| 14tonks 2004-10-31, 7:08 pm |
| "Eliyahu Rooff" <lrooff@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:10oa9okofjrfla0@corp.supernews.com...
> Those sound like reasonable precautions, assuming that it's also on a
> non-flammable surface and that there's a fire extinguisher nearby.
> Bottom line, though, is that a cooking appliance shouldn't require the
> same sort of precautions that we associate with hazardous materials,
> bomb disposal or nuclear waste. :-)
>
> Eliyahu
They don't. They just require some common sense and some knowledge of
cooking. Back when most people knew how to cook, everyone knew that you
didn't leave a big pot of oil to get hotter and hotter sitting on an
uncontrolled, unwatched flame, that you didn't just toss large quantities of
wet stuff into a pot of hot oil, that you left a really big frying container
to cool overnight after use, etc., etc. Unfortunately, the
fast-food/microwave generation really doesn't know how to deep fry, handle a
gas flame, etc., etc. The problem isn't in the method, it's that there is a
current vogue for using the method by people who don't know thing one about
cooking.
Real kitchens aren't, and never will be, safe places for the ignorant,
stupid, or inexperienced. Real cooking employs fire, and fire can be
dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. On the other hand, people who
knew what they were doing have been deep-frying turkeys for generations
without burning their houses or towns down, and without needing a device
certified by UL. Many of the same concerns about keeping children well away
until the process is completed could be raised concerning the washtub of
boiling water needed to properly prepare a real Smithfield ham, which was my
father's favorite choice for Thanksgiving, yet none of the several
generations of children who grew up in his family with that Thanksgiving
cooking going on ever got scalded. As far as the "appliances" go - why the
heck do you need an "appliance"? All you need is a sufficient source of
heat and a large enough container for the job - and jumbo size pots have
been available for years, sold as canning kettles and as stockpots, etc.,
for the restaurant industry.
True, some people would burn down their kitchen just frying a batch of
doughnuts is they weren't provided with thermostatically-controlled deep
fryers with spatter-proof screens and baskets that could be lowered under
lids. My dad, on the other hand, turned them out just fine with nothing
fancier than a big ol' cast iron pot set on the gas stove and a slotted
spoon, and we never had to put out a kitchen fire or treat any burns.
--
Sheila
To reply to me, add the prefix real. to my address.
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