In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
polygonum writes:
Using a chain lubricant that required heating for my motorcycle chain.

Put it on the cooker at a low setting, went outside to undo another nut
which was stuck fast. Eventually heard an odd popping/bubbling noise.
Kitchen black. Air black. Me black.

Called fire brigade but, luckily, it was all disgusting mess rather than
burning building.

Mum used to make banoffee pie quite often.
Part of that involves cooking an unopened tin of condensed milk for
a couple of hours in a saucepan of boiling water to turn it in to
caramel. This requires remembering to return to the saucepan
periodically, to check and top up the water level. Should you forget
to do this for some reason, you are reminded by the bang from the
kitchen as a can of caramel explodes on the stove. There were
caramel stalactites hanging from the ceiling over 20' away from
the cooker...

Nowadays, you can buy the caramel ready-made, but back then, you
had to make it yourself.

Many years ago my mother used to boil linseed in an open pan to make an
additive for the horse's feed, allegedly it improved their coat. Any
way, one day she had the bright idea of doing this in the pressure
cooker. Some where along the line she had forgotten that it increased in
volume quite a bit while being boiled.

The result was that the mass inside forced the little weight off the top
of the cooker that was the pressure regulator and a volcanic like
eruption of scalding hot linseed hit the ceiling. For sometime it was
impossible to get any where near the cooker to turn the power off.
Spectacular though :-)

She never tried this method again....................


--
Bill