Dutch Oven Exploded

[Ross101]

I purchased a cookware set that included a dutch oven. I cooked sirloin and some vegetables on top of the stove and put the leftovers in the refrigerator. 12 hours later around 4 am I hear this loud bang from the kitchen. I opened the frige and found the glass top of the dutch oven shattered into hundreds if not thousands of pieces. I returned it to the store for a refund and have a new set from a different manufacturer I am nervously using. Does anybody have any clue why this glass top would explode this way?

 

[CharlieD]

Wow, what was inside the dutch oven again?

 

[bakechef]

Tempered glass like Pyrex tends to do this, regardless of brand. Pyrex use to be made of a different glass formula and not prone to this, but now it is quite common. I had a friend who recently had a glass baking dish explode in her oven. I have had pyrex explode on me as well, scared the crap out of me.

I have replaced all of my glass bakeware with ceramic or glazed stoneware, it can break, but it will only crack, not explode. Now I am metal or ceramic/glazed stoneware only.

 

[taxlady]

I purchased a cookware set that included a dutch oven. I cooked sirloin and some vegetables on top of the stove and put the leftovers in the refrigerator. 12 hours later around 4 am I hear this loud bang from the kitchen. I opened the frige and found the glass top of the dutch oven shattered into hundreds if not thousands of pieces. I returned it to the store for a refund and have a new set from a different manufacturer I am nervously using. Does anybody have any clue why this glass top would explode this way?

Certain types of tempered glass, like Duralex (and maybe Corning and others) do that on rare occasion. I have been told that they don't break when you drop or bump them (that part I have observed), but that they store every tiny, little bump they ever receive and then go boom. I have had Duralex plates do that in the cupboard or when putting into lukewarm dish water. It used to happen regularly to the Duralex glasses in the dishwasher at the bar where I worked. However, the pieces are not sharp the same way as regular broken glass.

Does that seem to apply?

 

[Chef Munky]

Tempered glass like Pyrex tends to do this, regardless of brand. Pyrex use to be made of a different glass formula and not prone to this, but now it is quite common. I had a friend who recently had a glass baking dish explode in her oven. I have had pyrex explode on me as well, scared the crap out of me.

I have replaced all of my glass bakeware with ceramic or glazed stoneware, it can break, but it will only crack, not explode. Now I am metal or ceramic/glazed stoneware only.

I had a Pyrex dish explode on me to. And I stupidly mentioned it here. Felt a little chastised for it being an honest mistake that I made. I was a young cook and thermal shock wasn't in my vocabulary at the time. It is now.
Cast Iron is my best buddy now. Live and learn. I suppose.

Munky.

 

[babetoo]

i had a pyrex dish break into pieces when i checked on a duck that i was cooking. scary business

 

[jabbur]

I had an old Pyrex bowl in the microwave explode. What a mess. It was one of my favorite small mixing bowls too.

 

[CookLikeJulia]

But for me, I think I'm just lucky enough because, I haven't encounter any of it.

 

[taxlady]

If the newer stuff is more prone to this, I guess I'll I better take extra good care of the stuff I've had for 15 and more years.

 

[MSC]

Knocking on wood as I'm writing this...hasn't happened to me but will now make a very close inspection of the baking dishes in hopes of being able to spot problems before they happen...don't need those kind of surprises!

 

[christnp]

I wouldn't expect a thermal shock thing to happen 12 hours later. Was the pot hot when you put it in the refrigerator? and was the lid on tight or ajar? If it was tightly closed on a hot pot, the cooling could have created a strong vacuum that could have caused the break. ... just a theory.

 

[chefmac]

Oh dear... how can a cast iron pot explode? Was it a direct head from stove or heat from combi oven?

 

[suzyQ3]

Oh dear... how can a cast iron pot explode? Was it a direct head from stove or heat from combi oven?

The glass lid, not the pot, exploded, according to the opening post.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Tempered glass will explode. I had a tempered glass chafing dish that did that to me. What people don't understand is that cast iron, if very hot, and it's submersed into very cold water can do the same thing. The problem with these materials is that they are rigid, and are relatively poor conductors of heat, with a considerable amount of mass. As you subject them to conditions that rapidly cool or heat them (and remember, the more extreme the temperature difference, the faster the energy transfer occurs) the outermost skin of the material will expand or contract rapidly, while the inner portion of the material expands or contracts to a lesser amount. As the material has little or no flexibility, the forces cause catastrophic failure of the glass or cast iron.

Cast iron is a much better conductor than is glass, and so requires much more abuse to cause the same failure; but it can happen.

Stoneware and crockery will do the same things if taken from very hot to very cold or vice-versa.

Stainless steel, steel, and aluminum warp when subjected to the same abuse as they are much more flexible.

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[chefmac]

Oh dear.... use cast iron lid or wooden lid in the future. =P