Sunday, March 15, 2009

Exploding Enchiladas- A word of warning

We had gone to Oklahoma to see my Dad and step-mom in the nursing home. One thing I really wanted to do while we were there was cook up a batch of enchiladas for my brother and sister in law who also live in Oklahoma. I mixed up the dry ingredients for the sauce at home, and purchased the rest of what I needed at the local Walmart.

I made 2 pans, one of cheese enchiladas, one of beef ones. I buttered 2 pyrex baking dishes, placed the enchiladas in them, and placed them in my sister in laws brand new oven at 400*.

About 15 minutes later, and nearly time for them to come out of the oven, I heard a loud POP in the oven. I opened the door to see a terrible mess. The dish that the cheese enchiladas were in had exploded, and shards of glass and melting cheese were everywhere inside the oven, including in the other dish of enchiladas. There were some big peices of glass and there were tiny shards. It was all over the oven, including some that fell down below the "floor" of the oven, so that the oven had to be partly disassembled to clean it. What a mess!

Our dinner was ruined, and her brand new oven would require extensive cleaning. It was a horrible feeling.

When I retured home, I wondered if anyone had ever had a similar experiance with Pyrex or other glass type baking dishes. After a google search, I have learned that many people have had similar experiances, but quite a few of them have resulted in injuries due to broken glass embedded in them, burns, and cuts.

Many of the cases I read were simlar to mine, the pan exploding for no apparent reason while in the oven. Others explode when the door is open to check the cooking, others explode when set out to cool. Some even claim to have had them explode after having cooled. Some are new dishes, others are a number of years old.

Bad as the mess was in the oven, at least it was contained by the oven. I feel fortunate that no one was hurt.

If mine had been the only such experiance, I would chalk it up to bad luck, a flaw in the pan, ect. But I really believe Pyrex has got a big problem on their hands, and from what I have read, they are in a bit of denial about it. I just hope someone isn't seriously hurt or blinded before they do something.

I will not be using Pyrex or Fire-King glass baking dishes anymore. One pan of exploding enchiladas is enough for me.

You can
click here for many personal stories similar to mine. Unfortunatly, some of these folks got hurt.

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