This weekend I was getting ready to cook some dried anchovies in olive oil, and so I grabbed a saucepan and turned the heat up and added some olive oil a little later. Then I added some sesame oil, and it started spattering a bit. And then I'm not totally clear on what happened but the olive oil in the pan caught on fire! The fire was several feet high and was very intense. I was able to get it under control by removing it from the heat and then blowing out the flash fire. I felt very dumb and yet lucky, all at the same time.

I read online that when oil catches fire, you can cover the pan with a lid and smother the fire by depriving it of oxygen. Someone also mentioned putting baking soda on the oil, to soak it up. Didn't know that! Definitely learned my lesson... and will be way more careful with olive oil, and with the heat of our stove burners in general.

On the plus side, Charlie talked about the fire for the next hour or two. (He had been a safe distance away in Bee's lap, but saw the whole thing.) I think it was the highlight of his weekend.

Have you ever had a flash fire in your kitchen?