Why did this pan burst into flames?

February 19, 2021 6:20 PM

I have a gas stove and recently bought this silicone-coated tamagoyaki pan. Tonight it burst into flames. Why did this happen, and how can I prevent it from recurring?

I have no experience with silicone-coated cookware. A couple weeks back, I followed the linked instructions to season the pan with canola oil. All went well, though I think I used too much oil, leaving a residue that I failed to wipe off afterward.

Tonight I prepared to cook with my new pan for the first time. I used some cooking spray (also canola based), set the pan on the burner, turned the heat on - and flames instantly shot up from the pan.

The pan was still cool to the touch when I removed it from the stove. I'll wipe down the pan, but I'm concerned this will happen again if I use oil as a cooking medium. Any words of advice? Was this just a one-off fluke? (Obviously I'm a bit nervous to repeat the experiment.)

posted by toastedcheese to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Is is possible that you got some of the canola spray on the outside of the pan? In that case, it could certainly catch fire from your gas flame and then transfer that flame to even more oil on the inside of the pan. Not particularly dangerous if there is very little oil but pretty exciting.

Next time I would suggest being more careful to confine the spray to the inside of the pan only or don't use spray at all. Just pour a half teaspoon of oil in the pan.
posted by JackFlash at 6:43 PM on February 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

And looking at the size of that pan, it's pretty tiny. If you sprayed from a typical 12 inches away like for a big round skillet, you probably got oil spray directly on the grate of your stove. As soon as you turned on the flame, poof. So in that case, you can avoid that by spraying over your sink, not over the stove grate.
posted by JackFlash at 7:21 PM on February 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

Since when do silicone-lined pans need seasoning?
posted by zadcat at 7:12 AM on February 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! I think the size of my pan and the spray oil coming into contact with the flame is the most likely culprit.
posted by toastedcheese at 11:19 AM on February 20, 2021

Some of those spray oils use butane and propane as propellants (!).
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:17 PM on February 20, 2021