Personally, I take my smoke detector down before I'm going to cook something smoke-generating. This required breaking it a bit and then fixing the damage with velcro.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sets off the smoke alarm when my cooking is not as threatening as the alarm would suggest. I don't usually remember to take it down until it's too late.

Tonight--smashed olive oil potatoes! Mmm.

I'm starting to wonder if my alarm is broken. I've used the oven twice recently without its going off, which is not normal at all. My favorite smoke alarm incident was when I had a nostalgic desire for fried ice cream that a friend kindly tried to fulfill, only to forget the part of the recipe that requires the ice cream balls to be rolled in cornflakes before frying them.

Raffi:

When I had a similar problem in London, I'd take a rubber band and some plastic wrap and use them to cover the intake on the smoke detector. I figure that if I'm cooking, I'm right next to the thing most likely to start a fire, and thus don't need remote detection. Just remember to remove the plastic after cooking.

OTOH, this is not legal advice, and I make no representations as to whether this violates NY housing laws or your rental contract.

Just in the interest of technical pluralism: a cast-iron skillet also works wonderfully for searing meat. I stick mine in the oven on 400 degrees for a few minutes before transferring it to the burner and plopping down the meat, but that may just be necessary because of my relatively old and rickety gas range.

I agree that cast iron works great, but not even my fan can keep the fire alarm from honking in that case. Cast iron pans give off a lot of smoke...

That they do. I just unplug the smoke detector in my kitchen when I'm doing that kind of cooking. I guess not all detectors are easily unplugged, though? Or you're less inclined to violate the housing code than I am.

Yes, I guess I'm also baffled: are they now designing smoke alarms from which one cannot simply pop out the 9-volt battery?

(Again, no representations as to whether you should or can legally do this, but it will shut the sound off.)

And if so, if you can't change the battery, must you install an entirely new smoke alarm every few years when the battery simply goes dead?