Sometimes things just don’t go as planned.
Last Wednesday at GAPS™ Group I demonstrated how to make ghee, (aka clarified butter). Since it takes about an hour I had two pots going on the stove. One to show how it begins, and another pot that I began early to show how to finish it.
After finishing the “finish” pot, I turned the “beginning” pot off and put a lid on it to keep bugs out while we went over our lesson about Gut & Psychology Syndrome.
At the end of GAPS Group I decided I’d turn the pot back on and finish that batch of ghee while I made my lunch. I turned the burner on low as the last Group member was leaving. I walked her to the door and figured the ghee would be fine alone for just 1 or 2 minutes. Then I promptly forgot about it as we chatted.
A few extra minutes went by and then we heard a loud “pop.” Apparently hot oil builds up pressure fast. I peaked around the corner to see flames shooting up from under the pot. I ran to the kitchen and turned the gas off and pulled the pot off the burner. The flame died down right away and I was just left with a giant mess of melted butter!
On the bright side:
- No one was in the kitchen to get scalded by the hot explosion
- My kitchen didn’t catch on fire
- Otis, the cat, helped with the cleaning –>
- I coined the term “Ghee-saster”
On the not so bright side, when the pot blew its top, ghee sprayed out 6 feet in every direction. And I mean every direction! All across the kitchen, dining room, china cabinet, ceiling, dripping in the drawers, inside the fan, on the handles of cabinets, all over the floor…you get the picture.
I spent 5 hours cleaning up the greasy mess that day. And it’s still not totally clean. I keep finding droplets here and there. Plus there’s that place at the very top of the cabinets above the stove that I can’t reach with my stepladder. Not to mention the ceiling.
Without the GAPS Diet this never would have happened to me because I never made ghee until we went on it. On the other hand, I give credit to the GAPS Diet for keeping me calm in stressful situations. If this had happened a few years ago I would have been an angry, swearing, crying mess! These days I handle stress a lot better and I realize that getting angry doesn’t change a darn thing, so I might as well just start cleaning.
Don’t get me wrong, all that cleaning sucked and I was exhausted by the end of the day. Even though I consider myself a great cook and have a lot of experience cooking for GAPS, things don’t always go perfectly. Crappy stuff happens to everyone sometimes. A lesson was learned and I won’t turn my back on ghee again.
I like to show off nice finished recipes on my blog and encourage you to try new things, but I don’t want to give you the impression that things are perfect in my kitchen. Or that I have any super-human cooking skills.
I do however have a sense of humor about almost everything and an attitude that I can learn anything, but failing from time to time comes along with it.
So as you learn from success, learn from my mistakes too.
Know someone who’s had a terrible mishap in the kitchen? Share this article with them so they know they aren’t alone!
Thank you for your story, Jennifer.
These explosions have been happening to my daughter in her ghee making recently, too – more now than when she first started making ghee about two years ago. Today’s was the worst. All over the place!
We are thinking there must be more water in the organic butter we buy than there used to be. Almost every batch recently has exploded or popped to some degree.
You are so right about being able to look at the incident with humor – instead of burning fury.
Best regards for fewer ghee explosions!!!
I was very lucky today. I was standing by the stove, staring at melting butter pieces. My dog barked asking to go out and I opened the door for her, let her out and stayed outside for a minute while she was finishing her business. My butter was melting on the stove in heavy bottomed pan and LOW setting, the cut pieces were almost done melting. The pot WAS NOT COVERED. I let the dog in and went to wash my hands in the bathroom. Strange “thud” sound in the kitchen. Oh, dear, butter is all over the stove and 3 feet around. My dog just saved my eyesight as, being nearsighted, I often bend over my work in progress to see it. I have to agree with the other lady, “cheap”(store brands) butter (not so cheap in price, really) is probably a culprit of this disaster. I did ghee in the spring with Land o Lakes butter for the first time in my life without incidents to report. LADIES, choose your butter carefully!
🙂 Yay for the pup! It’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one this has happened to. Thankfully, I learned my lesson the first time and haven’t had an incident since. Knock on wood.
Just finished clean up and what should be an easy night in the kitchen. GEE, WEAR EYE GOGGLES MAKING GHEE would be the message to spread around. I will be more careful in butter selection, make smaller batches from now on(my explosion was smaller than yours as my pot was smaller, with 4lbs of butter in it, though), and always, always wear glasses while working with hot butter while keeping the pets and children out of the kitchen. Knock on wood indeed =) Hope more people will read your article to gain awareness! Normally, I would lost my mind over the big mess, but this time, same as you, I was just happy nobody got hurt. Stay safe, stay healthy, Jennifer!