Have you ever had a piece of kitchen cookware explode on you unexpectedly? Recently, the Today Show had a piece on Pyrex glass dishes that have shattered and almost hurt people.
Coincidentally, two years ago, almost to the day, I wrote a piece here about an exploding punch bowl that shattered at my mother's long-ago 50th birthday party. While it wasn't made of Pyrex glass, it was because of a temperature change—we'd filled it with hot apple cider—that caused the glass to burst into a million pieces.
You would think that with a piece of kitchen cookware, there wouldn't be any problem taking it from the oven to the table. But according to this recent Today Show piece, these accidents are definitely on the rise. Here's what that Today Show story reported:
At the advocacy agency ConsumerAffairs.com, which posts reviews about popular goods and services, the two top brands of glass cookware in the U.S.—Pyrex and Anchor Hocking—have drawn nearly 1,600 reports combined, mostly accounts of unexpected breakage, since the site began in 1998.
Interestingly, it could be that our modern-day kitchen countertops are causing Pyrex dishes and other brands of cookware to break.
For example, I know that one of the reasons we chose to have granite countertops installed in our kitchen was because the material could withstand both hot and cold temperatures. Taking a dish or pan out of the oven? No problem. Put it on the countertop, and it won't scorch. But that's not how the dishes were intended to be used, so say the manufacturers.
In fact, in response to a report on exploded glass pans on the website Safer Products, part of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the maker of Pyrex dishes posted this response and these tips for dealing with kitchen cookware and other glass pans:
All glass bakeware can experience thermal breakage if exposed to sudden or uneven temperature changes. You can avoid the most common causes of thermal breakage by following four simple rules:
- Always place hot glass bakeware on a dry, cloth potholder or towel.
- Never place hot glass bakeware on top of the stove, on a metal trivet, on a damp towel, directly on a counter or in a sink.
- Never put glass bakeware directly on a burner or under a broiler.
- Always allow the oven to fully preheat before placing glass bakeware in the oven.
- Always cover the bottom of the dish with liquid before cooking meat or vegetables.
So if you'll be cooking your holiday dinner using any of these kinds of bakeware, do follow these instructions so that your dreams of a perfect dinner—and the dinner itself—doesn't end up shattered on the kitchen floor.
