heat vs. cotton

[Paul Wheaton]

I have a weird idea.

When I cook stuff in my skillet, the stuff in the middle gets cooked too much and the stuff near the edge gets cooked not enough. I blame the edge depth of the skillet for acting as a heat sink.

I wonder if I were to make something out of denim that could be a sort of skillet scarf .... I could fill it with cotton balls. My understanding is that cotton doesn't burn well. I think heat mitts are made out of cotton. So if I made this thick, it would offer a fair amount of insulation around the edge.

Would there be much risk of fire?

[Ravenlost]

Where did you hear that cotton doesn't burn well?

[Sawmill Jim]

Use a smaller pan or bigger eye . I understand a big box of soda will put a fire out Never know till you try .Meanwhile i;ll take two scrambled well an hold the fuzz .Columbus took a chance an look where we are today

[Danaus29]

Use a bigger burner or a smaller pan. What kind of pan, what size, and what are you cooking??

BTW, cotton burns easily. Too easily. I've caught hot mitts on fire before.

Is the skillet hot before you start cooking in it? It needs to be or you will burn stuff in the middle and not get stuff on the edges done.

[Sawmill Jim]

I caught a cotton picker on fire once . Once it does start it is hard hard to put out .There is something you can treat it with i don't recall what it is . In the oil patch we wore fire retardant outfits . Might look at one those hard hat liners they about 15 bucks or were last one i got .

[Windy in Kansas]

How about adding a WOK ring around the skillet to retain heat?

Also--in all probability a higher cost skillet might solve your problems as really good ones retain heat and transmit it more evently. Think thick bottom, clad bottom, copper bottom, good cast iron, etc.

[Old Vet]

Cotton burn real good. I also have had a cotton picker on fire the only way to stop it is to dump it all out and start over. Try Kevlar or other flame resistant cloth before using cotton. Some denim is flame resistant like a tarp that is treated to be flame resistant. I also used to be a Volunteer Fire Man and long ago they used to make the bunker suits worn out of heavy denim but when Kevlar came out they baned them for entering to a burning structure. Keep a fire extinguisher handy if you are trying something like that. You will need one.

[uncle Will in In.]

Use the microwave, and you won't have so much time to daydream. LOL <> UNK

[cfabe]

It will burn. I think your problem is a pan problem or stove problem not a lack of insulation. Use a different burner or different pan. If you have cheap pans you might consider investing in a higher quality one, cheap pans are thin and tend to have uneven heating like you describe.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Cheap pan that doesn't diffuse the heat throughout the bottom.

Cotton burns. Quickly. That's why there are laws about children's pajamas being treated with fire retardant chemicals.

I sure hope you come back to check this thread before you burn your house down.

The easy and safe solution is to purchase a good quality pan/skillet.

[Windy in Kansas]

There is another thought--you could make something up out of a welding blanket which contains fiberglass to resist heat. Plumbers soldering pads may work the same.
http://www.harrisweldingsupplies.com...ROD&ProdID=549
Plumbers use a similar pad for soldering joints in close quarters.

Whatever you use will hold more heat at the burner or element, is that something that you really want? Might is be dangerous?

[whiterock]

Had a bale of cotton catch fire at the gin once when I was a kid, started from a spark, it was moved away from other combustibles, and we sprayed/soaked it for days, just kept smouldrin.

[wyld thang]

spun and woven cotton fiber will take longer to ignite than raw cotton

wool will singe and take a lot lot longer to ignite than cotton

My dad used to fly on AWACS and he always made sure he was NOT wearing any synthetic fiber clothing in case of fire--he had a cotton flightsuit they gave him(they may have something different now). Synthetic melts and sticks to the skin and burns deeper and does way more damage. Cotton will burn, but it falls away from the skin faster(doesn't melt and stick), so less burn severity.

Just go buy a better pan (yay cast iron!) and make sure you preheat.

[Paul Wheaton]

I haven't tried any experiments yet - so my house is still standing.

I do think of this as a beginning for a bunch of other ideas. For example: phase 2 would be to put a lid on the pan and then throw something over the top of that. I suspect that one could then cook foods using 5 times less heat. Or - you might be able to cook foods faster because the heat doesn't just bleed off the top.

Just being a mad scientist i guess.

It sounds like cotton burns easier than I thought it did.

Hmmmm .... I guess I would like to find something fabric-ish that doesn't contain stuff that would give me concern near food.

BTW: this is a griswold cast iron skillet #10 on a flat top electric stove.

[Elsbet]

candlewick and lampwick is made of cotton.

[chamoisee]

I usually stir the stuff in the pan so that the stuff in the middle goes to the edge, and the edges get stirred towards the center...or I use a bigger burner or a smaller pan.

What kind of skillet and stove are you using, and what are you cooking that is giving you this problem?

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Helianthus

I usually stir the stuff in the pan so that the stuff in the middle goes to the edge, and the edges get stirred towards the center...or I use a bigger burner or a smaller pan.

What kind of skillet and stove are you using, and what are you cooking that is giving you this problem?

I do the same thing.

I guess my inner mad scientist has an idea and wants to try this stuff out. And with a lot of my mad scientist ideas, I come here first and optimize my first attempt. And my latter attempts. Eventually I let it go, or, sometimes, I come up with something cool.

Anybody seen "farm show" where farmers come up with crazy contraptions all the time?

So! This is today's crazy contraption. And, if I get something to work, I actually think it is the first step to a long series of crazy contraptions.

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by Helianthus

I usually stir the stuff in the pan so that the stuff in the middle goes to the edge, and the edges get stirred towards the center...or I use a bigger burner or a smaller pan.

What kind of skillet and stove are you using, and what are you cooking that is giving you this problem?

Just wondering--is your nickname Sunflower? lol

[Bonnie L]

You mad scientists are all alike - impractical. If it's made of cloth, who's going to clean the thing? Or would it be disposable? Which would cost a lot more than buying the proper size pan.

If you want to keep something in the center - like a fried egg - cut both ends off a small can & that will hold the food in one place. Or you can buy a gadget that does that at a kitchen store. Those also come in shapes for fancy pancakes.

If steam won't make the food inedible, keep the heat low & put a lid on it.

Other than that, what's already been mentioned - correct size pan, lower heat, & stir.

[foxtrapper]

Residential burners are round, which is a lousy shape for heat distribution. Commercial burners are X shaped, or double X shaped. They do a far better job of distributing the heat over the cooking surface. Replace your burners with this type, and you'll find the cooking experience greatly enhanced.