Kitchen Fires

Sooner or later you will have a "flare up" on your stove.  A pan of something you are frying will catch fire. Do you know what to do?

Do NOT try to throw water on it!!!! (that is the WORST thing you can do)

You can pour baking soda on it - but your dinner will be inedible.
You could stick a towel under the faucet, wring it out and cover the pan - but that takes too much time.

The BEST thing to do is have a large lid that will cover even your largest frying pans close to your stove where you can reach it in a hurry if necessary.  The lid will put the fire out - then turn off the heat.  Yes, the outside of the meat will probably be blackened, but the dinner can still usually be served. (if you have a pot rack hanging over your stove, be sure that lid isn't directly over the stove, you don't want to have to reach across the flames to reach the lid!)

I've only had two of these fires in 40 years.  What prompted this post is that I just had one last week and by the time my ex-cop son-in-law got the baking soda, I had put the fire out with my handy lid.  Go me.