The Great Bacon Incident of 2013

Maybe it’s a little bit early in 2013 to start calling it that, but let’s hope we don’t have any more incidents with bacon this year that will constitute a fancy title and a separate blog post.

I’d like to start by saying that this incident was not my fault. I’d like to, but I don’t really want to start my story with a lie…you know what, let’s just not play the blame game here. It was a dark and stormy morning…..in Maui, okay wait, let’s start again:

It was about an hour ago, just after I finished writing my last post.  I was hungry, having just cooked breakfast for the men, and I decided I would make myself some bacon and eggs. This has been my staple breakfast this month, and I am really enjoying it. I usually bake the bacon in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, and then just before it’s ready I fry myself an egg or two. It’s nice, because while the bacon is cooking, I am free to do other things like surf the Internet, watch TV, listen to music, blog, you know, stuff other than cooking. I like to call it multi-tasking. My husband calls it not paying attention. But the point is I have cooked bacon this way nearly everyday since we’ve been in Maui. It’s delicious AND convenient. And I have never once even burnt it, let alone set anything on fire.

So I put the bacon in the oven, set the timer, and I went off to blog. By off, I mean about 10 feet away from the oven. It’s a little apartment, I can’t really go that far.

I had just hit publish on my last post when the oven started beeping. I looked at it, and thought “That’s weird, what does F10 mean?”. It was blinking away, and I thought, oh crap I broke the oven. How am I going to cook bacon for the rest of our time here?

I opened the oven to investigate further and smoke poured out. I was shocked to see burnt bacon as it had only been in there for about 20 minutes or so. Smoke billowed out and filled the condo. While I started to choke on the fumes, Hubs and his brother came over to see what was going on.

It was at this point that the oven burst into flames. Apparently “F10″ means get the heck over here, your oven is about to catch on fire! (Thank goodness I was wearing my Aquaman underwear*, although Aquaman is one of the sucky super heroes isn’t he? Does he even have a super power, or does he just swim around with dolphins? Anyway this fire didn’t call for Aqua, it called for baking soda.) I shut the oven door, and Hubs’ brother sprang into action! By that I mean he walked outside mumbling something about ABC something or other, and started looking for a fire extinguisher. They’re usually outside apartments right?

I knew that it was a grease fire and that water wouldn’t do (I’ve dealt with these things before) and yelled at Hubs’ brother, “Can’t we just throw baking soda on it?”. Much to my relief he came back in sans fire extinguisher (I wanted to keep this little incident “in house” and not have to report it to whoever is in charge of that fire extinguisher), and asked me if we even had any baking soda.

I remembered seeing a crusty old box in the fridge, so I grabbed it, but I couldn’t get it open. Damn you Arm & Hammer! I could see Hubs’ brother getting frustrated, so I grabbed a knife and slit the box wide open. Then Hubs’ brother just threw the powder into the oven, and the fire was out. Phew!

Looks delicious doesn’t it?

I’m not sure why the bacon decided to catch on fire this time, but I was grateful to the oven for letting me know. And also grateful to Hubs’ brother for helping me put it out. Oh and also that the apartment didn’t catch on fire. I have lots of things to be grateful for!

The oven is fine, no damage done. I just have a big mess to clean up. I think the only casualty is the bacon.

If you decide to cook bacon in the oven (it really is the best way) keep an eye on it, and be wary of what the bacon looks like before you put it in. Is it really fatty? After about 10 minutes in the oven is it leaving a lot of grease? Just a couple things to consider. That’s why I am here, so you can learn. LOL.

So there you have it, the Great Bacon Incident of 2013.

Have you ever starting a fire in your kitchen while cooking? Do you like bacon and if so, what is your favourite way to cook it?

*they aren’t really Aquaman underwear in the traditional sense. They are actually bright green underwear from Victoria Secret, but as Hubs was brushing his teeth last night, I commented about how I felt like all I needed were some tights and I would be Aquaman. He spit toothpaste all over the mirror and I think a little may have come out his nose he was laughing so hard.