Watch Out for Exploding Pots!

There's nothing like learning something new the messy way!

I was in the process of making tapioca last night. I usually make the minute tapioca but I had this in the cupboard and I'm almost always up for a new recipe.

It's actually easier to make than the minute tapioca but it takes a lot longer.

I was making a large bowl of it and also needed to use a double boiler. I thought I could just put my 2 stock pots (they are the same width except for one is an 8 qt. pot and the other is a 6 qt. pot) together and it would work. Did you catch the word 'thought'?

The recipe said to cook the mixture on very low heat for 1 hour. No problem - except that my pots decided to get completely stuck together!

I let it finish cooking before adding the eggs and sugar. I added the next ingredients and turned the heat to medium. All was going well until I heard an explosion in the kitchen! I ran into the kitchen to see the top pot now sitting sideways with the tapioca mixture moving back and forth quite rapidly. As I entered the kitchen, I saw water everywhere and tapioca pudding all over the stove.

Apparently, there was a vacuum created between the two pots which was ok on very low heat but when the heat was turned up the steam needed to escape but it couldn't. Hence, the explosion!

The pudding turned out great (my family says it's better than the Minute Tapioca) and I learned a valuable lesson.

Note to self: Buy a bigger double boiler set!