Make Thanksgiving happy; follow safe-cooking tips

You won’t have much to be thankful about today if your stove or turkey deep-fryer burns someone or catches your house on fire.

That’s why Washington’s fire marshal, Mike Matlick, has offered a recipe for a safe turkey day.

To begin with, he says, you’ll need to clean your stove, fryer and oven, removing any grease buildup.

You should never leave your cooking unattended, a major cause of fires, and it’s best to make the kitchen off-limits to children and adults who aren’t preparing the meal.

It’s also a good idea to use your stove’s back burners in case of a spill that could possibly burn someone, and to keep the pan handles turned inward so they won’t be bumped by people walking by.

Matlick doesn’t recommend wearing dangling jewelry that could snag a pan handle and cause a spill, or loose sleeves clothing that could catch fire.

Matlick says you should keep a 2-pound Class ABC dry chemical fire extinguisher within 10 feet of the cooking area, near the exit you’d use if a fire broke out.

And you should keep Thanksgiving decorations and other flammables away from heat sources.

As for those increasingly popular turkey deep-fryers, Matlick advises you to plan using them in advance, and read the instructions.

They must only be used outside, well away from buildings, overhangs or anything else that’s combustible. Children and pets must stay away.

Fryers must be placed on a flat, stable surface, and not overfilled with cooking oil. And it’s dangerous to move them once the oil is hot.

If you put a turkey that’s frozen or partially frozen in the hot oil, it could blow up in your face.

As with any cooking, you can poke a food thermometer into the meat to see if it’s done.

Once your turkey has been hauled out of the bubbling cauldron, let the oil cool completely before you remove it.

And don’t use water to extinguish an oil fire or cool the oil. That’s what the dry chemical extinguisher is for.

For more information, visit www.wsp.wa.gov/firemars.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.