Julie Bove wrote:
>
> Assuming that you do use one. My mom used to have one but used it rarely.
> She was always afraid it would explode. And I've read countless old timey
> stories where they did explode. I gather that the new ones don't do that.

Mostly to sterilize Petri dishes back
when I attempted to grow mushrooms.
It takes a full hour to sterilize a
starch agar -- 50 minutes ain't enough.

I cooked a raw chicken carcass in one,
after cutting off the desirable parts
of meat. It did a nice job of cooking
the remaining meat, so I could pick it
off and use it for other things.