many years. Ah the messes I have seen.

A common one is forgetting to close the drain on the fryer before dumping oil back in. If its a new 35 pounder, not too bad. If you are dumping 350° oil back in after straining, it can be a painful lesson.

Lots of slips and oopsies with sauces and soups all over the floor. Freezer dies overnight and a huge puddle of ice cream oozes out when the door is opened. The area where you connect the boxes of syrup to the fountain system is usually a sticky mess and if someone drops one of the boxes, look out!

The worst is when the Halon fire suppression system is activated. It gets literally everywhere and takes a full day to clean up. There are specialists that you can hire and they come in and pressure wash the entire kitchen. Or you get your crew a couple pitchers of beer and tell them to get to it.

Damn!!! You can write a book! In the bigger scheme of things, my disaster might not be the end of the world...

 

[Weaverspitbbq]

What is the biggest mess you've ever made while cooking?

I've outdone myself today. Was getting ready to make some chili and needed my big Dutch oven to hang over the fire. Last weekend I was frying wings in it so it had about 2+ gallons of oil in it yet.

I picked up not realizing the handle wasn't in the slot correctly (terrible design by the way Cabela's). Sure enough as soon as I got the pot to about hip level, the handle let loose, the lid flew off, and the oil went all over the floor, all over me, in my boot, and pretty much on everything in a 3 foot radius.

I'm not even sure how to clean this up. I have cat litter spread over the floor. Hopefully it will soak it up to the point where I can wipe up the floor with a cleaner.

This better be some damn good chili!

Use Stanley degreaser ...gets all grease out

What is the biggest mess you've ever made while cooking?

I've outdone myself today. Was getting ready to make some chili and needed my big Dutch oven to hang over the fire. Last weekend I was frying wings in it so it had about 2+ gallons of oil in it yet.

I picked up not realizing the handle wasn't in the slot correctly (terrible design by the way Cabela's). Sure enough as soon as I got the pot to about hip level, the handle let loose, the lid flew off, and the oil went all over the floor, all over me, in my boot, and pretty much on everything in a 3 foot radius.

I'm not even sure how to clean this up. I have cat litter spread over the floor. Hopefully it will soak it up to the point where I can wipe up the floor with a cleaner.

This better be some damn good chili!