Unmitigated food disaster

T

The Creator

New member
After preparing and partially boiling vegetables and meat, they were then
put in a large glass bowl and it was placed on top of a gas hob to bring
them to
the boil. That was prior to placing it in the oven to make an oven
casserole.

This practice has been done by me quite a few times before. I've always
assumed that a Pyrex bowl can be placed on a gas ring and the contents
boiled, because someone I know has Pyrex glass saucepans, that they use to
boil things in.

However the wife doesn't think that these glass bowls should undergo this
kind of treatment on top of the gas rings.

Today using a smoky dark coloured glass bowl which I don't think I've used
before,
but I really thought it was an oven proofed bowl. It suddenly completely
collapsed into pieces as I placed it in the oven. What a mess.........

My question is not whether this was really an oven proofed glass dish, since
i guess we will never know for sure.

But is the wife right in saying this is a very *risky* procedure, putting a
pyrex glass bowl over a gas ring to boil things? Even though i always start
on
the minimum heat so as to minimize any strains on the glass. So would
you think that this is safe to do, or not? Thanks.
 
john south wrote:
IANAE but apart from a specific glass saucepan, I 'wouldn't have dreamt
of putting a Pyrex bowl directly on a gas hob. We regularly use ceramic
ovenproof dishes, but again, I would not have considered putting them
directly on the hob. Just my two-penneth FWIW.
 
In article ,
"john south" writes:

Pyrex doesn't imply a particular type of glass. Originally it was
borosilicate glass, but it's now just used as a well-known trade
name to sell various different types of glass. Different companies
use the name differently in different parts of the world.

Borosilicate glass tends to be used for higher temperature applications,
although I don't know what glass saucepans are made of.

Even soda-lime glass (used for most glass applications) shouldn't melt
in an ordinary domestic oven. Sometimes it's toughened - did it break
like a toughened windscreen shattering?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
 
On 14/03/11 09:14, john south wrote:


Au contraire mon ami. We know about it's oven-proof status. What we
don't know is whether it was designed to be so.


I wouldn't do it. The type of glass pan that can be put on direct heat
is a comparatively new invention. Pyrex has existed a lot longer than that.


--
Bernard Peek
[email protected]
 
"john south" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...


Even minimum heat involves a naked gas flame so would be very hot (try
holding your finger over it!). And being more localised might result in even
more stresses.

Trying using a microwave oven instead. Or a different vessel.

--
Bartc
 
On 14/03/2011 11:09, Bernard Peek wrote:


Maybe, but glass test-tubes and conical flasks have been used over
Bunsen burners for a very long time.

--
Reentrant
 
In article ,
Reentrant wrote:


Relatively thin glass though. And I don't think you heat them up empty.
Or do you? - I heated a mixture of flowers of sulphur and potassium
permanganate in a test tube once on a little burner at home. Nothing
much happened for a while, then there was a "thunk" and all the mixture
shot out as a plug, through the window I'd left open just in case.

--
Tim

"That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" -- Bill of Rights 1689
 
On Mar 14, 9:14?am, "john south" wrote:

Sorry to go off topic, and not wanting to hijack the thread, but why
did you do it? Was it to try to cut down on the time it would be in
the oven?
 
On 14/03/2011 09:14, john south wrote:

You should get an induction hob. They are idiot proof in that respect!

As students we learnt that pinching half pint jugs from the bar to make
coffee in was a waste of time. Though I recall someone having one that
did last for some time.


--
Michael Chare
 
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
The key is the expansion rate. If one part is much hotter than another,
as can happen with gas when the bit with water in stays at 100C but eh
bit above water goes higher, thermal expansion can crack the top off in
a neat ring.


Pyrex is a low thermal coefficient of expansion glass. That's all.

So you can pour boiling water into it and it wont crack.
 
On 3/14/2011 7:09 AM, Bernard Peek wrote:

Back in the 1950s, my mother had a Pyrex saucepan, complete with
detachable handle. It was used on a gas hob nearly every day for
decades. It _was_ sold as a saucepan. Her Pyrex bowls were were not
intended for direct heat cooking.
 
S Viemeister wrote:

Exactly. It might even have a symbol or warning on the bottom of
that bowl that it's not to be used over an open flame.

nancy
 
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