I am curious as to what causes this issue where sometimes my oil seems to explode upwards and splash all over my kitchen.
It never seems to happen when the Oil is fresh.
It stops happening once the Oil gets hot enough.
But why ?!
In: Chemistry
Most often, it’s caused by little droplets of water in the pan. Sometimes it’s little droplets of water in the oil, because opened bottles of oil can draw a bit of moisture from the air.
Anyway, oil is lighter than water, so when you put oil into the pan, the water is trapped under a layer of oil. Then, when you heat the pan, the water boils. Steam isn’t lighter than oil, so the steam pops up through the oil and makes a little splash as it comes out. That’s also why you have the sizzling that happens when you drop food into the oil. It’s the water in the food boiling when it hits the hot oil.
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