I was trying to “drip fry”, by pouring hot oil, a pork knuckle last night after boiling and drying it. I guess I missed one step and did not realize there was water remained within the pork knuckle still, thus, after a few times, the oil exploded on me. I was wearing a singlet at the time and I got oil all over me. Lucky for me, the oil was on low heat, my hands were over 2 feet away from the oil, had my arms extended fully, and I had my glasses on. One splash of hot oil got on my left index finger on the skin just beside the finger nail. Another splash on my arm near my elbow. Droplets all over my neck and body, and none on the face.
I immediately put down the utensils gently and pour water on the finger which I thought at the time was the only place that got oil on. My maid quickly gave me some toothpaste to put on the finger which, at the time, felt a little tingling but not too hot nor painful.
I then went and found some of these creme for the lack of a better aid, had my finger and arm washed, and put on a big big chunk of it on the wound. The idea was to not let the skin dry up, swell, or sweat and cause blisters.
About 5 minutes after the burn, it hurt like hell! So I made myself an ice pack with some water and applied to the finger. I guess by the time the oil got to my arm and body, it was already not hot enough to do any damage as it only looked like I had been rain on a bit without any skin irritation nor redness at all.
The ice pack made it a lot better and I knew my finger wasn’t hurt all that bad since I could still feel the pain. A check on the internet for first-aid to treat burn reviewed that one must not apply ice pack for over an hour to avoid frost bite. So I just put more water in the ice pack to make it into a cold water pack instead.
After a few hours, although the pain came back as soon as I take the cold water pack off, there was no big swelling nor blisters, only a spot of redness. Before I went to bed, I added more of the creme and more ice into the pack, and made sure I only touch the pack where it was cold whenever necessary.
Amasingly, this morning the finger was about 95% healed with a slight numbness without blisters or pain, and seemed like no flesh was “cooked” dead.
I think I am supposed to dip the entire pork knuckle into the oil bath with the lid on for a few seconds just to burn off the excess water before drip frying it. I’ll also make sure I wear mittens and long sleeves next time.
WhaUSay?!