Friday Shout Out: Fire!

Yes, friends, it's Friday. Let us all shout a collective "Amen."

I'm sad I didn't post at all during the week, but I'm hoping to work on that a bit soon.One thing that's interesting - I nearly set our wee apartment on fire this week. I blame it on this recipe for Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Reduction Sauce.


I should have know this was not going to work out. First off, I didn't have the apple cider, so I used half rice vinegar and white vinegar. I know, tacky. Usually I am the Queen of Successful Substitutions, but that was not so smart. Then, I grabbed my small six inch nonstick pan, which was lame. I sloshed all the ingredients around on my gas range in haste and must have over-sloshed with all that nice bourbon. Hey, it happens.

What I'm not used to happening: big-ass fires.

Oh, the flames, the flames. The entire pan had a huge halo of fire rising up, and I stood there, transfixed on the blue and red and orange and it was so pretty. And pretty terrifying.

I yelled to Scott, "Can you come in here and help me?" He yelled back, "What for?" I said in a funny little voice, "Um, it's kind of important. An emergency, if you will."

Those words got Scott up and over to my side, where he instantly turned off the burner, grabbed the pan, opened the back door, and tossed the mixture out onto the gravel driveway behind our apartment building. I breathed a sigh of relief, then we both yelped weird little noises when the weeds next to the driveway started to smolder and flame up.

I ran inside and grabbed a water glass and extinguished the little driveway blaze. I then went back inside, started the whole recipe over again, and we sat down to eat the pork.

It was sour and sweet and not very pleasant. So don't make this recipe, mmkay? And never slosh your bourbon sauce. You may have to call the fire department, or in my case, a husband who is excellent at things like squashing spiders and carrying out pans afire.

One of my BFFs, who just recently launched his food blog, is a chemist who knows about fire. His sage advice? "Next time that happens...either just let it burn on the range or pour baking soda on it. Don't move the fire, that will just get oxygen into it and make it bigger. Or, even simpler, put a huge ass lid on it." So there. Take note of his wisdom. I know I will!


Have one hell of a weekend - eat something good!

Comments

  1. I can imagine this whole scene in my head...oh little kitchen...glad you did not go up in flames!

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  2. I am glad there were no flames on the side of your face!

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  3. I would have just foregone the dinner and stuck with the bourbon!!

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  4. In RE: this incident, but specifically your small (hated) kitchen from a couple posts ago:

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/mark-bittmans-bad-kitchen/

    Also, since I don't know how else to segue to these others, I'll just list them:

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/a-small-kitchen-is-no-excuse/

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/weekinreview/14bittman.html

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/12-essential-tools-for-small-kitchens/

    http://lifehacker.com/#!5661941/mark-bittman-on-saving-time-and-avoiding-headaches-in-the-kitchen

    Ok, obviously I've tipped my hand that I pay attention to this guy a lot. He wrote "How to Cook Everything", though, and I really needed that. It didn't skip on explaining even the most rudimentary jargon. Most cookbooks assume you were taught up to a certain level of cooking and know exactly how much heat simmering requires. Why would one know that without being shown?

    I digress...

    p.s., Word verification = "adsmens". Even blogger is pissed about Madmen being delayed until March 2012.

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  5. Late last night when we were all in bed, old Mrs. Leary left a lantern in the shed and when the cow tipped it over, she turned around and said, "They'll be a hot time in the old town tonight, FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!"

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