I have been making caramel & hot fudge for ice cream sundays & found limited or no warnings about the dangers of hot sugar - Why Not?

Serious burns can occur when working with melted sugar. One recipe said to have ice water at hand for accidents. I would expect a warning at the very top of the recipe not at the very end where I did find some warnings. Yes, we all should read the recipe before beginning but you know how that can be.
For inexperienced cooks who are trying these types of very simple recipes I would hope they were warned of the danger of melted, hot sugar.

smccassell
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2 Comments

macollins
macollins March 18, 2011
Recipe writing, I suspect, is not *that* standardized so you won't necessarily find cautions in a consistent location. Any time you turn on a stove you run the risk of a burn so at some point the cook has to assume they need to take care, regardless of what the recipe does or doesn't say.

Most recipes I've seen for things that can splash and burn (i.e. what can happen in the candy making process), have some sort of caution included, somewhere. Typically I see them at the step that has the potential to cause a burn. To me that makes sense, in a cause and effect type of thing.

Going back to standards or guidelines, I got a chuckle from the 'additional guidance' section of http://www.cookingupfun.cornell.edu/teachingguides/writingrecipes.html ...don't know how many blogged recipes I've seen do the opposite of the suggestions.

 
Ophelia
Ophelia March 18, 2011
Jam and jelly recipes don't have warnings either and you run pretty much the same risk of super hot sticky product burning the bejeezus out of your skin. The worst burns I've ever had were from opening a pot of steaming vegetables and taking a cake out of the oven. You can't warn people about everything that might hurt them and it's probably better to let them think about the hazards before them than to let them assume that if you haven't warned them it must be perfectly and absolutely safe.

Recipes for children do almost always have warnings about burning hazards though, so if you're concerned about cooking with kids you might find a few children's cookbooks at the library and cook from them. I think my Joy of Cooking has a section about kitchen safety that concerns burns and what to do when things combust and such.
 
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