Clean the Turkey, Clean the Oven
More fires occur between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day than at any other time of the year—and half of them start in the kitchen. At Cobb EMC, we want your holidays to be as safe as they are happy. Please keep the following safety tips in mind:
- One easy way to prevent a kitchen fire while you're counting your blessings this Thanksgiving is to clean your oven before you start baking that bird.
- OK, so it's not that easy.
- If you don't have a continuous-cleaning or self-cleaning oven, pull on your rubber gloves and get ready to scrub. Open a window to ventilate the kitchen, and follow the directions on the oven cleaner.
- Many oven cleaners work overnight. Spray the oven before you go to bed and after six to eight hours, wipe it clean, using as much elbow grease as you need. Don't forget to clean the inside of the oven door. Scrub it with a cleanser and spray window cleaner on the oven window.
- Rinse all signs of the cleansers from the oven; you don't want any of it to be in the oven when you roast your Thanksgiving turkey.
- Most new ovens are equipped with a continuous-clean mode. If you're in the market for a new appliance, do yourself a favor and buy one that cleans itself. Still, it's important to maintain the cleanliness of the oven's interior‑‑‑even if the appliance is self-cleaning.
- Wipe up all spills as they happen before they get baked on.
- To save on cleanup time when you know you are cooking something that could overflow, cover the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil or place a cookie sheet on the lowest rack. The foil should not touch the electric element.
- Sponge the outside of the oven door and the stove top each time you use it.
- Soak burner racks in warm soapy water.
- Clean your oven once a month so it's not such a chore next time you do it!
A clean oven is a healthy oven. Excessive spills can cause smoke, offensive fumes and even fires. Cobb EMC wishes you a happy and safe holiday.