DC burn surgeon urges caution cooking holiday meals with disposable foil pans

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DC burn surgeon urges caution cooking holiday meals with disposable foil pans

Kristi King | [e-mail]

November 21, 2022, 6:35 AM

A D.C. burn surgeon with firsthand knowledge on holiday-related cooking accidents has tips to help you avoid becoming one of her patients. ... A top offender leading to injuries is the oh-so-convenient single-use foil pans commonly used for veggies, mashed potatoes and turkeys.

“When they become heavy and hot — when you’re taking them out of the oven, they crinkle like you wouldn’t believe,” said Dr. Taryn Elise Travis, a surgeon at the burn center at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Travis is also an assistant professor of surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. ... She says if you have no choice but to use foil pans, be sure to support the flimsy bottoms.

“Make sure that you’ve got a sturdy baking dish or cookie sheet underneath those foil pans. And that will prevent everything from spilling onto your hands and legs which will land you in the emergency room,” she said.

{snip}

Kristi King
Kristi King is a veteran reporter who has been working in the WTOP newsroom since 1990. She covers everything from breaking news to consumer concerns and the latest medical developments.

[e-mail]
@KingWTOP

[badhair77]

1. Good advice.

I always put my foil pan inside or on top of something very sturdy. I want to avoid scrubbing a roast pan, and certainly the floor plus having a ruined dinner.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Ditto!

[hlthe2b]

2. He is sooo right. I do the cookie sheet trick, myself...

I think those aluminum foil pans were once a lot more sturdy, but it takes nothing to collapse them now.

[hippywife]

3. I think so, too.

I sometimes still get the big roaster size one for turkey, but since they're so cheap this time of year, I double them so they'll hold the weight better. Still need to be careful, tho, so that's really good advice.

[Texin]

15. I usually double or triple them to accommodate the weight.

And it helps that I don't roast a whole turkey. I'll roast a large bone-in turkey breast. Once it's cooked, I can (usually) reuse the one(s) that didn't contain the bird.

[hippywife]

21. I actually just remembered that

I used to do this. Now I spatchcock and dry brine the bird, shove stuffing with butter under the breast and thigh skin and the remaining stuffing under the whole bird. It comes out so moist and tender, all the way through. Have done it that way for the past 2-3 years, and as long as I have enough hand and arm strength left to keep cutting it open, I don't intend to go back to the old way.

[niyad]

5. She.

[twodogsbarking]

22. Watch it doesn't slide off of the cookie sheet.

[ratchiweenie]

4. I still stuff by birds so they are very heavy. I use my biggest

Last edited Mon Nov 21, 2022, 01:37 PM - Edit history (2)

roasting pan and use it to make the gravy afterwards so I get all the best bits. When the gravy has been cleaned out with a big spoon, I use it to mix the dogs food in it so they get some of the nummy goodness. I know it's not the best thing for them but oh how they love Thanksgiving.

[badhair77]

10. We never thought of this. Our dogs (lab and labradoodle)

would have gone crazy over this idea. Sadly both are gone and getting another pup is undecided but I’ll keep it in mind.

[ratchiweenie]

14. It makes for very happy doggies. I have 3 little doggies and a big kitty. Even kitty gets

Last edited Mon Nov 21, 2022, 01:38 PM - Edit history (1)

his turn licking the roasting pan.

[niyad]

7. Geez, I thought that everybody knew this.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Does seem like common sense, but you know what they say about that...nt

[niyad]

9. Sadly true.

[judesedit]

11. Just an idea..I usually double the pan. When done, you still have one pan toward next time

Might help others, too. If turkey is too heavy, definitely metal below foil pan.

[debm55]

13. We double pan too. We had an accident one Thanksgiving when the pan gave way to the turkey and bent

in half. We were both burnt by the juices. Color us dumb, but we never did it again.

[MontanaMama]

12. I know this won't be popular...

But darn it…I’m doing everything I can to avoid disposable cookware, utensils, plates etc…trying to keep all I can out of the landfill.

[NellieStarbuck]

16. Careful with the Pyrex, too!

I know from bitter experience to never, ever (again) set a hot Pyrex casserole dish down on a wet counter top. It will explode like nail bomb, sending shards of glass everywhere.

[burrowowl]

20. Thermal shock will do it ever time.

I noticed that Pyrex made in china is not up to snuff!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. Perhaps thirty years ago my local stores were out of aluminum pans

a couple of days before Thanksgiving. So I bought a sturdy metal pan that came with a rack. Best $70.00 I ever spent. Turkeys cook faster and better in that pan and there's no worry about it collapsing. Plus, I like to make the gravy in the pan the bird is roasted in, which isn't very easy in those stupid aluminum pans.

[burrowowl]

19. Exactly!

[twodogsbarking]

18. Remove the gizzards before cooking.

Have a wonderful TG everyone.

[LudwigPastorius]

23. "they crinkle..."

“…like you wouldn’t believe”

Ughh

Trump has forever ruined that four word phrase for me. I don’t ever want to hear it or see it again.