[Photograph: Amazon.com]

As a Serious Eater—and oft serious cook—chances are that you've suffered a few injuries in the kitchen. It happens to the best of us! Next to the great eating that most of us associate with Thanksgiving, the biggest turkey day tradition seems to be the annual oven burn—often the hallmark of stuffing your roaster beyond its capacity with birds and sides and pies. But what if there were a gadget to prevent one of the most reliable Thanksgiving-related wounds?

The Silicone Oven Shield ($6.98 at amazon.com) can't promise to save you from burning yourself on the oven's sides, but it theoretically would allow you to pull out the racks sans oven glove—great for all the midday checks and quick peeks. Installation is simple: Just wrap the sleeve around a rack and snap together its seams. Two pull tabs stick out conspicuously, and you're ready to go. It's strong enough to support the racks, even with a few pounds of weight, without snapping off.

But turn the oven to as little as 300°F and the silicone heats right up, making it quite uncomfortable to touch, at best. Even at low, warming temperatures, it's impossible to handle the silicone the way that's intended, making it completely useless—and dangerously misleading. I hate to think how many more burns would be propagated by a false feeling of safety. So consider yourselves warned, and safe baking to all!