A chip pan is a deep-sided cooking pan used for deep-frying. Chip pans are named for their traditional use in frying chips (called "French fries" in the United States). Today, they are made from either aluminium or stainless steel, although in the past were commonly made from cast iron. A basket is placed inside the pan, to lower the chips into the hot cooking oil, and to raise them once cooked. Chip pans are commonly used in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, although are slowly being rendered obsolete by deep fryers.

Manufacture

Chip pans are commonly manufactured through a spinning process, as the metal used is malleable. The lid is typically stamped out by a die in a heavy press.

Safety and health

Repeated heating of oil is believed to greatly increase the free radicals in the oil, leading to a higher risk of heart disease. Injuries, particularly to children, caused by the hot oil from a chip pan falling on them are a common cause of hospital admission in the UK.

Fire hazards

Chip pans are the most common cause of house fires in the United Kingdom, with around 12,000 chip pan fires every year, 1100 of them considered serious, resulting in over 4600 injuries, and 50 deaths per year. British Fire Brigades frequently issue warnings and advice, urging households to switch to a safer means of cooking chips, and advising that, unless it can be easily contained, the fire be left to the emergency services. Several fire brigades have offered a "chip pan amnesty", trading old chip pans for a deep fryer. Chip pans account for one-fifth of all domestic fires in the Republic of Ireland. After two men died in a 2016 fire in Cork City, a coroner recommended the sale of chip pans be banned and old chip pans be disposed of. Another coroner noted the danger of people heavily inebriated by alcohol putting on a chip pan and falling asleep. In 2015, at a halting site in Carrickmines, eleven people were killed in a chip pan fire, the worst fire in Ireland for 34 years.

Prevention

Measures to prevent chip fires include: Some local fire services will supply free deep fryers. Electric deep fryers feature thermostat-controlled internal heating elements that prevent the oil being heated to the point of ignition.

Dealing with a chip pan fire

A correct mitigation approach includes:

Ineffective methods

It is essential not to use water to extinguish a chip pan fire. Attempts to extinguish cooking oil fires with water result in a slopover, an extremely dangerous condition whereby the flaming oil is violently expelled from the container. Cooking oil fires (Europe class F, US class K) burn hotter than other typical combustible liquids, rendering the standard class A and B fire extinguishers ineffective and even dangerous. Class F fire extinguishers featuring a yellow label use saponification to put out chip pan fires by spraying an alkaline solution which reacts with the fat to make non-flammable soap. These extinguishers are generally only available in industrial and commercial kitchens. The use of fire blankets has traditionally been considered effective and safe, especially in Europe and Australia. It has, however, been put in question by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. The Netherlands Foundation for Burn Wounds reported several accidents involving the use of fire blankets when extinguishing oil/fat fires.